Don't know if Ray wanted to be a solo act at the time, for one thing he could call the shots in his own band and his recordings benefit from emanating from the nucleus of the Kinks.
I've read in several biographies/books about the Kinks that Ray was contemplating releasing VGPS under his name.
I've liked this ever since first hearing it off of a bootleg in the early 1980s. It sounds like something one would encounter in a west end production of "Oklahoma" or "Little Abner." Not authentic American country & western, but show-biz country and western. I can easily imagine eight members of the cast square dancing to it. This part especially catches my attention: I've been doing wrong but now I'm going home. So come on girls, you better put your best boots on. There is a musical similarity to the intro of Nilsson's "Together," which came out at around the same time. It also sounds a bit like this: Vashti Bunyan / Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind
Interesting to know though I would love to know how the other 3 would have reacted to that and didn't Quaife say he had more input on this LP than any other? I still wonder then why there was not even a solo Ray 45 release somewhere around this time?
I haven't read any of the books, but from an observational standpoint, it seems/ed like Ray was the beating heart of the Kinks, and it seems like a solo album/single would have seemed a little redundant. Dave on the other hand, seems/ed to be thought of as the brother that plays guitar, and although he had some songs on Kinks albums, they tend to be somewhat overlooked.... I get the feeling the solo Dave thing was to lift his profile, and attempt to stop any jealousies before they arose..... though I must say, generally Dave seems to really like Ray's songs.
Pye wanted to put out ‘Til Death Us Do Part’ as a Ray solo single in late ‘68 but Ray vetoed it. I don’t think he was seriously interested in a solo career then or tbh, ever. Even his eventual solo career from the mid 90s on only happened by default when his brother didn’t want to work with him anymore.
Lincoln County One of my favorite Dave songs. I really like his phrasing. It took me forever to figure out what he was saying, but the line "lift the lid off hell drink some beer" in particular just flows so well. The structure is weird too ... lots of inventive partial verses and small lyrical changes that keep you on your toes. Like Ray's songs that did the same thing, it sounds totally effortless. He may not have been as consistent as Ray, but songs like this (and especially the Something Else singles that preceded it) proved his talents for sure imo. I'm glad somebody else noticed the similarites between these songs. I was familiar with the Kinks track first and got a strange feeling of deja vu when I listened to Vashti's compilation of the same name for the first time. And does anyone know if there's a reupload of the 1968 live performance? Apologies if this was discussed already... the link to the thread about the video in question only contains dead links.
Fraid not, as lamented in my post linking to the thread there were 2 uploads in 2020 but they’re both gone now, and I never thought to download it at the time. We can only hope there will be another upload one day from someone who did have the foresight. For the record, it’s not a live performance, it’s a promo video of Dave in his leather gear wandering around countryside/train tracks as befits the song. It’s also, like the ‘Dedicated Follower’ and ‘Wonderboy’ promos, an edited version of the track, chopping at least a minute off.
Lincoln County Well said, @Fortuleo It's funny...this song of Dave's is one I usually skip. It does sound very country to me and maybe that's my bias against it. I don't typically like American country stuff. and it does sound like a fiddle in the background, but not sure what it is. It's not a bad song at all, but just not a favorite of mine. Check in with me again in the future. I may totally change my mind.
as a wee bit of an aside as we are talking about dave , i am really happy i got to see him live back if memory serves the late 1990's in suburban baltimore. the show was great! and he roared out of the gate with a bang renditions of susannah's still alive. the show was overly crowded and at one point i guess before the show dave was hanging around and i could have gone up and said hey , but i didn't. anyhow just glad i got to saw him live back then!
LINCOLN COUNTY A joyous take on the Wild West as seen from Muswell Hill. Those oh-so -English Kinks (who don't mind the odd Americanism slipping in from time to time) go all out for a jailbird-returns-home fantasy world. English girls put on their best dress , but according to Dave, American girls put on their best boots! And at one point Dave actually sings he's going to 'shoot some bear" when he gets back home. Not many of those in Dead End Street, are there, Dave? Jaunty violin and nifty organ to complete the picture. A swell song if ever there was one.
Why have I never heard of Vashti Bunyan until now? It's a Jagger-Richard song too I didn't think I'd led that much of a sheltered musical life, even though I still can't tell my country from the other type of music (Blues Brothers reference there).
I might have it. I'll search some of the many DVD boots I collected when DVD recording first became popular - just looking at four mysterious titles now: 1960s video compilation; Kinkives 1964-1966; All Aboard the Great Lost Kinks DVD; Singles. It could take a while...
Thanks: I appreciate it. I must add as a disclaimer though (and I only say this to avoid you going to too much trouble) that as far as I know this clip wasn’t even known about until 2020 (it’s not mentioned in Hinman’s book for instance) so it’s not likely to be on DVD era boots. That said, I could be wrong about that: if you have the time to double check the DVDs that’d be really appreciated. Fingers crossed…
Does the original thread have the link to the now removed video? You might be able to see the original user that uploaded it and message them? But maybe not...
Lincoln County Dave's writing confidence seems to have increased and he displays many quirks and idiosyncrasies whilst he is at it. Many posters making good comments relating to Western music, Ronnie Lane, Taking a compositional leaf from Ray's book and linking the the UK and US locales. It is a fun song and not without some hook but I agree it feels a little unresolved and think it a curious choice for a commercial A side.
There Is No Life Without Love. mono mix (2:00), recorded probably Jan 1968 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London Truly, oh truly, There is nothing in this life without your love This is a story of my true love, There is no life without love, Truly, oh truly, There is nothing in this life without your love Truly, oh truly, There is nothing in this life without your love There is no life without sunshine, There is no rest without sleeping, Truly, oh truly, There is nothing in this life without your love Truly, oh truly, There is nothing in this life without your love Written by: Ray Davies/Dave Davies Published by: ? This track barely even sounds like the Kinks. Written by Ray and Dave, this ends up sounding almost like a demo. I can only assume that this is one of Dave's songs for Sue. We have a vocal that is at least doubled, and the lower pitched delivery leaves it a little nondescript as to who is actually singing. We can safely assume it's Dave, with this being the b-side to his single. I assume Ray is doing one of the backing/unison vocals, but again it is really hard to tell. Musically this is probably one of the most straight forward tracks we have heard for a while. We have a pretty straight I, IV, V. Pretty much a root note bass line, and a steady, understated rim shot trap set. We do however have this wandering lead guitar that places in somewhat random lead lines. The vocal delivery is suitably depressed, depressive, and is sort of just there. This is an inoffensive track, that is just kind of there. I don't particularly dislike it or anything, but by the same token it isn't setting the world on fire.
"There Is No Life Without Love" I finally had a listen to that The Album That Never Was CD last night. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to hear what these songs would have sounded like through a transistor radio. It's not good. It also gives authorship of this track (and "Death Of A Clown") to R.D. Davies. As for this track - well, it comes in, hangs around for two minutes, and stops. Doesn't go anywhere or do anything moderately diverting. The higher vocal is clearly Dave, but the lower one could be anyone. I think this track is going to challenge even the most erudite of our contributors to come up with much to say!
One of the vocals in the mix of this song is Pete Quaife: Dave confirmed this in the liners to the Arthur box.