The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Groovy Movies

    stereo mix (2:31), recorded May-Jun 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

    Sometimes I think I'm gonna better myself,
    Searching for acceptance in this big, wide world.
    Sometimes I think I won't make it,
    Playing in a rock 'n' roll band.
    Sometimes I wanna be a picture director,
    And try to make the world understand.

    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies.

    All the movie makers of the world would be,
    Falling over backwards to have dinner with me.
    I'll go down to [?]
    Anytime I feel like a game[?].
    Or take a long vacation to San Tropez,
    And think of all the money I made.

    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies.

    I don't want to be a producer,
    I don't want to be a big star.
    I just want to be a picture director,
    And smoke a big Havana cigar.

    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies,
    By making groovy movies.

    Written by: Ray Davies
    Published by: ?

    The opening kind of reminds me of some US soul, or actually The sound and feel of some of Elvis Presley's American Sound recordings that led to the sensational From Elvis In Memphis.

    Here we have Dave doing one of Ray's songs, and it is somewhat ...... a bit different.

    We have a pretty straight forward song about dreaming of being a big time movie director. The horn section drives this along beautifully, and I could picture so many folks singing this song.
    In some ways this seems completely out of style for Dave or the Kinks, but that is the mark of the Kinks during this period. It doesn't surprise me that this never made it onto a Kinks album, but that isn't a mark on how I feel about the song at all, just merely how the tracks line out art the end of the day.

    This sort of sounds like Ray just stretching his legs and trying something else. When we consider that sings Something Else, and even during, Ray had been theme focused on the Village Green material, and at this point in time and I would imagine for a while prior, he had been working on the thematic songs required for Arthur .... So this kind of feels like Ray letting his hair down and just knocking out a fun track .... almost like a palette cleanser.

    I think it was a good move for Dave to do this one, and had the album actually occurred, I think this would have fitted onto it perfectly. It would have increased the sequencing options, which would have made all the difference in how this album came across.

    I can almost hear Sam and Dave doing this track, as bizarre as that may seem.

     
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    All the rest of the songs on Hidden Treasures are essentially Dave's recordings from the sixties with the Kinks, and it makes for a good compile of Dave material. For me it has been a really solid album to see just exactly how important Dave was to the band and their sound and style.
    Although I think that Dave's songs work better in the contrast of a Kinks setting, I somewhat also think that Dave's songs help bolster Ray's songs as well, and there is a chemistry between the brothers, and their styles, that actually makes each shine for what they are best at.

    Personally I think a well sequenced Dave album could have done quite well, and although I wouldn't have used any tracks that appeared on Kinks albums, I think that one or two stand alone Kinks singles by Dave could have just made the album a little special, in its own way.

    For a lot of the seventies Dave's writing seems to have sat on the back burner to some degree, we get a couple of songs on Lola, and one on Everybody's In Showbiz, but after that Dave doesn't appear in the credits until Word Of Mouth..... but Dave did start recording solo albums in the eighties, so we won't be Dave free on the thread, he pops up again...... I wonder if the push for a solo album put him off writing, or if the supposed failure of a couple of singles knocked his confidence.... but whatever the reasoning it is a shame Dave didn't keep up the momentum, even if it was for some solo material .... One things for sure, many of the Dave songs to come are really excellent songs. I am not familiar with Dave's eighties solo albums, but I will look forward to hearing what he had to do when we get around there.
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    So where do we go now?

    Wednesday - Plastic Man
    Thursday - King Kong
    Friday - Arthur (or the decline and fall of the British Empire)
    Saturday - Victoria

    We're going to look at Arthur as an album, and not pull the singles out of it, because I think the album makes more sense as an album, even though there are remnants of the sixties singles era hanging around. The Kinks were fullt loaded into the album era by now, and if they were on a bigger, or better label than Pye, it would have probably been a slightly different layout for the band. Pye was dedicated to the idea of the sixties singles market, and it seems likely that was part of the reason the band and label parted ways in the not too distant future.

    For the record and for people's continuity of mind

    Drivin' - released June 1969
    Shangri La - Released September 1969
    Arthur (the album) released October 1969
     
  4. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    This was a highlight of Hidden Treasures, and deservedly, the track appears on lots of other comps!

    Is there anything still exclusive to Hidden Treasures?
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I believe we have covered all the tracks that appear on it now.
     
  6. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Hi Mark, I was wondering when you were planning to cover the songs from Dave’s 2018 comp of unreleased 70s recordings, ‘Decade’? Myself I think it would prob be best (as we covered the 60s lost album in recording not release sequence) to fit it in at some point in the 70s Kinks timeline.
     
  7. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Another Rick Danko-meets-Rod Stewart performance by Dave, with a little bit of Happy Stones thrown in and, yes, a little bit of soul. I’m not too excited by his delivery of the verse. It’s typically scruffy and almost too enthusiastic, like a mad horse that can't be tamed. Maybe it's a mix issue but here and on some other tracks, Dave's vocals often sound kind of separated from the band, if that makes any sense. It makes the band's Stax-like playing behind him sound less tight than it actually is. In all fairness, it all gels together beautifully on the chorus, hooky and memorable. I was first introduced to Groovy Movies on the Great Lost Kinks Album and found it the least distinguished tune on an otherwise sublime and paradoxically cohesive set. So that's certainly the reason I'm being a little too harsh on it. Also, after our 10 very interesting days focusing on Dave, I'll admit I crave for some Ray Davies vocals!!!
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'll have a look at that, and try and figure out a logical spot for it mate.
     
  9. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Groovy Movies"

    After some of the heavier (in subject matter) songs in recent days, this one seems like a bit of a throwaway, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Nicely uptempo, reasonably catchy, but hardly essential. Another one that sounds like a finished track waiting for an album to slot into.

    Speaking of which, given that for most of these tracks I've suggested where they might fit on an album, it's time to put all that together and see what comes out. I've disqualified the 1967 singles from the album (although I suspect Pye would have done the opposite), which leaves us with the following 12 track "Hole In The Sock Of Dave Davies":

    1.Mindless Child Of Motherhood 3:11
    2.Lincoln County 3:12
    3.Mr. Shoemaker's Daughter 3:09
    4.Groovy Movies 2:33
    5.Hold My Hand 3:16
    6.Are You Ready 4:03
    (19:24)

    1.This Man He Weeps Tonight 2:41
    2.Do You Wish To Be A Man 2:44
    3.Creeping Jean 3:11
    4.There Is No Life Without Love 2:04
    5.Crying 2:40
    6.Mr. Reporter 3:39
    (16:59)

    I think this sequence mixes up the faster and slower tracks and keeps things interesting, although having listened to this as a playlist last night, it's probable that it looks better on paper than it would sound on vinyl. Side Two worked out better than Side One did. Anyone else got any suggestions for a track listing?

    And yes, it is about time we got back to some Ray vocals! :)
     
  10. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Doing all these songs in a row makes me realise how much Dave's voice gets on my nerves in large doses. I prefer the one or two tracks per Kinks album deal rather than a full album of it.
    Creeping Jean
    Not bad but not great either. Would stand out on this album had it been released but wouldn't stand out at all on a Kinks LP.
    Crying
    Not much to this one. I just played it again and still can't remember much about it.
    Mr Shoemaker's Daughter
    Honestly, this is pretty terrible and I doubt as much thought went into the lyrics as all the discussion suggests. It sounds like it's imitating an old traditional folk lyric. Such oral-tradition songs are often about Jack the Lad characters and often don't seem to make much sense.
    Groovy Moovies
    The Ray Davies touch is a breath of fresh air. Good pop song.
     
  11. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I think that’s a good idea. You should have been Dave Davies agent.

    I like a good shouter but this vocal has areas where it is almost too uninhibited.
     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Ok, having a quick look at where it all lays.
    It seems the majority of tracks are from later in the decade, and the highest percentage of tracks are from 1978.

    So it seems slotting it in between Misfits and Low Budget would be the most logical spot for it.

    So unless someone has a particular problem with that, that's how we'll roll it out
     
  13. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Just like Avid Fortuelo, I first heard "Groovy Movies" on The Great Lost Kinks Album and I initially shared his opinion of its being the least favorite song on the album, although I do appreciate it more and enjoy the neat little horn hooks. It just seemed that in company of the other songs that it seemed slight, especially the lyrics.

    Also, Avid Winstanley, I think that we should discuss Dave's Decade compilation in the interregnum between the RCA & Arista albums, i.e. between Schoolboys & Sleepwalker. To me that would be the most logical position.
     
  14. James H.

    James H. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Runnemede, NJ
    I would like to know if you will be covering Dave's albums from his website. I bought a couple from the early '00's. Fortis Green and Pursha and the Spiritual Planet were a couple I bought.
     
  15. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    For an embarrassingly long time I thought the opening line of this was ‘sometimes I think I’ll put a pin in myself’.

    Ages ago on this thread when talking about the soul influences on ‘Kinda Kinks’ I mentioned how these disappeared from the Kinks palette shortly after, never to return, but a track like ‘Groovy Movies’ proves that this was in fact not entirely the case. (On reflection I can also detect some soul type inflections on certain mid 70s tracks too). While ‘Groovy Movies’ is a much more full and confident band performance in the idiom than the Kinks were capable of 4 years earlier, it also, I dunno, seems like a very showbizzy and light entertainmenty sort of soul track too that paradoxically lacks soul in a wider sense.

    I dunno, unusually for Ray the lyric is very on the nose and it sounds kind of written to order (even on songs he had been commissioned to write for TV shows etc he had tended to exceed the brief in terms of emotion poured in) and surface level. It really sounds like Tom Jones asked for a song about making it in the movies for his duet with Lulu on his next all singing all dancing Saturday spectacular and that’s what the shows writers came up with. I mean it does the job well but it’s all surface level and doesn’t linger in the heart or mind.

    I realise I’m being a bit harsh, it just strikes me as very significantly atypical of Ray’s usual writing style, more for the lyric than the type of music. I actually do enjoy it when it’s on cos it’s a great sounding track and it works very well as a change of pace on both GLKA and the various configurations of Dave’s album. And ironically, since Ray was indeed a frustrated film maker, there’s a strong argument to be made that in fact this one did come straight from the heart….
     
  16. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I can hear that. The opening has always reminded me a bit of a riff in "Polk Salad Annie"

    You overlooked "Trust Your Heart" from 1978's Misfits.
     
  17. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Groovy Movies
    This is a nice upbeat (albeit slight) song on which to wrap up Dave's late 60s efforts. I get the Stax vibe too - but I wish the horns sounded fatter, if that's the right term. Lyrically, there's not much happening but I prefer this to the complaining in Mr Reporter. Overall, this deep dive has given me renewed appreciation of Dave's work, especially when he ups the tempo. But I still prefer to hear his songs as part of Kinks albums: he and Ray are yin and yang: they need to be in balance - or at least in a semi-hostile ceasefire. :D
     
  18. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    Groovy Movies
    I can definitely hear that soul in it. I think Sam & Dave is an appropriate artist to compare this groove to. I'd also throw Wilson Pickett in there too. Don't hate me, but there is also something about the overall groove and horn part that makes me think of "Valleri" by the Monkees (released in early 1968), but not the actual song itself. I dunno, it's hard to explain. Again, don't hate me for the comparison to the Monkees. It's just where my mind went.

    Anyway, it seems like a fun song to play live and jam to. I can imagine during the breakdown to the bass-only part (1:35-ish), Dave could start a call & response with the crowd. I don't have much else to say. I'll add it to my playlist because it's a fun song and is indeed groovy.
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    We'll be looking at Ray and Dave's solo releases.
    As to what extent we'll be looking at albums, will, to some degree depend what we're looking at.
    Proper albums, we'll do, as we are at the moment, unless the feeling of our participants changes.... in which case, we may go to two songs a day.
    Live recordings will likely be less thorough.....
    but we will be looking at everything.
     
  20. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Everything by the Kinks.
     
    FJFP, Zeki, DISKOJOE and 1 other person like this.
  21. Zack

    Zack Senior Member

    Location:
    Easton, MD
    I always heard the line in Groovy Moves as "big shot director."

    Love the tune.
     
    kch27, jethrotoe, Zeki and 3 others like this.
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm kind of torn there .....

    First, nearly half the album hasn't been recorded at that stage.
    Secondly it's a terribly big, and in many ways important transitional period for our main focus, being the Kinks as a band.

    So I'm not sure really....
    I kind of consider Decade to be very similar to the lost sixties Dave album, and it seems odd to discuss it, before it has all been recorded.....

    I suppose the other option would be to discuss the tracks individually when they were recorded...... but as they were released together, it seems more valid to discuss them together....

    The only way I can think to make a decision on it, that isn't just me being some kind of dictator, is to leave it to a poll, for the majority to decide.
    I don't want to disrupt the Arthur material, so now seems to be a somewhat convenient time to vote on it....

    I don't know a better way to do it, without posting a poll specific thread, that won't be just our participants, so I guess we'll just follow our previous method...

    ‐------------------------------

    So below will be three options for how to deal with Dave's seventies recordings that were released on the Decade album, in 2018.
    Please like your preferred option.......

    For reference purposes

    Dave's Decade
    1971 - 1 song
    1973 - 3 songs
    1975 - 2 songs
    1978 - 3 songs
    1979 - 1 song
    78/79 - 1 song (a redo of a 75 song)

    Kinks
    1975 - Soap Opera and Schoolboys in Disgrace
    1977 - Sleepwalker
    1978 - Misfits
    1979 - Low Budget
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
    Steve62, jethrotoe and DISKOJOE like this.
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Do Dave's Decade between Schoolboys In Disgrace and Sleepwalker? Essentially 1976
     
    DISKOJOE likes this.
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Do Dave's Decade between Misfits and Low Budget? Essentially 1979
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Do the tracks off Dave's Decade individually, in the year they were recorded?
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine