The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    "Easy Come, There You Went" - This is a real fun jam and it does sound finished. Catchy riff, mellotron, I really like it. Not sure it would fit on the album but I'm still glad we've got it. When it starts I think of the Beatles "12 Bar Original" for no good reason, but this track is actually good.

    "Egg Stained Pyjamas" (I never knew this word had a different British spelling) never had a name until Andrew Sandoval needed Ray to call it something for it's inclusion in the 50th anniversary box. This one is nice enough but doesn't have the return-to qualities that "Easy Come" has. It's nice to have any missing pieces from the period, though.

    "Mick Avory's Underpants" - I think I first heard this, Easy, and Spotty on the 3CD version of VGPS. It's good, though a bit repetitive. As others have said, not very essential.

    "Spotty Grotty Anna" - My least favorite of the four instrumentals. Sounds more like a jam than a song awaiting vocals.

    "Where Did My Spring Go" - This one was always a bit silly to me. "Where did my youth go? / Where did my life go?" are the best bits. Everything else is complaining from the point of view of an old man. Some are saying it's supposed to be comedic, which is fine, it's just not much of a song.
     
  2. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Here’s a different perspective on the obsession some of us have with finding similarities between one song and another. This song is on a fine comeback (or final) album by The Two - sorry, The Who :D. We Kinks fans should be so lucky.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2021
  3. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    And a surprisingly decent album it is too!
     
  4. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    What I find most appealing about "Where Did My Spring Go?" is its incongruity. Ray singing "Now all I've got are varicose vaaaaaaayaheeyayaaayaaans" should be ridiculous, and it does tickle me, but at the same time the anguish expressed comes across as genuine, and you would have to be hard-hearted not to feel sympathy for the protagonist.

    The music emphasizes this incongruity as it wavers between an intensely felt minor chord section with crashing crash cymbals, dramatic organ flourishes, and list items landing on an awkward upbeat; and a contrasting major chord section with a baseline that bounces along the downbeat creating a comic feel. It's as if the point of view shifts between internal and external - the protagonist expresses his private agony, and then steps outside of himself, taking a detached view that recognizes the absurdity of his predicament.

    In the last bit I enjoy how Ray sings with a precarious, staccato style (where did my _ en er gy go), and listening to him hurry to recite all of the departed parts while keeping up with the accelerating tempo is like watching a clown juggling while it walks across a tightrope -- then the song puts on the brakes. I never tire of hearing this one, or chuckling to myself in the silence that follows the final beat.
     
  5. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    I’m surprised by the cool reception’Where Did My Spring Go?’ is getting here! I’ve always thought it was a very fine song, not a throwaway or an overtly comedic number at all: it sounds brutally serious to me in fact, the music conveying the cruel relentless march of time as our protagonist succumbs to entropy like speeded up footage of a bowl of fruit rotting to mush. The dramatic emphasis on ‘where did my HAIR go’?? is particularly effective.

    It made for a fantastic closer to the GLKA, and I’ll say it, although not an artistic choice by RDD, it’s as appropriate as a final track for that LP as ‘People Take Pictures Of Each Other’ was for VGPS. I always wished that the older Ray in his 60s/70s had resurrected this one for his solo sets, can you imagine? May have been a bit close to the bone for him to contemplate, but it would have worked so well imo.
     
  6. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Where Did My Spring Go?
    In my estimation, this was almost like a school assignment..."we need this by this time...go!" And I think Ray really enjoyed doing this (from what I've read).
    I enjoyed this one...and my favorite part is "where did my go go?" because there were go-go dancers back then. This cracked me up. and also being in my 50s I appreciate it as well. I do NOT know where my go went! As they say "youth is wasted on the young". 100% true.
     
  7. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I missed the instrumentals from yesterday, but didn't have anything to add. They both are fun listens of what sounds like studio warm up type songs. I don't think they really count as proper Kinks tunes. However, I agree with @Wondergirl that any song with underpants in the title gets extra marks from me. Good thing The Kinks were still on a hot streak and not hitting the skids yet. :D

    "Where Did My Spring Go"

    This sounds a little underdeveloped to me and like they just quickly recorded it and didn't bother much with it. They tried it out and probably didn't feel like it was worth trying to improve it. I do like it, but I think it is best left as the closing song on The Great Lost Kinks Album. Another bonus song that is still better than most bands A side.

     
  8. markelis

    markelis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Miami Beach FL
    Underpants and Spotty Grotty don’t move me much, so I’d rather mention the following:

    I listen more by artist than by album, and I like to create playlists by artist. In particular, if an artist has more than one album, I don’t arrange the songs chronologically, but rather I alternate from release to release, and rearrange the songs to create my own flow based on how much I like the song (better songs first), alternating from fast to slow, short to epic, etc. When a band has been around a while, the playlist may become too long; or their style of the music changes so much with time that the playlist lacks coherence, and I will then break it into 2 or more playlists. The Kinks are clearly a band that will result in more than 1 playlist.

    “So what?” you say. So this: previously, as a “lazy” Kinks fan who never dug deep into their catalogue, I had two playlists, the first covering from the early singles through Schoolboys, the second covering from Sleepwalker forward. The earlier era playlist was really only a good 30 songs long for the whole 1964-1978 period and pretty much focused on the singles and songs from comps. I am embarrassed to admit I was a weekend warrior Kinks fan (not my normal MO for a band I love, like the Kinks).

    ….but thanks to this thread, I now have discovered and love a whole new crop of super cool Kinks songs! So first off, although we are only beginning what seems to be their second era, I am envisioning I will end up with at least 4 playlists. Era #1 running from the debut through and including Something Else. And my playlist for this time period, as a result of this thread and all of our fine work contained herein, is now about 80+ songs long! In fact, Courtney and I were just jamming to it last night and she commented how great all the songs were. Thank you Mark W. and all of the rest of the contributors, you all have expanded my horizons immensely!

    I am now excitedly working on era #2, which I envision will run from TKATVGPS through Muswell, although only time, and the results of this thread, will tell!
     
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  9. markelis

    markelis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Miami Beach FL
    I want to like Where Did the Spring Go, I really do. Ive tried, but after repeated listens, it’s fine, but just not essential.
     
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  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Isn't it cool finding so much you love, just sitting under the surface.

    So much of the material we have covered so far, was enjoyed, but not really fully appreciated by me.
    I've always loved the Kinks, but leaned towards that idea that they were a good singles band, with a couple of good albums..... it's kind of embarrassing really.

    Thank you for joining in.
    I love having hardened fans that know everything, sharing their love, because it opens nooks and crannies for folks to explore, it gives background that can sometimes open doors.....
    but what really makes my heart jump, is people willing to just have a listen, read a little, and make a free and easy choice about these recordings..... often with bands like the Kinks, that have somehow slipped through the cracks.

    I spent too many years hearing, but not listening. These threads make me listen.... it's a beautiful thing.
     
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  11. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    Where Did My Spring Go?

    First time listening to this today. Seems a bit novelty-ish. But historically marks only the second time Ray has used the word “rheumatic” in a song lyric, so that’s something! Not sure if I would add this to my Kinks playlist. Probably not.
     
  12. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    You're welcome Chief Avid Winstanley. It's been a positive experience being here on this thread & I try to make my own modest contributions & make almost sense. I appreciate the contributions of the other Avids, especially those who have a musical background so they can explain why the Kinks songs are great. It's great that you have overcome the sense that the Kinks were just a singles band. The next hurdle to overcome is the canard that "the Kinks stink after Muswell Hillbillies", which judging from some of the opinions of my fellow Avids that I've read, I think that we can do.
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    lol, that was never an issue for me, Low Budget and the albums of that kind of era were the "couple of good albums" :)
     
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  14. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Can anyone explain to me the album title "Four More Respected Gentlemen"?

    Four more respected gentlemen? Who were the ones before?
    It sounds like a lazy title referencing an earlier album called "Four Respected Gentlemen", but there never was such an album title.
    And the song it calls to mind was "Well Respected Man". "Four More Well Respected Men" would make sense, but why "gentlemen"? And why refer back to such an old song anyway?
    It would make a good title for a four song E.P. where each song was about a different chap. e.g. David Watts/Mr Pleasant/Do You Remember Walter/Johnny Thunder.
     
  15. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    For me, Percy followed by Muswell is a bit of a low point!
     
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  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Pete Quaife.

    Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife (born Peter Alexander Greenlaw Kinnes; 31 December 1943, Tavistock, Devon, England - Died 23 June 2010 (aged 66)
    Copenhagen, Denmark)

    Pete was born to Joan Mary Kilby, after she became pregnant to an American servicemen during the war. Kilby returned to London where she married Stanley Melville Quaife in 1947.
    He initially went to Coldfall Primary School in Muswell Hill, and later William Grimshaw School, now known as Fortismere School, were a plaque has been erected to his memory by his brother David Quaife and Penny Toumazou.

    The Davies brothers attended the William Grimshaw Modern School as well (as did Rod Stewart) and Pete and Dave formed the Ravens, depending on who you believe, in late 62, or early 63. Ray came along later.
    They used to play in the front room of the Davies house, where the Davies' parents would often hold parties, sing and play piano together. It is on this piano that the riff for You Really Got Me first saw the light of day.

    Pete spent a brief period studying commercial art, before launching the Ravens with Dave. The Kinks name came together around the time they signed their first contract.

    Early on Quaife was the Kinks spokesperson.
    In June 1966 he was seriously injured in a car crash, and was left unable to perform. He enjoyed this break, as he was sick of the conflict within the band, and actually quit, being replaced by John Dalton. He later changed his mind and was back in the band in November 1966.
    He stayed with the band another two years and played on the Something Else By The Kinks and The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society albums, and he also rehearsed some songs on the Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), but finally left the band permanently in April of 1969.
    Initially the band members didn't believe he had really left, but saw an article about Pete's new band in the music press, which confirmed it. Ray tried to persuade Pete to come back, but it was the end of that era for the Kinks.

    The band Pete founded was called Mapleoak, and consisted of two Canadians, singer songwriters Stan Endersby and Marty Fisher (who represented the Maple) and Brits Quaife and Mick Cook on drums (who represented the Oak).
    Here is an article written by Nick Warburton regarding all this.
    Mapleoak released a self titled album in 1971, but Quaife had left by then. In 1970 the band released the single Son Of A Gun that failed to chart, and Quaife left shortly afterwards.



    At this point Quaife left the music industry altogether and moved to Denmark.
    In 1980 Pete moved to Ontario, Canada as a graphic artist and in 1981 he made his only post 60's concert appearance, when he played in an encore at the Kinks show in Toronto.
    His only other musical appearance was when he jammed on stage in 1990, when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame with the Kinks.

    Pete was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1998, and during his dialysis he drew a series of cartoons based on his experiences. These received an enthusiastic response from other patients, and were subsequently published is a book called The Lighter Side Of Dialysis (Jazz Communications, Toronto 2004).
    Pete released a few books under the name Peter Quaife.

    Sadly on the 23rd June 2010, at age 66, after being on dialysis for over ten years, Pete Quaife left us.
    Dave Davies posted a statement on his message board of his deep sorrow, saying Pete "was never really given the credit he deserved for his contribution and involvement [with the Kinks]"
    Four days later Ray was playing at Glastonbury, as we have seen in the thread during the song Days, saying "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for him", and is visibly close to tears during the opening of Days.


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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I completely understand your thoughts here.... I have no idea and couldn't find anything that gave a reason.
    I somewhat assumed it was a sarcastic title, in light of the guys being another rock band, and rock bands were generally not very respected outside of their music, and even then often not, and of course the history of the band and their fights and being banned from the US .... they were the only conclusions I could come to.
     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Shame on you. Don't you dare knock my Muswell Hillbillies :)
     
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  19. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Mick Avory's Underpants

    Instead of (or alongside of) Three Button Hand Me Down, i can see the Faces heavying this up for their 1970 debut LP whilst keeping the bluesy edge and of course changing the *title and (possibly) adding lyrics or in fact not!

    * Britt Eklands Underpants?
     
  20. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Iam sorry to hear that and hope the procedure is a great success.
     
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  21. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I always thought it was a play on "Well Respected Man" that was thought up by Stan Corwyn & his fellow geniuses at the WB Records Publicity Deartment as an attempt to link the proposed album to past glories. It would have made a great title for the Kinks' equivalent to the Who's The Kids Are Alright that should have been made.

    P.S.: Thank U Very Much Avid All Down The Line
     
  22. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Yes absolutely, the Japanese also created a similar all hit EP of The Yardbirds with 4 big titles from 1965-'66 and even the cover colour was not a million miles away!
     
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  23. joejo

    joejo Well-Known Member

    Location:
    toronto
    Is this it: Odeon OP-4150? stereo?
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well I googled Odeon OP-4150, and this is what came up

    [​IMG]

    A1 For Your Love 2:28
    A2 Heart Full Of Soul 2:28
    B1 I'm A Man 4:22
    B2 Shapes Of Things 2:23

    The Yardbirds – For Your Love (1966, Vinyl)
     
  25. Brettlowden

    Brettlowden Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rochester ny
    I've heard it as "coz his employer was as soft as rain"
     
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