Everything in Victoria comes together so well. The band is on the top of its game, and there's a great use of horns too. But knowing what's following, amazingly, Victoria isn't a highlight--not because it isn't fab, but because the bar set by all the songs on the album is so high. On almost any other record it would be an absolute standout track! I've just noticed that the voice Ray uses on Victoria is carried over to the first verse on Yes Sir. Makes sense, of course.
Reference guide Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 1967 Apr 1967 Mr Pleasant - Alt version - Beat Club - live - beat club - instr (whistling) This Is Where I Belong - Ray live - Ray with Francis Black May 1967 Mr Pleasant EP Mr Pleasant This Is Where I Belong Two Sisters - Ray live (with chat) Village Green - Instrumental - Ray May 1967 Waterloo Sunset - instr. - live 73 - Ray live 78 - live 94 - Ray and Damon Albarn - doco excerpt - Ray and Bowie - Ray live (Peter dedication) Art Nice and Gentle May 1967 Waterloo Sunset EP Documentary Jul 1967 Death Of A Clown - Dave Live - Dave live 2002 Sept 1967 Something Else By David Watts - Live 84 - Dave live 97 - Ray live 2010 - Alt mono - alt version Death Of A Clown Two Sisters No Return Harry Rag - BBC - Ray 2010 - alt version Tin Soldier Man - Sand On My Shoes (original) - Alt backing track Situation Vacant - mono Love Me Till The Sun Shines - BBC - live 69 - Dave 97 - stereo Lazy Old Sun - alt version Afternoon Tea - German Stereo - Alt stereo - Canadian Mono Funny Face End Of The Season Waterloo Sunset Little Women backing track Dave And Ray interview sixties Echoes Of The World - The Making Of Village Green Preservation Society Oct 1967 Autumn Almanac - stereo - Top Of The Pops - live fan jam - Ray - breakdown Nov 1967 Sunny Afternoon LP Nov 1967 Susannah's Still Alive - stereo - video 1967 BBC sessions - Sunny Afternoon Autumn Almanac Mr Pleasant Susannah's Still Alive David Watts Death Of A Clown Good Luck Charm Jan 1968 Live at Kelvin Hall Part 1 Part 2 Jan 1968 Wonderboy - video - Top Of The Pops - stereo mix Polly - stereo mix April 1968 The Kinks EP June 1968 Days - stereo mix - Glastonbury 2010 - live 1969 - video edit - Basil Brush - Alt stereo - Acoustic - 1991 EP version Aug 1968 Lincoln County - stereo mix - Dave live There Is No Life Without Love Colour Me Pop Medley She's Got Everything Promo film July 1968 Colour Me Pop - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion A Well Respected Man Death Of A Clown Sunny Afternoon Two Sisters Sitting By The Riverside Lincoln County Picture Book Days Nov 1968 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society - the gold disc award The Village Green Preservation Society - Alt mix with studio banter - Live 73 Do You Remember Walter - Euro Stereo - Backing Track - live 94 Picture Book - real stereo - live 69 - live 73 - Ray 2011 Johnny Thunder - alt mix - stereo - original stereo - Ray (+VGPS) 2008 - Ray 2010 - Crouch End Chorus Last Of The Steam Powered Trains - alt ending - live 69 - live 70 - Dave live Big Sky - alt stereo - live 69 - Crouch End Chorus Sitting By The Riverside - Stereo Animal Farm - alt stereo - Ray 2004 - stereo Village Green - alt vocal - backing vocal Starstruck - alt vocal - video - stereo - Ray 2008 Phenomenal Cat - alt mix - stereo - stereo US link All Of My Friends Were There - stereo Wicked Annabella - stereo - Dave 97 Monica - stereo People Take Picture Of Each Other - Euro stereo (big band) - stereo - live 73 extra tracks Mr Songbird - stereo Berkley Mews - stereo - single mix Rosemary Rose - mono Misty Water - stereo - alt stereo Did You See His Name? - mono Till Death Us Do Part - stereo - Chas Mills vocal - Anthony Booth vocal Lavender Hill Pictures In the Sand - instrumental Easy Come, There You Went Egg Stained Pyjamas Mick Avory's Underpants Spotty Grotty Anna Where Did My Spring Go? - video When I Turn Off The Living Room Light Darling I Respect You Village Green At The BBC Days Waterloo Sunset Love Me Till The Sun Shines Monica Village Green Preservation Society Animal Farm Last Of The Steam Powered Trains Picture Book Do You Remember Walter? Dedicated Follower Of Fashion/Well Respected Man/Death Of A Clown Picture Book Preservation Overture Ray in Denmark with the Denmark Choir And Orchestra Colour Me Pop 1968 International EP's 1968 Four More Respected Gentlemen Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street 67-69 Dave Davies Solo Album This Man He Weeps Tonight - mono - acoustic Mindless Child Of Motherhood - mono - live 69 - BBC Hold My Hand - demo - mono - acoustic Do You Wish To Be A Man? Are You Ready? Creeping Jean - stereo - live 99 I'm Crying - better master Mr Reporter Mr Shoemakers Daughter Groovy Movies Climb Your Wall Dave Live various Rasa Didzpetris Davies March 69 Plastic Man - stereo - beatclub 69 King Kong - stereo - video Oct 1969 - Arthur Victoria - mono - live 69 - live 73 - live 1980 - live 2010 Preservation Live Starmaker Tv Play
To me, this is the quintessential Kinks opener. Kinks Kronikles was one of the first Kinks records I had, and it was a great opener for that kollection as well. They also opened with Victoria at least the first couple of times I saw them live, for the Preservation and Soap Opera tours. I don’t really have anything unique to add. What an infectious song. As an American, I had originally found the whole concept of monarchy repugnant, and I enjoy the satiric parts of the song, but even though I have no Anglo ancestry, the amount of enthusiasm in this song let me feel a little of the affection some must have for their monarch.
I don't know if you can raise my enthusiasm for this album to the level of the previous 3, but it looks like you all are trying. Once upon a time I thought Something Else was the best album I had ever heard. One time after that when I listened intently to VGPS I was wow the whole thing perfection. But, there is something about maybe the simplicity of Face To Face that always reminds me what it is all about for me. Or maybe that is only because that is the leap, a tantalizer of what came after. Plus Reprise deleted it, has anybody mentioned this?
This song sets the stage for the album. From the get-go, we get some history, social commentary, yearning for the past, but also sarcasm: “Long ago life was clean/sex was bad, called obscene/and the rich were so mean” These lines should be the entire lesson for teaching the Victorian-era to high schoolers. It totally sums up the modern stereotypes of the late-19th century in 3 lines. Really brilliant. “Stately homes/for the lords/croquet lawns/village green/Victoria was my queen.” I also love the line “where the sun never sets.” We come back to that Imperial Great Britain motif in “Arthur” when Arthur watches “his children sailing off to the setting sun/where things will be more equal and there’s plenty for everyone.” Ray made the album’s closer the opposite of the album opener. Absolutely genius. And talk about social commentary, the full line “When I grow, I shall fight/for this land, I shall die/where the sun, never sets.” I guess it was a forgone conclusion that the narrator (Arthur?) would die for Britain considering he lived through multiple wars. It must have felt that way for that generation.
Great posting, everyone. I feel like I'm in the best English class I never took in college. Your suggestion @Steve62 that if Victoria was a statue on a campus, people would be protesting it is spot on! But because they didn't closely enough. The whole point of Arthur is the postwar ideas of patriotic nostalgia -- and what living well or success and happiness actually look like -- all ring hollow.
Single by the Kinks from the album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) B-side "Mr. Churchill Says" (UK) "Brainwashed" (US) Released 15 October 1969 (US) 12 December 1969 (UK) Recorded May–June 1969 Studio Pye (No. 2), London Genre Rock Length 3:37 Label Pye (UK, 7N 17865) Reprise (US, 0863) Songwriter(s) Ray Davies Producer(s) Ray Davies stereo mix (3:38), recorded May-Jun 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London Long ago life was clean Sex was bad, called obscene And the rich were so mean Stately homes for the Lords Croquet lawns, village greens Victoria was my queen Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria I was born, lucky me In a land that I love Though I am poor, I am free When I grow I shall fight For this land I shall die Let her sun never set Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria Land of hope and gloria Land of my Victoria Land of hope and gloria Land of my Victoria Victoria, 'toria Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria Canada to India Australia to Cornwall Singapore to Hong Kong From the West to the East From the rich to the poor Victoria loved them all Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria Victoria, Victoria, Victoria Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI [/QUOTE] I hate to be Mr. Pedantic, but one minor quibble about these lyrics - As quoted above, we have When I grow I shall fight For this land I shall die Let her sun never set. That should be Where the sun never sets, as in "The sun never sets on the British Empire" In this live clip you can hear it clearly at 0:58:
I started to count all the individual songs we’ve covered...and gave up (some are listed as tv performances, etc. and would take some serious time to avoid duplication). Anyway, the number is A Lot.
I copy and pasted the lyrics from the Kinda Kinks site. I hadn't noticed that. My understanding has always been "Where The Sun Never Sets"
Ray Davies "I was in a bit of a vengeful mood when I wrote Arthur, because we couldn't go to the America and Village Green had not done well commercially. Looking back I am very pleased with Arthur. at the time we were fragmented as a band. Pete had just left,Nobby had just joined, and we didn't know how we felt about each others playing. Village Green was perfect for the band with Pete. Now with a new bass player, it added a different energy. The connection's there, all of Arthur merges with Village Green because of my childhood. I'm constantly in an innocent child-like state, I couldn't write otherwise."
Mick Avory I's rank Arthur among my favourite Kinks albums. We were excited because these were different types of songs, they followed a story. Ray was always progressing, which made things interesting. There were some new challenges which I liked."
Dave Davies "I loved the songs, I loved the idea even though the TV special didn't happen, we still had all this wonderful material. There's a lot of sarcasm and hurt on the album, like the line " Arthur maybe you were right, all along, don't you know it?" Sometimes some of the most sardonic or sarcastic things really help get the emotions out."
Ray Davies "Things happen for a reason. The whole focus at the time was on getting back to America so it didn't seem to affect me that much. I put my emotions on backburn, something I have learned to do over the years. Mo Ostin (head of Warner/Reprise) really wanted us over there because they helped us with Village Green. Arthur was the second of the two England themed albums we were going to America on the back of. It was important to the rest of the band but the thought of going back scared me. Once banned, always stay banned. My head wanted me to do it, but my heart was terrified. Literally terrified."
John Dalton "Mick said, 'Ray's asked me to ring you.' Mick told me that Pete was quitting and would I come back. First of all I wasn't too sure because of what had happened before, but when Mick said Pete was definitely going for good, and because Mick and I got on really well, I thought, OK then."
John Dalton "Half the songs were still in Ray's head so we'd work it out between us. Ray would run through chord changes, you'd write them down, and we'd go through it together" "In the studio Ray would set the tempo, and we'd try out different things. You just played along. A lot of the time Ray wouldn't sing, but perhaps that was because he was still trying to develop the arrangement of the song. We couldn't afford much studio time so we would go in at nights to record when we could."
I'd like to draw everyone's attention to an even more obvious comparison than "Going Up The Country"... Both songs were big hits here in Southern California, and to this day, when I hear the intro of "Time Is Tight" on an oldies station, I frequently expect to hear "Victoria" (and vice-versa). The structure of the song is extremely interesting. The verses and choruses are purely diatonic, but then we suddenly get that completely unexpected bridge with the slowed tempo and the musical tip of the hat to "Pictures Of Matchstick Men." I would imagine that part of the reason this managed to do well in certain regions of the U.S, mainly had to do with the song's easy hummability. Certainly the lyrics, which are actually difficult to make out in places, wouldn't be of too much interest to most yanks. It's also easy to dance to.
Thanks for taking all the time to copy this all out for the thread participants. Much appreciated. I know it’s quite a task.
I just came across a bizarre album that is a cover of the Arthur album..... I was sort of torn about whether to post it .... but I figure folks can listen to the first couple of minutes, and either be enthralled or shake your head and move on. I know nothing about this band, but I gather they are somewhat avant garde, sort of punk, and certainly present this album in their own unique way. Mainly I just found it very interesting that a band like this would go to the trouble of learning and recording the whole album..... It's quite different to the Kinks, it isn't something I would buy personally. So for thirty seconds of most folks time, if any, here's Connie Voltaire, and their version of Arthur