Face To Face: First heard this years ago after finding an original tricolor LP---the only one I've found in the wild for a steal that was in top condition. I liked the album when I first played it, and I like it quite a bit more now because of its depth. Like Bob Dylan's early LPs, it seems to reward repeated listens. There are some powerful songs here---"Too Much on My Mind" and "Rainy Day in June" to name two---that always make an impression whenever I hear them.
Face To Face is what many consider to be the first straight up masterpiece by the band. I would have to agree, even though I love the previous two records. This one feels special. The same way other bands of the era started making giant leaps in 1966. If you didn't make a fantastic album in 1966 you were gonna get lost in the dust by all the other bands blowing past you. Ray stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. I first heard these songs on this vinyl compilation. It could be found for cheap and I believe it was my first Kinks album. You certainly got some bang for your buck. I know many say this album sounds terrible, but the songs are all genius. It's a little overwhelming how many great songs are on this compilation. It's hard to say where this album ranks for me in terms of The greatest Kinks albums. The next five years are incredible, and in my opinion, are several of the greatest albums ever made. Face to Face is the album that kicks off the party. They even tell you so on the first track.
Had PYE put those tracks on 2 double vinyl albums, say Best Of Vol 1 and Vol 2, and given the packaging some tlc with appropriate sleeve notes, they would have achieved classic status, just like Kronikles or The Black Album. The track selection on that album is awesome. Unfortunately, PYE chose the cheapskate option. I don't know if you saw my post earlier but that album was also my introduction to Face to Face. How do you post an image here?
It seems to me that it's the second half of 1966 in which The British suddenly took a lot of pride in being British. Perhaps the more sophisticated groups were noticing just how well Herman's Hermits had been doing in the U.S. with old pub sing-alongs like "I'm Henry The 8th" and "Leaning On A Lamp," and realized that there was gold to be mined in composing songs about one's own daily experiences instead of either covering American tunes, or writing songs that sounded like what was coming out of the brill building, only with English accents. Two singles that came out around this period that reflect this change were Manfred Mann's "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James," and Donovan's "Sunny South Kensington" (the B-side of "Mellow Yellow"). Everything about this music seems to be wrapped in Carnaby Street fashions and culture. The release of "No Milk Today" in the UK, and the "Dandy" cover in the U.S, signaled that Herman's Hermits had now completely abandoned their original strategy of making hits out of older American hits ("Wonderful World," "Silhouettes" etc) and their "Blaze" album the following year, would consist exclusively of songs that were British in origin. To me, "Face To Face" and The Rolling Stones' "Between The Buttons" are essentially fraternal twins. There aren't a whole lot of "counterpart" songs on them (although "Party Line" and "Connection" both seem to have been heavily influenced by "Dr. Robert") but still, they both seem to embody everything it was to be a British hipster in late 1966. A bit of rock 'n roll, a bit of twee poetry, a bit of music hall and a bit of story telling. The Hollies' "For Certain Because," The Who's "A Quick One" and especially Manfred Mann's "As Is" also seem to reflect this shift, but not quite to the same degree. There's still some noticeable American influences tucked in between all the character sketches about whiskey men, class consciousness and opera singers. Within a couple of months, Donovan's "Mellow Yellow" LP would be released in the states (though not in the UK), and it too, seemed to wallow in Britishness with songs like "Museum," "Hampstead Incident" and "The Observation." Note that it is at this point that both The Searchers and The Dave Clark 5 completely drop off the map as cultural forces. Also, with the exceptions of The Beatles and Cilla Black, all of Brian Epstein's former clients (The Pacemakers, The Dakotas, The Fourmost) pretty much cease to exist altogether.
The now listed recording dates for Face to Face all but conclusively show that the singer in Sunny Afternoon is a true upper crusty and not a lower class guy taking a piss at the toffs. Sunny Afternoon was the last recorded, as well as sequenced, of itself, House in the Country, and Most Exclusive Residence for Sale. Those two unquestionably are about rich guys, not pretenders, and SA is the third of a toff trilogy.
If the recording dates posted above are correct, ‘Party Line’ was recorded too early to have been influenced by ‘Dr Robert’. That said, I do agree it does sound Beatlesque.
That’s an insightful observation that puts Face to Face into its period context. It’s worth remembering that in the U.S. in 1966 everything British was “in”. James Bond fever was at its height; the marketing for “Thunderball” flooded the U.S. with licensed merchandise in near-Beatlemania proportions. There were a glut of British films in mainstream US theatrical release in ways they hadn't been before. Twiggy exploded as a supermodel in US advertisements with those colorful Carnaby fashions that found their way to the San Francisco area to be appropriated into the tie-die Hippie look. (Even where I was growing up in Indianapolis, British race car drivers were suddenly dominate in the annual 500 mile auto race.) The "British Invasion" was not just limited to music. I wonder if the proliferation of pointed British subject matter in lyrics were a reflection of the receptiveness of such things in the international marketplace? Had that not been the case, one can only speculate how differently the songs of the British bands of this era may have continued to play out with their earlier American influences? Ray Davies’ specific English-life musings seem to have placed him in the right place at the right time…yet ironically, Face to Face was a comparative flop in the US when measured to their previous efforts. No doubt this was due to their U.S. Musicians Union ban preventing them from promoting it in person. Odd, isn’t it, that arguably the most English of all the British bands was not allowed to capitalize on it at the precise moment it was red hot?
True ! And on the other hand, Connection was recorded late enough to be heavily influenced by Party Line !
I generally copy and paste from the web. You need an online thing like Imgur or something to post your personal pictures.
Yeah. I had forgotten about that. In the US, at least, it was hard to find "Face to Face" in the 70’s-80’s until the reissue, although I was lucky and stumbled onto mine fairly easily and early in my Kinks collection building. It seems the imported version was easier to find than the Reprise pressing. I wonder if this was as equally hard to find outside of the US? Anyway…. I’m tapping out for a while. Believe me, I love discussing the Kinks. I’ve lived with their music since 1977 and over 4 and a half decades seldom find people with whom I can discuss it deeply. But I’ve been spending waaaaaaaaaay too much time first thing in my mornings thinking and writing about the Kinks to the detriment of my real life. While I control my own hours, I do work in a deadline oriented profession. And believe it or not, I’ve actually made hitting deadlines more anxiety-ridden because of the time I spend here in the mornings. A few days ago I found myself trying to hurry things along in my real life just so I could give an important track like “Sunny Afternoon” its due. Not for an actual assignment but for a recreational internet discussion group! That’s gotta stop. So I’m taking a powder from making daily input. Maybe I’ll come back when we get to the RCA years; I feel like there are some misunderstood gems there that will need defended. Until then I’ll still check in to play catch up and pipe in with the stray comment, reply or question. When time allows I may occasionally offer something more substantive. But for the most part I’ll focus my involvement to the album overviews like I am doing today but bow out of the track by track postings that will start after today.
Sorry to hear that, though I completely relate to how this thread takes over your life! I find I have to factor writing on this thread into my daily routine too :/. Your contributions have been great and will be missed. See you over on the RCA side (if I’ve managed to stay the course till then myself!).
I understand completely mate. I have enjoyed your input a lot, and look forward to you getting some free time here and there to add some more.
Sad to hear that but perfectly understandable. I had to skip the first 100 pages as I have just recently become aware of this thread and had I read them I would never have caught up.
Find the image and copy the image address and post in the image link provided. We can get more into that discussion tomorrow!
FACE TO FACE I always though the cover had some connection with Dedicated Follower Of Fashion. The guy looks well-dressed with a groovy shirt and colourful collar. And his mind is full of butterflies flitting from shop to shop. Unfortunately, the song wasn't on the album, which confuses me. I never knew anybody who bought this album at the time. I re-listened to it on CD the other day and wasn't overwhelmed, but I'm prepared to be convinced by the track to track. I think someone mentioned that this album may be the first from a major UK group not to have a photo of said group on the cover. I thought this may be true until I came across this cover from the Yardbirds album released in the UK three months before Face To Face in July 1966.
If the stores record bins were full and the album was not at the front it would be difficult to know what was without any information near the top. Google Image Result for https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0840/1519/files/IMG_20180421_151231_grande.jpg?v=1524345299
I’ve been lurking in this thread for about a week and have enjoyed the comments and history lesson about the Kinks, one of my all time favorites. And Face to Face is squarely in my Kinks top five, maybe top three, albums. There’s only one hit, but there’s some great songs from beginning to end. Plus, I really enjoy this period of British pop. I find it interesting to read several comments about how difficult it was to find a FtF lp in the past. I don’t see it often, but I’ve had a handful of decent used copies pass through my hands over the years. Maybe I’m just that lucky. But the next two lps…I never see those in the used bins.
I purchased Face to Face perhaps about 4 years ago, after being a huge fan of VGPS through Muswell Hillbillies. I wanted to go back and but see their transition to VGPS. I am not sure why I didn’t go with Something Else. I knew and loved Waterloo Sunset, but I think the reviews I read about Face to Face led me to there instead. Being one of the first “concept” albums and how Ray had this vision for songs linked together through sound effects but it wasn’t fully completed as he wanted. All that led me to it. I had already become enamored with 60s concept albums like Pet Sounds and Ogdens Nut Gone Flake, Face to Face seemed like the way to go. It took a few listens, but I grew to love nearly every song. I have had it on repeat the last few weeks and love it even more. The added bonus tracks from this period make that deluxe version A++, but the album proper is A by itself.
I originally had Face to Face on a 90s CD - was that the Sanctuary reissue? That was when I first listened to it. I have the vinyl from the mono box now and the deluxe CD so will give it a spin later. The sound on that early CD was compromised but I digested the songs thoroughly and went back to it again many times when I got the deluxe CD. I think this is a turning of the page, album-wise, in terms of songwriting. Ray gives full reign to the character driven songs. I enjoy Face To Face though there's a couple of mis-steps on it IMO. Looking forward to the song-by-song discussion.
