The Dave Davies album was submitted to Reprise in 1969 along with Arthur and the spare tracks album (mainly stuff that ended up on the GLKA) to fulfil contractual obligations in terms of tracks submitted per year (or similar) to Reprise. I guess there were no such obligations in place at Pye in part cos all the tracks were already recorded in house there anyway. AFAIK Hidden Treasures and the GLDDA (Arthur box set version) both follow the track sequence from the acetate, except GLDDA omits ‘Susannahs’.
Are You Ready: hmm, normally this would be right in my wheelhouse...but I put it in the so-so camp. As others have said, hymn-like (which is fine/good), should have been the closer on the album and shortening it up might have been better. Finally, I think a bit rougher (or raw) harmony vocal would have accented the anguish.
So I am still unsure. It seems Dave may have said this re the Arthur Box: Despite all the work done for solo album in the 60s, a sequence was never finalized until now. Also Pye is silent on the whole thing.
I personally like when rock artists go a bit country. It's strange, because I have never actively sought out to listen to a full album by a country artist. Like, ever. But, this gives me "Behind that Back Door" (G. Harrison) and "Hold On Dear Brother" (Beach Boys) vibes in their tilt towards this kind of slow, sad country balled. Those are among my favorite songs on their respective albums. With this and Lincoln County, I wonder how much influence Dave had on the Kinks transition to more of the folk/countryish sound in 1970/71 for the Lola/Muswell albums. The organ fills the space nicely, and again the harmonies are lovely. Thank you @Fortuleo for making me look for that little detail. Incredible. I also agree with this: This would have been a great closer. In that context, it is not too long at all. Where it actually is, I'd say it's a minute too long and a victim of bad sequencing, as @mark winstanley said earlier.
"Are You Ready" is pleasant enough, but seems to drag a bit. Maybe I'm just not listening to it in the right environment at the moment. I agree that it's a contender for the album's closing track, although I haven't heard everything yet.
I strongly suspect that Dave never completed a finalised sequence for the album in 1969, and the acetate submitted to Reprise that year was just assembled in any old order without any thought or care by either Ray or Dave in a hurry or a Pye admin as it was intended purely just an internal content dump for the purposes of fulfilling a contract. The sequence is so poor otherwise that it’s hard to believe it was artistically intended. Because the 1969 acetate is the genuine item from the time, I guess it was thought when Hidden Treasures and the Arthur box disc were compiled that the sequence should be preserved for authenticity. I think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity that maybe on the Arthur box disc (being as it was the second official assemblage of this material) they couldn’t have attempted a re-imagined running order.
Just looking at Spotify's listing for "Hidden Treasures", I thought it was interesting today that "Are You Ready" has the fewest plays of all the main songs on the album. Of the first dozen tracks, you can see Mindless Child of Motherhood has the most, and I am surprised that "Hold My Hand" is so close to "This Man He Weeps Tonight". "Death of a Clown" is off the charts, but that takes into account all the plays of that track on Something Else, and well, it's frickin' "Death of a Clown". EDIT: Now that I think about it, many of these songs are cross-listed as bonus tracks on Something Else or Author, so that is likely why some have more than 50,000. My guess is this entire album has only had maybe 10,000 listens.
I mean, to be fair to the rest of the album, I Am Free and DOAC are just bonus tracks here, but the point still stands. Shocked how much more Mindless Child has over This Man though.
That might be partly due to me, because I do listen to "Mindless Child of Motherhood" pretty often for years now... To me, it is the superior song of the bunch and I can't think of any other song that is like it.
‘Mindless’ was the US b-side of ‘Lola’ so that perhaps accounts for more recognition over ‘This Man’, having been on the flip of one of their biggest US hits.
I'm sorry to say that "Are You Ready?" is not one of my favorites...it might be my least favorite of all these tracks. As others have said, it's got a country-ish flavor (not really my thing), and the song is a bit long. The lyrics are kind of dull too. But the melody is nice enough. I think I'd like this song more if it wasn't being compared to "Mindless Child of Motherhood" and "This Man He Weeps Tonight," which feel like fully formed, thought out, complete songs.
My first time hearing this. My immediate reaction after just two or three measures is "Don't You Fret, Part II." Normally, a song's bridge is supposed to act as a brief change of motif from the verses and choruses. What strikes me about this tune is just how similar the bridges are to the verses. Just a couple of altered chords and some added backing vocals. This is not the sort of thing I would listen to often, but it's pleasant enough to not make me want to instantly hit the fast-forward button.
"Are You Ready" A pleasant song that recalls Ronnie Lane or even Rod Stewart. It would have been a nice Faces song with both of them singing together. Kind of interesting to hear all the Ronnie Lane or Small Faces similarities in many songs. There is another one coming up on this album. I agree this would have been a good closing song as it feels like a big sing along at the end of the night. I can also hear someone like Tom Waits giving this a go. A nice tune that I was not very familiar with before this morning.
This is the first Kinks-adjacent song in this whole thread that I've never heard before, other than some early demos. I like it! With Dave songs, I never concentrate on the lyrics unless they actively perplex or annoy me. It brings to mind the renditions of "Farther Along" and "Peace in the Valley" from the Million Dollar Quartet jam sessions (Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, w Johnny Cash only in the photo op). It suffers in comparison, but of course it would. Still, it's nice. There's an unexpected chord shift Dave does at 0:58 which adds a level of gorgeousness to the the whole thing. I agree, woulda been nice at the end.
Are You Ready I like the harmonium or whatever reed instrument it is that anchors the song. As ajsmith mentioned, it sounds rather hymnal. What really makes it for me is that chromatic line the harmonium does at the end of each verse. That's what sets the Kinks apart imo, even on the weaker tracks. If this were just a standard C -> Am -> F progression or something it sound completely uninspired and sterile, but Dave keeps it harmonically interesting. Overall not one of my favorites. I like the lyrics and the arrangement is good, it just plods on a bit too long for my tastes. It kind of reminds me of Kevin Ayers' work around this time. Particularly his track 'Lady Rachel' which has a similar arrangement, but is considerably weirder.
A couple days ago, Colin Hay (formerly of "Men at Work" and recently part of Ringo's All Starr Band) put up this acoustic version of Waterloo Sunset. I just stumbled upon it just now. The YouTube algorithm strikes again... "'Waterloo Sunset' is brilliance on so many levels. It stalks the boards of vaudeville halls of Britain, it talks of the exquisite beauty of home. It introduces us to Terry and Julie, two people who remain in our eternal consciousness. A sublime melody, one of the greatest guitar lines ever, a perfect pop song. Whenever I listen to it, or play it, it creates an ache in my heart, for family I loved and lost, and for a time forever unforgotten. It was nothing but joy to be able to record a version of one of the greatest songs ever written.” - Colin Hay
And didn't one of the BBC disc jockeys refuse to play it because he considered it belittled the working man? I think it was Tony Blackburn. No doubt we will get to it in the fullness of time.
Nice version. I find myself automatically filling in the la la las in my head. I follow Colin on Twitter and actually posted a link to an audio only version of this back on July 12. I’m glad you came across and posted the YouTube video.
… which is another time paradox, as those guys had yet to publish something in that style. I can definitely hear Ronnie Lane's country-ish drunken sing along style in this (and I have to thank you for introducing him to me in our beloved Wilco thread, as it's become a great passion of mine). Maybe it’s an English/celtic thing as well, as I could also picture Denny Laine in a folk mood singing this song, during an acoustic interlude. As for your last intuition, yeah, that's what slow hymnal semi-gospel country tunes with tambourine, echo and pump organ will do to you : sounding like some beautiful 80's or 90's Tom Waits ballad…
Are You Ready? Neither of the Davies have strong technical voices... Dave even less so than Ray. They compensate in other ways, with feel, emotion, authenticity, mood matched to theme, etc. But this is unlistenable to me. Makes Dylan sound like Pavarotti. And I'm not one to sit through four solid minutes of unwaveringly plodding quarter note strumming basic chords. This one is a pass for me.
Side note: am conducting a review of my top 100 albums ...and it’s started out as a bloodbath with albums being flung aside hither and thither. ‘Something Else’ is in the Under Consideration list so we shall see how things shake out.
So many people say this, but how many rock n roll singers are considered technically good? I'm not sure I even like many singers that one would say is technically great. I can understand Dave being a little irritating, but I think this is a nice vocal that fits the tune. The last song his vocal was a little much for me, so I get what you are saying. Personally, I love Dylan's voice much more than Pavarotti. I once had someone tell me that Ray Charles technically wasn't a good singer. I always think of this when someone mentions someone not being technically good. If Ray Charles isn't technically good then I don't know what to say. I think he is one of the greatest singers of all time. I like this quote from a Dylan speech. "Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, 'Well that's very kind of you, but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.' Think about that the next time you are listening to a singer."
