Best Kinks album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by erikdavid5000, Jul 18, 2015.

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  1. cc--

    cc-- Forum Resident

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    brooklyn
    nay -- which songs do you think are filler? I see what you might mean in that we kind of get the point after a while, but all the songs are good, imo. And the consistency is unusual for a concept album. I guess it helps that there's no narrative.
     
  2. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    I was perplexed by that post too but I didn't comment. "Muswell Hillbillies" is the best Kinks album in my book and one of the best records I have ever heard. For me it's an atmosphere, a portrait of a certain state of mind. Not too far removed from "Who's Next". I think this is the album where Ray really has given his all.

    But of course.... if somebody wants to regard "Uncle Son", "Skin & Bone" or "Oklahoma USA" as "filler"... who am I to argue;)
     
  3. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    As is the case with threads like these, I think every album has now been mentioned at least once except for the 1st 2 records, Kelvin Hall, Percy, and any of the post-Artista stuff. :D
     
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  4. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

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  5. Judging by the responses to this thread I wouldn't be the only one!!
    I have heard their albums up to Muswell Hillbillies, so I'm up to about 1969, and then I start to lose interest. I think in England, where I live, they are considered a 60s band and a singles band. I know that they developed a new audience later on in America, so they might be considered differently over there.
     
  6. cc--

    cc-- Forum Resident

    Location:
    brooklyn
    I think the "singles band" concept is somewhat useless -- every band was a singles band until the transition to meaningfully structured albums was in force. The Kinks were as instrumental in that shift as any other band was. Of course every band put their best songs on the singles, that's what singles were for. The Beatles are I suppose the elephant in the room for this discussion, but they have plenty of "filler," if that term has any meaning either -- whether you like the album tracks on the Stones', Kinks', or Who's early records is just a matter of preference.
     
  7. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

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    Well, kind of. IMO these threads are not useful; "best" is such a subjective term, and to attempt to apply it to a catalog as deep as the Kinks is just impractical given their various periods, labels and styles. The OP asks for one album and many respond with lists; what's being accomplished, really? There isn't a Kinks record I don't enjoy tremendously up through LOW BUDGET, but in reality I admire albums like LOLA and MUSWELL more than I play them, even though the case can be made they are among the "best" LP's they released. So I prefer to use the word "favorite" instead--maybe not their best, but the albums I listen to and enjoy more than the others. So sticking to the original question, and applying my "favorite" logic, PRESERVATION ACT II is the one album that I enjoy most if you put a gun to me head and ask such an insane question of this 40-year-fan of The Kinks.
     
  8. Well, hmm, not sure I agree with you there. The Kinks recorded killer singles that made it to near the top of the charts from 'You Really Got Me' onwards. As the run continued they captured a particularly english sensibility in their songs that elevated them to the echelons inhabited by the likes of The Beatles, The Stones and Dylan. Their very best songs were hit singles - 'Waterloo Sunset,' 'Sunny Afternoon', 'Autumn Almanac', 'Dead End Street', 'See My Friends' etc. This isn't something you'd say about The Beatles or Dylan whose best songs were found on long players.
     
  9. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    None of my all time favorite Kinks songs are on VGPS but as a whole I love it more than all the rest.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

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    Arlington, VA, USA
    I think that the greateness of these rock bands can be demonstrated, in a negative way, by how little filler they produced. It's obvious (to me, anyway) that the Beatles had the least filler of all.
     
  11. cc--

    cc-- Forum Resident

    Location:
    brooklyn
    but of course -- perfectly in line with the founding premises of this forum. Personally, I enjoy nearly every Rolling Stones album track and can't say the same for the Beatles (or Kinks, really, but they don't have the same assumptions of immaculacy surrounding their work).

    this is only tangential to the "singles band" issue. I think I see what Williamson is saying, esp re: Dylan, who had a more complicated relationship to pop, but I think that the Beatles did largely the same as the other, British bands in the discussion, which was to put what they thought was their best work on their singles at least through 1966, maybe even 1967. That's not changed even if you happen to like whatever proportion of their "album tracks."
     
  12. DwarfMcDougal

    DwarfMcDougal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gothenburg, Sweden
    Bought Something Else somewhere around 1998, when i was 17. Became obsessed with it, still my "Autumn album" along with Unhalfbricking.
     
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  13. Dave Hoos

    Dave Hoos Nothing is revealed

    Well, when you put it like that...if the question really was insane, your answer gave it back in spades. It probably caused the poor chap holding the gun to turn it on himself!

    Each to their own, of course.
     
  14. Paul W

    Paul W Senior Member

    "Arthur" is my favourite, with "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround" coming in a close 2nd place.
     
  15. I mentioned Percy as an honorable mention...and thanks for bringing up Kelvin Hall!!! While I think of these things in terms of original studio releases (no comps, no live albums) that one is really worth mentioning as a great live album!!

    That, & your point is well taken too...
     
  16. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

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    Has every Kinks album been mentioned at this point, cuz that's where these kinds of threads end up.
     
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  17. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, Tx, US
    Village Green would be mine, but Face to Face would be a close second...
     
  18. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    No one has mentioned Soap Opera or Think Visual yet. If it weren't for you, I could have included Village Green Part 2 there as well.
     
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  19. I actually Love Soap Opera. It's genius
     
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  20. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    was better live.
     
  21. I saw the tour too
     
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  22. Matthew Tate

    Matthew Tate Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia

    never saw it. not old enough but i found live stuff online and the songs worked better plus the remaster with live bonus tracks. more energy in the songs
     
  23. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient

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    Hawthorne CA
    Indeed! And for anyone who has never seen the Granada TV broadcast of "Starmaker"--here you go! imo Ray kills

     
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  24. Merrick

    Merrick The return of the Thin White Duke

    Location:
    Portland
    Everything about this.
     
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  25. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Fair enough... and I know what you mean; I've retyped the same opinions about The Kinks so many times here on SH I could do it in my sleep. But Pres Act II is a tough slog for me, even with the narrative edited-out. The electric piano is something of a deal-breaker and the songs just don't have much "song" to them.
     
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