Hello Kinks people Just thought I'd say hello as I'll be a 'lurker' on this thread! I've always loved what I've heard of The Kinks thanks to my dad, but really know very little so would love to get a flavour of their complete work from the beginning! Great idea! I don't expect to contribute much (I cant cope with more than one of these album by album things, and am already part way through a Divine Comedy one on here!) but will listen, read and stalk you all!
So happy I made it for the beginning of what is going to be an epic journey. I'm a huge fan of all eras of this great band!
As noted earlier, the drummer on the Kinks' Long Tall Sally (as well as most of their early singles) was Bobby Graham. I wanted to underline that because he really was a fantastic drummer who added a lot to those early sides, and he often does not get the credit he deserves. He also plays on all the Dave Clark Five's hit singles (a fact Dave Clark sadly continues to deny, to this day) so he really was all over the top ten in those days.
Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll point out that this was originally on the B-side of The Coasters' 1959 hit "Poison Ivy." Freddie & The Dreamers also recorded and included it on their first LP in 1963.
Neat thread, I love The Kinks! Especially Village Green (since I am a Mellotron nerd), but I think Arthur is the one I've listened to the most the past year and that I don't get tired of.
I prefer Hog over Sally. Both songs don’t make a huge impression. We all know they improved very quickly. I’m not much of a fan of all the British Invasion bands doing a bunch of the same cover songs. The originals are usually far superior. Dave does display some fine guitar chops from the beginning. They don’t really become The Kinks until they start writing their own material. The same is true with most of the early 60s bands. Here they still sound like many other bands trying to break into rock n roll. They will soon be completely unique and blow the roof off the place.
Ray became a great songwriter and the band became way better players... I love the Kinks and think Ray has a great voice but isn't really a great singer, something like I'd describe Jagger but different. Mick IMO massively underrated drummer. Love Dave's playing.
I can comment on the sound quality: It's awful, as you might expect on a budget album with around 35 minutes per side. But there wasn't much to complain about, considering the amount of great music and the millions of four dollar copies that were around.
Yes, Bobby was sort of the English equivalent of Hal Blaine. Not to turn this into a Bobby Graham thread but a short detour for folks unfamiliar with Bobby: Graham played on 13 number one singles, including those by The Dave Clark Five,Englebert Humperdinck, Peter and Gordon, Jackie Trent, The Kinks, Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield, and appeared on a total of 40 UK top five hits (10 number two hits; 4 number 3 hits; 6 number 4 hits; 7 number five hits; 107 top 50 hits - 1155 days in the charts). In a discography that counts approximately 15,000 titles, he played on hits by John Barry, Shirley Bassey, Joe Cocker, Billy Fury, Herman's Hermits, Benny Hill, Rod Stewart, Dave Berry, Joe Brown and The Bruvvers, Chubby Checker, Petula Clark, Brenda Lee, Lulu, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, The Pretty Things, PJ Proby, Van Morrison, Them, The Walker Brothers, and Marianne Faithfull. Plus, Brian Epstein offered Bobby the interim drum chair with the Beatles, after Pete was sacked and Ringo took over. He declined . Sorry, back to the Kinks, who I love.
Good luck to our OP. This shall be an epic endeavor considering the pedigree of The Kinks. Great start so far. I'll be checking in on one of my all time favorites. For those who are interested in keeping up with The Kinks here's a nice website that's been around a while: News & Rumors (kindakinks.net)
N.b. When Ray made his album "The Storyteller" in 1998, he overdubbed and used the same drummer on You Really Got Me with what he amazingly thought was the same sound as in 1964. Turns out the same session drummer used the very same snare as in 1964 as Ray was aware of but astoundingly got the same sound as he had never tuned it since!
"You Still Want Me" Single by the Kinks B-side "You Do Something to Me" Released 17 April 1964 Recorded 24 January 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 1), London Genre Merseybeat[1] Label Pye 7N15636 Songwriter(s) Ray Davies Producer(s) Shel Talmy "You Still Want Me" is a single by the Kinks released in 1964. It was their second record, and (like its predecessor) failed to chart upon release, threatening the band's deal with Pye Records.[2][3] However, the massive success of the band's next single, "You Really Got Me", ensured their tenure with Pye would continue until 1971, when they shifted to RCA. The B-side "You Do Something to Me" was one of the first five songs the Kinks ever recorded, before sessions for their first album had begun in earnest.[4] The song has been described as "proto-punk".[5] It was later released on an album with the 1998 reissue of Kinks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both the A and B-side here were recorded at the same January 17 sessions that Long Tall Sally Came from. I guess we can assume that this is the same session drummer as well then .... On a side note, it is really interesting how many bands have session musicians on their albums, and yet folks still rag on the Monkees lol .... anyway .... To me this is a much better single than Long Tall Sally. Certainly it has an undeniably sixties rock/pop sound, but it is a solid coherent piece of writing. As much as this is one of Ray's earliest tunes, I think the way the verse, chorus and bridge roll so smoothly together is actually a pretty damn good piece of writing for a very new songwriter. I'm not sure how much input Shel Talmy had with this, but the arrangement works well, and for me sells the song really well. I actually really like this track.
You Do Something To Me So the b-side ends up being a Ray Davies original as well .... Another little sidetrack ... It is interesting to me also looking at the songs from these sessions, and what ended up being on the debut album.... It is a shame the mentality of the record companies, as far as I can tell, because, to me at least looking through these tracks, the debut album would be so much better, if they had just gone with the tracks that Ray had written. Not that it is a bad album, but I just think the Ray tracks just work better, and start to set the scene for who the band is. Anyway, again this is very early in the band's career, and in Ray's writing, and from listening here, somewhat objectively, this track also is well structured and Ray seems to have a natural ability to create a very smooth flow between the sections of his songs. This isn't going to probably get on my personal bets of The Kinks album, but again I like this song.
"You Still Want Me" has the lyrical insipidness of a lot of early 1964 stuff, but musically it's pretty cool. The drumming is great, MIckey Willet(?) Bobby Graham playing those lightning fast fills; next thing I'd like to call attention to is the harmonies: Dave and Ray together have one of the most distinct and rocking vocal sounds in all of rock; I also like the way the band gets all rhthmic and riffy at the end of each chorus(I know! Because! the Smile....) is really cool. This is not quite a masterpiece but it's still a great single for early 1964. 4/5
