Did Dave Davies completely stop writing during the 70s? (The Kinks)

Dave was always in the shadow of his brother Ray. There's no shame in this, Dave's a very talented guy but his brother was a songwriting genius.
Dave wrote some very good stuff in the 60s, even if it couldn't match up to Ray's string of classics. I also consider Dave's "Strangers" on the Lola vs Powerman... to be the best thing he ever wrote and a highlight of the album. "You Don't Know my Name" followed a year or so after. Then, nothing.....
It would be years and years before Dave had another song on a Kinks album - what happened?
I understand that Ray's music became more and more concept based during the RCA years and Dave's songs may not have fit in a lyrical sense, but for the writer of "Death of a Clown" and "Strangers" to just shut up shop seems rather tragic.
I haven't been able to find any outakes of Dave material from this period, did he just give up trying to compete with Ray?

 

On Daves anthology album from the late nineties there was a track from around '71 or so called "Climb your wall" which was a cracking good tune , sort of an early solo Rod Stewart vibe happening on that one. Searchable on YouTube

 

Have you read Dave's autobio? It goes into depth about this period, worth checking out. The basic jist is that Dave was very depressed and spiritually lost during this period, and felt disconnected from Ray's concept pieces, which he supported as a performer but was not inspired to (allowed to?) contribute to as a writer. He speaks about the 1974 'Starmaker' TV show as being a particular low, with Ray prancing about in front of the cameras embarking on yet another concept, while the other Kinks were reduced to the level of an orchestra pit band out of sight. For a guy who used to be the raving co-frontman of the band this would be very demoralising.

He does mention attempting solo recordings in the mid 70s (mentioning a song called 'Islands' which I've never seen referred to anywhere else), but these have never been released. In the late 70s, Dave started a new relationship and got into more spiritual exploration, plus the Kinks returned to being a more straight ahead rock band more open to his standalone contributions, factors which led to his revival as a contributor (and as a solo artist for that matter).

 

he wrote a song that's on misfits and then his first true solo album was released in 1980. I'd have to believe these songs were written roughly from 1977-1979

 

He was notoriously slow to finish up his solo album in the '60s, too. His most prolific periods seem to be the early '80s and the late '90s.

 

not really true. he had pretty much finished it. the record company gave up the idea after several singles by dave flopped. I think dave wrote about 25 songs from 1968-1970

 

He's released two new albums of all new songs in the last 4 years too.

 

No, Dave gave up on the 60s album himself. He didn't like recording at the tiny demo studio after the luxury of Pye's London studio. It was partly recorded in mid 1969 but never finished.

 

someone summed up what daves book said

a combination of Davies' own lack of interest in continuing and Pye's decision to stop killed off any hopes of an album

 

He answered a fan on Twitter that there's going to be more new material soon.

..............meanwhile, Working Man's Cafe is now 10 years old.

 

I'm selling my copy of his autobio on amazon for $7.99. Dave2009 is my name there.

 

I always say a variation on this on these threads, but it seems to me like the end of the Kinks was a new lease of life for Dave, whereas Ray seems lost and uncertain without his old band.

 

i own all of daves albums but lets be honest most of those songs aren't strong enough for kinks albums

 

Well, I'm not so familiar with the more recent stuff, but I thought 2002's 'Bug' was very strong and consistent, considerably better than any Kinks stuff since the Arista years, and a bit closer to the Kinks band sound than Ray's solo work.

In any case, even if you don't like his solo work, it's clear he has really turned on the taps in terms of expressing himself and keeping a flow of new music coming, whereas Ray's solo career has come in dribs and drabs.

 

imo BUG is his best recent release

 

"Climb Your Wall" sounds like The Faces:

 

I agree with you. That is a very under rated album.

 

The thing is, his solo album was originally supposed to come out in 1967. The story of Dave's solo recordings is pretty complicated; I'm going to brazenly plagiarise a post I made a few years ago:

Dave's solo LP was first announced in July 1967, right after Dave's success with the "Death of a Clown" single, with a planned release in September. Meanwhile, Dave was cheerfully telling interviewers that he didn't have enough songs to fill out an album. There were a few perfunctory recording sessions in the summer, but never any serious chance that this thing would get issued. The titles we know that might have been options are:

"Death of a Clown"
"Love Me Till the Sun Shines"
"Funny Face"
"Good Luck Charm"
"Et moi, et moi, et moi"
"Susannah's Still Alive"

By the end of September, of course, the first three of these had already turned up on Something Else. "Susannah's Still Alive" was released as a Dave Davies solo single in November. "Good Luck Charm" was a retitling of Spider John Koerner's "Good Luck Child." "Et moi, et moi, et moi" is an extremely Kinks-influenced Jacques Dutronc classic, and I assume Dave was planning to translate it into English, but the track was most likely never finished.

In March 1968 Dave recorded "Lincoln County" and "There Is No Life Without Love," the A- and B-side of his third single. Then touring and the Village Green recordings kept him busy until December, when he started recording in earnest for a solo album in the new year.

When people talk about Dave's unreleased solo album, it's usually the 1969 configuration they're talking about. This is the one that came closest to light of day. Though the Kinks jokingly referred to it as A Hole in the Sock of Dave Davies, the stereo LP master tape delivered to Reprise on 2 July 1969 was untitled. These were the 12 songs:

"This Man He Weeps Tonight"
"Mindless Child of Motherhood"
"Hold My Hand"
"Do You Wish to Be a Man"
"Are You Ready"
"Creeping Jean"
"Crying"
"Lincoln County"
"Mr Shoemaker's Daughter"
"Mr Reporter"
"Groovy Movies"
"There Is No Life Without Love"

Reprise later cut a reference acetate from this, adding a stereo mix of "Susannah's Still Alive" (from the unreleased Kinks LP Four More Respected Gentlemen) as the opening track. But neither Reprise nor Pye ever had serious plans to release it. Dave himself wasn't overjoyed with the album in this form; as with most of the Great Lost Kinks Album tracks, the songs were given to Reprise to fill out the Kinks' scheduled obligations. Some were released here and there over the years, and all (along with Dave's early singles and "Good Luck Charm") are now available on Hidden Treasures.

1969 came and went, and in 1970 Dave was still promising a solo album. The home demo "Climb Your Wall," available on both configurations of Unfinished Business, probably dates from this period. "Strangers," "Rats," and a little later, "You Don't Know My Name" might have been initially intended as solo tracks, but that's not how things worked out.

More recordings were done sporadically through the 1970s. The next release date to be announced was early 1974, and Dave recorded eight or nine songs in October 1973. "Midnight Sun" and "How Can I Love You" are the only known titles. A session in 1975 made even less progress, with only two songs: "You've Got It Made" and "Long Lonely Road." Commented Ray, "It may be the only way he's going to record is at gunpoint."

There was yet more recording in 1977. An edit of "Trust Your Heart" eventually turned up on Misfits. "Violet Dreams" turned up much later on Fragile, Dave's compilation of demos. "Give You All My Love" and "Faith" haven't been released.

And in late 1978, yes, still more recording. A remake of "Long Lonely Road" was finally issued on Fragile, but "Heartbreaker" and "Same Old Blues" never surfaced. In all fairness to Dave, he was working on an embryonic version of AFL1-3603 by this time, and these songs could arguably be described as outtakes from a project that actually saw release. (With "Heartbreaker" and "Within Each Day," from the main AFL1-3603 sessions one year later, there's no argument about it — they're outtakes.)

AFL1-3603, a.k.a. Dave Davies, was released in 1980, 13 years after the initial announcement of his debut album.

 

Yep, that's a fantastic tune but I think that was recorded in 70/71. It would have fit nicely on Muswell Hillbilles or could have at least been a good B-side for one of it's singles.

 

Indeed. So who's the slouch now, eh, Ray?!

 

This 2013 album is a solid, enjoyable, occasionally surprisingly good set. And the follow up, 2014's Rippin' Up Time is nearly as good
.

 

after the 1972 KinKs Everybody's in Show-Biz album that had Dave's "You Don't Know my name" there was not another Dave Davies song on a KinKs album until 1978 the Misfits album sht sone " Trust Your Heart ", after that there were several of KinKs album into the 80's and 90'

 

Just incase anybody reading this doesn't know, Dave Davies 60s material, including unreleased stuff, has been compiled very well on a CD called Hidden Treasures.

 

hidden treasures is amazing and a must buy for kinks fans