Nice to see you back, Avid Martj. Hope you had a nice vacation. I did finish that WC Fields bio. It was alright, however, the author made a big mistake when he said that Shep Howard replaced Moe in the Three Stooges. Any Stooge fan 9 to 99 knows that Shemp replaced Curly. Some "comedy expert" !
Ooof, yeah, that's an embarrassing mistake. I was reading a book about the relationship between comedy and politics, which I believe was published by Harvard University Press. In that book, the author made a similar, glaring mistake, referring to a well known late-senator as a vice president instead. I can see how the author might have made a mistake if typing quickly, but you'd think the fact checkers and editors would have picked that up (unless they changed it, which then begs the question, why did they have their job to begin with?)
Thanks. Now for the REST of the story…you are right about Shemp replacing Curly. However, the author isn’t wrong about shemp replacing Moe at one point. It was in the pre-fame stage of the act when they were supporting “stooges” for Ted Healy. Moe quit show business to go into the family real estate business, and his brother Shemp was recruited to take his place. Maybe that’s what the author was referring to, but it’s been years since I read that book. Anyway, MOe’s foray into real estate didn’t work out and he rejoined Healy’s act as one of his Stoogies. At that point, it was Moe, Shemp and Larry. this was BEFORE they were formally known as “the three stooges.” Later, Shemp left the act and was replaced by youngest brother Curly, and that’s when the fame kicked in. It was later when Curly had health problems that Shemp rejoined the act as Curly’s replacement. The stoogies have a very convoluted history!
No, the author said that Shep later replaced Moe after appearing in the WC Fields movie, so it was a mistake. I knew that Shep was an original Stooge. I always thought that Shep replacing Curly was like if Pete Best would have replaced Ringo in the Beatles.
To bring this thread away from The Three Stooges & back towards the Kinks, have any Avids ever listened to Rise and Fall by Madness? I actually had a copy (Spanish made) even though it never came out here in the States (we got a compiliation called Madness instead when "Our House" was a hit). Anyway, I remember listening to the album & it reminded me of Arthur. I'm wondering if anyone else also thought so.
Madness are a great band, and Rise And Fall is likely their peak. It always seemed like their Village Green to me..
Suggs said in the Echoes of A World doc that they were inspired by The Kinks during that era. Or at least “Our House” was.
I had never heard of this album, but looked it up and recognized many of the songs. Seems like a good album. I’ll check it out!
Arthur What a trip and we end aptly by focusing on Arthur without whom this would not be possible. I choose to see it more as tribute than a kiss off to him and not just because the music is infectious and carries great joy. (Special shout out to Dave for his buoyant, expressive riff and the melodic lines he spins throughout!) Imagine how many Arthur's there were at that time surviving WWII, working diligently and obediently for the man (and later madam) as he raised a family and eventually earned the creature comforts he was told were possible. The glass ceiling was clear so many wouldn't begin to believe that having reached the top you "could" in fact get any higher? Lampoon him nah, he did more than pretty good even if an offspring is offside he will come around...."Don't you know it, don't you know it?"
HOpelessly behind on this thread,so forgive the retro-post. Despite the harpsichord backing and perhaps the lyric, I feel like this song sounds a lot like a Gene Clark song, and in fact, I think that the Byrds would have done an awesome job on this one had they chosen to cover it. the Chorus is just made for that three part harmony! Lovely song anyway, especially the bass-line.
So true! But why "despite the harpsichord" ??? Gene has at least two of the best harpsichord tunes I've ever heard : The French Girl and, especially, the extraordinary The Radio Song, from The Fantastic Expedition of Dillar and Clark.
It's all good mate. We have a fairly quiet two weeks at the moment. Next week is essentially two songs, a compile and some reflection on the sixties Kinks. The following week I will be away on vacation, and @ajsmith is going to run some posts about The Long Distance Piano Player, which is a movie where Ray plays a marathon piano player or something, which should be pretty interesting. Here's the current thread guide, and hopefully that can help you get through more quickly
Nothing to Say: Everything about this song says it should be right, but for some reason it doesn’t really resonate with me. It’s catchy, it’s got great instrumentation and of course it’s got a great set of Ray’s lyrics, but somehow it just feels too much like it’s all been done before by the kinks themselves (and sadly, I kind of feel this way a bit about Drivin’ too). I like it, but it registers pretty low for me on this album. It just feels a bit lacking in the forward thinking creativity department that I usually have come to expect from them as we have progressed from album to album. On the prior three albums, I kind of felt that each and every song was bursting with fresh new ideas and thus was a bit of a “mind blown yet again” experience, whereas this song feels a tad too been-there, done-that to me. Arthur (the song): It’s funny, on another thread on this forum focused on the Arthur album, the vast majority of the commenters judged this song negatively, often because it was perceived as too long. I had liked the song at first, I thought it rocked hard right out of the gate and never let up, driven by a great shape-shifting riff and sing songy lyrics throughout. I am ashamed to admit I bought in to the negativity from the other thread and for a period, over the past few weeks, I dropped it from my playlist. Talk about a lack of conviction! Even worse, I am really surprised how easily swayed I apparently am, because upon reading this crowd’s mostly positive reviews, I revisited it, remembered why I dug it in the first place, and got back on the bandwagon again. Hopefully no one will write anything too negative about it after this post to cause me to flip flop yet again! Arthur (the album): I must say, this one really bears repeated listening to get the full impact. As mentioned I had never heard this album until about 6 weeks ago. Since then it’s been on constant rotation. As we went through this song by song exercise over the past two weeks, I still continued to listen to the album regularly. Either as a result of the regular airing of the album or due to the specific scrutiny of each song as we addressed it, almost every song has grown further in stature these past two weeks in my estimation. That said, although I find each song to be pretty great, I find the album itself to sometimes feel like a heavy slog. Perhaps there are just too many heavy topics addressed on so many of the songs or maybe it’s the lack of short, peppy songs one has grown to expect from The Kinks, I don’t know. I just know as an album listening experience, I feel so much more excited when I hear those firsts few notes of the first songs from TKATVGPS or Lola vs…. To be clear, I really ike the songs themselves a lot, it’s just that I am busy envisioning how great each will sound when bracketed by songs from the other albums from the era when I arrange my playlist (the playlist for this era will include TKATVGPS, The Great Lost Kinks Album, Dave’s unreleased album, Lola vs… and Muswell Hillbillies). I think distributing these somewhat depressing powerful songs between and amongst the other lighter, poppier pre-Arthur period songs and the rock assault of Lola and countrified songs of Muswell will allow the impact of each of the Arthur songs to stand out and be easier to digest. My last rant aside, still, what a great new (to me) album to discover! Mark, thanks again for this thread. You really deserve some kudos for the way you are keeping it flowing and organized and the wonderful way you intro the songs. I am so deep into the kinks right now and it’s mind blowing to learn that the songs that I already knew and loved were just the tip of The Kinks iceberg. Thanks again!
No fear, it is doing exactly the same for me. I've always loved the band, but I feel like I am only just discovering them ... It is really very weird.
Anyone have any info on the 'great lost Dave Davies album'? Was that recorded during the 'Arthur' sessions ?
Page 298 has the start up for that album, and it ties in with Hidden Treasures. On the previous page to this one, there is a thread guide that will take you where ever you want to look. The majority of the album was recorded during the time the band was doing Arthur, but some tracks are from earlier.
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented about the songs on Arthur. I didn’t participate as much as I thought I would given that it’s my favourite Kinks album, but you all gave me things to think about, even where I might have disagreed. Thanks Mark for this wonderful thread. God save the Kinks!
You and Lance (REM, plus a few more!!! ) are both amazing thread starters/daily tenders/marathon runners... I love both your Album by Album (song by song) threads the mostest on SHTV these daze!!! Cheers on Ya!
Lance does a great job, and I wish I had time to join in more than I do. The Finn Brothers, Prince and REM threads are excellent. There are a couple more that I am not too familiar with the bands, but I would like to check them out at some point when I don't spend all my time at work ... some time in my eighties, if I make it that far lol I'm kind of, and don't hate me for this, really selfish when it comes to music. I do threads on artists that I love and hope to share, and artists that I really like, but need/want to look more closely at... The Kinks oddly come under both categories.
Arthur (the song) Great closer! Keeping in mind this was supposed to be a play or TV show, I can totally see this song ending things...the whole cast comes onto the stage or whatever. I don't think it's the high point of the album, but I think it's a good finish. Dave's guitar shines! Arthur (the album) So delighted I finally got to take a close look at this album. it's been a pleasure and I will no doubt be playing it again (and again) in the future. It doesn't meet the very high bar of VGPS, but not sure many albums would. That's perfectly ok in my book. The Kinks have been cooking with oil for many years up until this point and I know the next album does not let ya down. God Save the Kinks indeed!
