I had this problem myself with the US To The Bone and fixed it by nabbing the EP on Discogs. The EP features an unreleased song that I'm sure will be discussed down the road on this thread. The Kinks – Waterloo Sunset '94 EP (1994, CD)
Traveling by car in Mexico trying to keep up! Two Sisters-Like others my first instinct was to link this to Dave and Ray growing up. Ray is quite the storyteller. It continues the great two tracks that precede it. It’s a beauty, musically and lyrically. Waterloo Sunset-An indisputable gauge of greatness. Never been to Waterloo, but every time I'd seen the sun set in San Francisco I would pop in this song Act Nice and Gentle-Not a throwaway in my book It has a C&W sound that would fit right in on Muswell Hillbillies.
Thank you as i had never seen that clip. I would have been ecstatic to have witnessed that in person, real goosebump stuff.
I will try and chime in on the other songs later, but I really felt like I needed to jump on WS while it’s fresh. (while I’m here, as things are getting busy, maybe we should drop to 1 song a day when we start Something Else?) This was a song I’ve always *liked*, but for some reason it had never truly it me. My utter adoration for this track comes in two waves: 1) My already discussed experience with the backing track in Anthology. I remember being sat in my 2nd year Uni House the day Anthology Arrived, ripping the CDs to Winamp, and running through all the new stuff. I got to this track, and chuckled at Ray and Dave’s comments on intentionally fading away with the guitar parts (which is one of those parts that truly adds to the ethereal qualities of the track). After the count in, the glorious intro burst in, sounding magnificent, but once the verse dropped to that sparse piano, my mind was blown. So tranquil, and perfectly arranged. I also agree with The Beach Boys comparison here - parts of this are very Pet Soundsy. But then, what’s this? Dave’s crunchy guitar rips in in the chorus, altering the dynamic perfectly! I’d genuinely never picked this out before, and it turned the arrangement on it’s head for me. What else had I been missing all this time? Once we get to the fade, I had to stop the track, with my jaw hanging open, and my mind completely blown. I think I listened to it at least for the rest of the hour. 2) My wife is Australian, and came to live with me here in 2016. The plan was often to go back to Australia, but this has moved back a few times, especially recently. Of all the reasons in weighing up to stay, living near London is high on her list. The city is her favourite place, maybe full stop, and is always keen to take a trip on the train up there. As a result, I did wonder if she’d picked up anything in any Kinks tracks, but I didn’t really ask. Last year, her father passed away unexpectedly (not COVID), and we made the brief trip to AUS to help out, though of course this included to two weeks in the hotel quarantine there (this was when it was free). Locked in that room for two weeks, I had hooked up my laptop to the TV, and my iTunes became a big ol’ visual jukebox, and on about day 6, I was playing cuts from the Picture Book box set. Waterloo Sunset started, and something felt right... safe even. Lucy quite casually mentioned how she just loved the track, and how whenever she hears it, you can just perfectly picture walking along the river in London in the early evening (I think @mark winstanley shared the perfect shot), and not just in Waterloo, with the orangey sky, and soft breeze, and the bustling people looking for a bite to eat, or a place to sit and get a drink, or just making their way home, wherever it may be. Goosebumps covered my whole body. If I wasn’t so imperceptible to crying most of the time, I think I would have sobbed. I couldn’t wait to go back there with her when we got back, and even moreso, the song just made *sense*. It all fell into place, and ever since, I have waited for it with baited breath whenever I stick on Something Else. I am so, so pleased it made the album, and even more so it closed it out. Simply one of the greatest records of all time. And did I mention that glorious bright acoustic guitar sound? Literally heaven on record.
It’s the ‘today is gone and it won’t be long’ part of the song that begins around 0.55. Reminds me a bit of the ‘every day I look at the world from my window’ up to ‘Waterloo Sunsets fine’ section of Waterloo Sunset. I think it’s more noticeable when you compare it to the instrumental version of WS as it’s more in the music than the vocal melody. That descending bass led progression.
I kind of think so personally. I'm struggling to get the posts done before my day kicks in hard..... and more and more folks seem to be saying they can't keep up, and that's not cool.
It's also because last week's string of songs has been… crazy : I mean, Dead End Street! Big Black Smoke!! She's Got Everything!! Mr Pleasant!!! This Is Where I Belong!!! Two Sisters!!!! Village Green!!!!!!! Waterloo Sunset !!!!!!!! In a row !!!!!!!!! (and then Act Nice and Gentle, to remind us they were only humans after all). That's a lot to take, a lot to digest – and a lot to discuss. To be fair, it's never gonna be that overwhelmingly stellar and iconic again. But yeah, this has been quite a week…
Lest we forget, Bowie also duetted live with RDD on ‘Waterloo Sunset’, a year before the formers retirement from touring:
Plus Bowie did a cover version in 2003 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyMGZ5zf3Pk Released on the 'Tour Edition' of his Reality album.
Thanks for posting this great Ray Davies documentary as it gave me further insight into why his music means so much to people and reminded me why his songs are so endearing to me in the first place.