Thanks mate, totally fascinating thread for us kinks fans. Keep up the good work! I also seem to have a stereo version of the Dave Davies record on an ABCKO 2 disc, hard cover version of 'Arthur'. I like Dave's album a lot and it has some great tracks on it.
It took me a couple of listens for Dave's solo album to click with me, but I think it is excellent. I think a redo, and some serious thought about the track sequence would do wonders for it.
Arthur Great song all around. I can't imagine it being anywhere else on the album. The handclaps and guitar jam at the end make for one of the most appropriate and uplifting ends to an album, and the Kinks 60s output as well. Virgin Soldier's March I had this one on a bootleg for a few years, and when I heard it again on the Arthur box I thought it was a completely different song - that's how much better the quality was! Nice bouncy tune, but rather slight, as to be expected for an instrumental theme. I still like it of course, and I find myself listening to soundtracks to TV shows/movies of the era quite often (particularly the Prisoner and the Avengers), so I do throw it on occaisionally as well. I imagine that next we will start to dive into Lola, and that's got me thinking how drastic of a sound change that album is from Arthur... of course each album sounded a bit different, but Lola almost sounds like it was performed by an entirely different band. I'll give more thoughts on that once we get to that album properly. Also, perhaps unrelated (apologies too if it has been discussed already) but does anyone have any thoughts on Ray's production on the Turtles' 1969 album Turtle soup? I reckon the sessions took place before and perhaps Arthur, but I can't seem to recall if there had been any posts about it yet. I personally love that album, particularly the track Torn Between Temptations.
It was discussed briefly Actually, for those like me who are unfamiliar with it, here is The Turtles - Turtle Soup
Mick Avory. Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) Mick was with the band from shortly after their formation up until 1984. He was in a band called Bobby Angelo & The Tuxedos, and they had a hit in 1961 called Baby Sittin'. When he left The Tuxedos he was twice asked to rehearse with a band at the Bricklayers Arms pub in London in 1962 ... the band went on to become the Rolling Stones. As we learned in the early part of the thread Mick was sidelined for quite a while by Shel Talmy, as Talmy wanted to use session drummers for the recordings, and his playing on the first three albums is fairly sparse. The first hit he played on was Everybody's Gonna Be Happy. He did play on all the recordings from Face To Face onwards, until he left in 1984. As we have seen since Mick was allowed to get on the kit in the studio, he was a solid contributor to the band's sound and played some great drums. It seems odd to me now going through this thread and listening more closely, that Mick never seems to get mentioned in the same breath as Watts, Star and other drummers of the era, and with no disrespect to any of the others, I think Mick can stand tall in light of what we have heard on these recordings so far. Avory was always considered the quietest and most easy going member of the Kinks, and was also Ray's best friend. This may have been part of the reason that Mick and Dave always had a turbulent, and sometimes violent relationship. Ray believes that the problems arose when Dave and Mick shared a flat in 1965, but I can't really comment on that. Ultimately the tension between Mick and Dave led to Mick leaving the band in 1984, and Mick only appears on three songs on 1984's Word Of Mouth album. Ray said The saddest day for me was when Mick left. Dave and Mick just couldn't get along. There were terrible fights, and I got to the point where I couldn't cope with it any more. Push came to shove, and to avoid an argument I couldn't face. ... we were doing a track called "Good Day" and I couldn't face having Mick and Dave in the studio, so I did it with a drum machine. Dave said he wanted to replace Mick, and ... I took Mick out, and we got very, very drunk. We were in Guildford, and after about five pints of this wonderful scrumpy, Mick said if any other band offered him a tour, he wouldn't take it, because he didn't want to tour. And I remember him getting the train back - because he was banned from driving; it was a very bad year for Mick - and he walked to the station and disappeared into the mist. Since he left the band it seems he spent a bit of time chilling out, and probably decompressing from twenty years of being in one of the best but most volatile groups of the British Invasion. In 1996 he joined The Kast Off Kinks with John Dalton, Dave Clarke (no, not that Dave Clarke) John Gosling and Jim Rodford. In the 90's, he also formed a band with Clarke, Noel Redding and Dave Rowberry (The Animals), called Shut Up Frank. They toured and recorded several albums - Shut Up Frank - In 2004 Class of 64 (Chip Hawkes- Tremeloes, Eric Haydock - Hollies, Ted Tomlin, Graham Pollock and Mick) was formed to be a support act for The Animals who were about to do a 40th anniversary tour. Mick is an invaluable part of the Kinks, and I think this thread has born that out well so far. Interview from The Kast Off Kinks website Part 1 Mick Avory Interview Part 1 Part 2 Mick Avory Interview Part 2
The tensions between Dave & Mick were partly because they shared a place together, but mostly from the fact that Mick almost cut Dave's head off w/a cymble in a concert in Cardiff, Wales in 1965.
What's cool for me about the flat that Mick and Dave shared was that it was one street over from where my parents lived in Highgate (and me too, for a very short time after my birth).
The place was nicknamed "Splunker's Squalor" & Dave, in his interview w/the Record Collector in November 2019, described how his mother would come over & chase out any girls that she found there.
I'm now one album nearer to completing my Kinks collection after picking up a copy of Everybody's In Showbiz at a record fair yesterday. It's a US copy pressed on Dynaflex, but it sounds fine. I've only listened to the studio disc so far, but what's clear from listening to this and Soap Opera is that back in the mid-80s when I first sampled these albums, I wasn't sufficiently versed in all aspects of The Kinks to appreciate them. I am now. Unbelievably, given how well-known a song it is in the Kinks Kanon, it's the first time I've heard "Celluloid Heroes" properly. Just the two Preservation acts to find now.
The Virgin Soldiers March Produced by: John Schroeder Release date: Dec 1969 Record label & catalog #: Pye 7N 17862 Country: UK Format: 7" vinyl single, 45 RPM Release type: Non-Kinks release The link I am going to post actually has both songs, but I am going to post this link because it appears that the March/instrumental is longer than the other links, so I assume it is the full version. We will still look at the ballad tomorrow. The track was recorded by the John Schroeder Orchestra, and surprisingly to me this was a single and the b-side was Sweet Soul Talk. The song is somewhat structured like a march, and it opens with a sort of a traditional folk kind of arrangement. We have a flute playing the main melody over a military snare mixed low, and a drum playing a consistent beat. The way the melody is constructed, and to some degree the arrangement actually sort of reminds me a bit of Mike Oldfield. We go through the melody a second time with a guitar playing the min line. Then a bridge comes in with what sounds like a synth? It's kind of similar to the flute, but it sounds either effected or simulated. The track builds in dynamics and we get brass adding some punch to it. We also have several key modulations that end up winding their way back to the variations on the main melody arrangement. It is actually really interesting the way this is done. It isn't probably likely to get on my Kinks greatest tracks, but this is a solid piece of writing that is certainly written in such a way as to fit the bill for a movie. It sounds very much like it could be on the opening or closing credits. Anyway. There isn't really an awful lot of information about this track that I can find, so I'm not going to waffle on. I reckon this is a very good example of a movie soundtrack piece of music, and Ray continues to spread his wings.
I like the march, it's catchy and very Kinks-flavored. A friend and I were recently discussing the power of any film music with Celtic traditional tones and harmonies, and this is a good case in point. The flute melody is especially haunting in the beginning. After that, it builds up nicely. Nice piece of info by @jethrotoe that the bass is played by Pete Quaife. On the other hand, we've got to admit the guitar player is no Dave Davies.
To clarify, there are actually at least two versions of the 'Virgin Soldier March': the John Schroeder version as posted above which was released as a single (and is on the 2016 Kinked! giveaways album) and the film title sequence recording by Peter Greenwell which is the version included on the Arthur box, (although technically that version is taken from the soundtrack of the 1972 doc The Kinks At The Rainbow with an intro by Ned Sherrin) and is slightly faster paced. It can be heard here. The question is though: which version does Pete Quaife play bass on? Anyone fancy studying the bass lines on each version to see if his style can be identified on either or? Weirdly I've seen the instrumental version called both 'Virgin Soldier March' and 'Ballad Of The Virgin Soldiers'. I didn't realise or had forgotten there was a actually a lyric version (the second song in Mark's post) which I guess would be the one more properly entitled 'The Ballad Of The Virgin Soldiers'.
Wow having heard what Ray & Dave were saying from the other end of the tour bus to Mick (post cymbal incident) it's a wonder they stayed so tight. N.b. I never knew they were best mates!
It's sort of intriguing that there are two versions of a somewhat obscure piece of soundtrack music. Thanks for the info. Did both come out the same year?
I think so, both 1969: I think (and I stand to be corrected) that the Greenwell one was the original as used in the film and was only on the soundtrack LP, whereas the Schroeder version was a single cover version and thus must have been an attempt to have a hit! The Schroeder version does seem a bit fuller sounding.