exactly. I often avoid ranking things I love so much because I feel like it's similar to ranking your children... PLEASE don't make me do it. It hurts.
This just in! Ray and Dave talk about what the Everly Brothers meant to them, in a sidebar in the November 2021 issue of Uncut. My favorite quote, from Dave: I loved all their songs, but one that me and Ray would occasionally play on stage was ‘Bird Dog’. I didn’t really know what it meant. ‘Hey bird dog, get away from my quail!’ What’s a quail? Oh. I learned pretty quickly.
I can't make any playlist, and I won't ! I just won't pick, I want it all ! But I thought I'd tried an "objective" summary of our discussions so far in the "album tracks" department. What follows is the Kinks' sixties albums represented by their two best/most iconic songs, based on my impressions of this thread's consensus. Kinks : You Really Got Me / Stop Your Sobbing Kinda Kinks : Tired of Waiting for You / Nothin’ in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘bout That Girl The Kinks Kontroversy : Till’ the End of the Day / Where Have All the Good Times Gone Face to Face : Sunny Afternoon / Rosie Won’t You Please Come Home Something Else by the Kinks : Waterloo Sunset / Lazy Old Sun Village Green Preservation Society : Village Green Preservation Society / Village Green Arthur : Some Mother’s Son / Shangri-la You'll note that a lot of the above tracks were singles, which must say something about the band's ability to pick the most appropriate tunes for the Charts. Of course, the Village Green and Arthur picks are the most debatable. Animal Farm and All of My Friends Were There (two personal favorites) proved more divisive in our discussions than I thought they'd be. Victoria is sorely missed… but take Shangri-la out, and the thread's consensus would be broken, wouldn't it ? On Something Else, Two Sisters would edge out Lazy Old Sun if I was the reigning Emperor of the Kinksdom. Thankfully (?), I'm not… Anyway, I won't call it a playlist but that's a pretty fabulous 14 tracks "sixties Kinks" sampler right there.
Trying to come up with the top ten songs we have covered so far is impossible for me, and a long playlist could include almost every song. Does anyone know how many songs we have covered? Nearly every one has been a masterpiece and worthy to be on a playlist. I'll try for a top 25 songs so far and make another playlist for myself. Although, the best playlists are the albums! 1. Big Sky 2. Sunny Afternoon 3. Dead End Street 4. Animal Farm 5. Lazy Old Sun 6. Autumn Almanac 7. Rosie Won't You Please Come Home 8. Big Black Smoke 9. The World Keeps Going Round 10. Too Much On My Mind 11. Sitting By The Riverside 12. Who'll Be The Next In Line 13. Yes Sir, No Sir 14. Some Mother's Son 15. Shangri-La 16. Days 17. Waterloo Sunset 18. Village Green 19. Starstruck 20. I've Got that Feeling 21. Look For My Baby 22. Do You Remember Walter 23. Davis Watts 24. All Of My Friends Were There 25. Village Green Preservation Society That was kind of ridiculous. I could easily add 25 more songs without any dip in quality, but these are among my favorites, and some songs that quickly came to mind. Looking on my iPod, I have a couple of Kinks playlists I have made for friends and myself. One has 30 songs from 1964-1968 and one has 25 songs from 1969-1973. I do think that Arthur fits in better with the early 70s albums.
Hickory was a country music label. Clive Davis managed to get Donovan away from that label to Epic/Colombia, but there was a dispute w/Pye Records that involved Allen Klein which meant that Donovan's albums/singles including "Sunshine Superman" wasn't released in the UK for about a year, which diluted the impact of his new sound there. As for Cadet Concept, it was owned by Chess Records & represented the "rock" material. Rotary Connection was also on that label. Over here, Status Quo was/is a one hit psych-pop wonder rather than the much loved (?) boogie band in the UK
Gonna be pretty tough, but I'll do my best to contribute a tip 25 (order couldchange at any moment anywhere across the list, so fine is the distance between any two from top to bottom, just as just about any other song from the katalog could appear at random on any given day) Waterloo Sunset Last of the Steam Powered Trains Where Have All the Good Times Gone Picture Book All Day and All of the Night The Village Green Preservation Society Victoria You Really Got Me A Well Respected Man Brainwashed Dedicated Follower of Fashion Party Line Love Me Till the Sun Shines David Watts Stop Your Sobbing Got My Feet On the Ground Till the End of the Day Animal Farm People Take Pictures of Each Other Arthur Do You Remember Walter Two Sisters Yes Sir No Sir Phenomenal Cat Sunny Afternoon
I have them all Anyway, it seems like my fellow Avids are making out lists & checking them twice to see what Kinks songs are naughty or nice. I'll jump into the fray & make the list of my favorite obscure 60s Kinks songs: 1. "She's Got Everything" 2. "I'll Remember" I've always loved this song. This & the next song on this list showed the influence of Buddy Holly on the Davies boys. 3. "When I See That Girl of Mine" (demo version) Buddy Holly '65 4. "Time Will Tell" It sounds a bit incomplete & Ray's voice goes at one point, but a great rocker nonetheless. 5. "All Night Stand" (demo) I wonder what a full Kinks band version would have sounded like. 6. "A Little Bit of Sunlight" (demo) a nice little song that I can imagine Jonathan Richman doing 7. "And I Will Love You" my friend Jimmy actually lent his copy of the acetate of this song to the compilers of the Kinks Konterversy deluxe set. 8. "Creeping Jean" a fine Dave rocker w/a great riff 9. "I Go To Sleep" (demo) 10. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" why did the Animals reject this gem of a song?
I just picked up the 50th anniversary 2 LP Arthur from a local shop. I already have the mono LP, but I couldn’t resist the stereo after our discussion. The bonus LP and the booklet made it an easy decision. Anyone have this copy? I imagine it will be harder to get soon. It’s been sitting in this shop since 2019. The Arthur listening party continues tonight on the turntable.
New vinyl and it's seriously flawed. Side A played fine and sounded pretty good. I flip it over and of course my favorite song "Shangri-La" is unlistenable. So much surface noise! I'm not sure why side B is so much worse than side A. It continues for all of Side B. I cleaned both sides, but I think it's just a bad pressing. Anyone have this problem with this record? Would you return it? This makes me crazy when brand new vinyl is this noisy. I hate being the guy returning new vinyl to the local shop. If it was from Amazon I would have no problem. Edit: I just sampled through the bonus album and it sounds fine. It's only side B of the original album that is defective. It's very frustrating, but I guess I am stuck with it.
Ranking for today: VGPS Face to Face Kontroversy Something Else Arthur Kinda Kinks Kinks This is the "which albums am I most likely to actually play in their entirety the most often" ranking. And Kontroversy could even switch places with Face to Face here. I admit I'm an oddball about Kontroversy -- but I just love to listen to it. Hey, the top 5 here are strong enough that I almost put them all on the same line.
You're not an oddball about that album at all; Kontroversy is great! In fact, those rankings would probably match mine based on how often I actually listen to the titles in question.
The Kinks – The Kinks Genre: Rock, Pop Style: Beat, Rhythm & Blues, Pop Rock Year: 1970 Alternative Australian cover A1 You Really Got Me A2 Long Tall Shorty Written-By – Covay*, Abramson* A3 All Day And All Of The Night A4 Beautiful Delilah Written-By – Chuck Berry A5 Tired Of Waiting For You A6 I'm A Lover Not A Fighter Written-By – Miller* B1 A Well Respected Man B2 Till The End Of The Day B3 See My Friends B4 Don't You Fret B5 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion B6 Sunny Afternoon C1 Dead End Street C2 Death Of A Clown C3 Two Sisters C4 Big Black Smoke C5 Susannah's Still Alive C6 Autumn Almanac D1 Waterloo Sunset D2 The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains D3 Wonderboy D4 Do You Remember Walter D5 Dandy D6 Animal Farm D7 Days --------------------------------------------------------- So in 1970 Pye released a double Anthology/Best Of, and it seems like it didn't really get much exposure or isn't really acknowledged or something, because there is little to no information about it. It would actually be a pretty good anthology of the sixties recordings if we dropped the two covers on side one and add a couple of tracks from Arthur. I suppose at the time they figured that Arthur was the most recent album, and so they left tracks off. All in all though it's a pretty good compile of stuff, and as I think most of us discovered in the last couple of days, it is really difficult to put together a compile of 25 songs to represent the band's output from 64-69. The band's singles and albums are so chocked full of Kinky goodness that they almost dare you to even try. I like the fact that they had the courage to include album tracks, and not just use the singles, and I think the tracks do a pretty reasonable job of giving us a Kinks collection that works to show the variety of the band on one album. To some degree I am not sure the covers are really necessary, but I suppose they thought it was essential to have something in there. I would have just included Milk Cow Blues, but really on a 25 track compile, I probably wouldn't have put any. I believe that for some folks this was their first Kinks album, as the 72 release of Kinks Kronicles was the first album for some of the other folks. To some degree it would have been interesting to look at the albums together, but Kronicles has too many tracks that we haven't looked at yet, so we'll get to that in due time, and we can always look at the comparisons when we get there. So please let us know your thoughts on this album, and how it fit into your music, what it made you think about the band, particularly if it was your first Kinks album. Cheers Mark
I agree that the covers are an odd inclusion for a band with so many amazing originals. I especially find the inclusion of I'm A Lover Not A Fighter odd as, for me, it has one of Dave's most pain-inducing vocals!
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 - liner notes Victoria - mono - live 69 - live 73 - live 1980 - live 2010 Yes Sir No Sir - mono - alternate Some Mother's Son - mono - live 1970 Drivin' - mono - alternate Brainwashed - mono - live 69 -live 72 Australia - mono - single Shangri La - mono - 2019 remix - backing track - Ray live Mr Churchill Says - mono - BBC - live 69 She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina - mono - live 72 - Ray 2010 Young And Innocent Days - Dave 2001 - mono Nothing To Say - mono Arthur - mono The 69 US Tour - Then Now And Inbetween - God Save The Kinks Fillmore West, November 27th 1969 A day at the Zoo with Ray Davies Oct 1969 The Virgin Soldiers The Virgin Soldiers March - version 2 Ballad Of The Version Soldiers Mick Avory Kinks stuff pt1 - Part 2 The Kinks at Pye Sixties Kinks pt1 - Part 2 The Sixties charts 1970 The Kinks (anthology) Preservation Live Starmaker Tv Play
So I'm very much looking for to @ajsmith 's run down of The Long Distance Piano Player next week, and I am looking forward greatly to getting back into the band's albums that come out during the seventies. It's actually pretty cool that the break came at the time it did, as it somewhat delineates the sixties and the seventies, gives folks a chance to catch up who may have slipped behind, and with this having been such an intense journey so far, it gives us all a chance to catch out collective breath. I'll be around probably, but just on my phone, and I really hope everyone stays on the ride with us. There are a lot of different opinions on the seventies and eighties Kinks material, and for me, it is certainly a little different from the sixties output, but we have some fantastic albums and songs over the whole period, and I reckon it is very worth revisiting this material, particularly if initially you weren't so taken by it. As long as you approach it from the perspective that the band was exploring different avenues, I think we find that Ray's writing and style changed a little, but I think there are very good reasons for that, and we'll explore this new decade of the band over the coming months. Thanks for joining us on the ride, and I am really looking forward to starting back up on either September 26 or 27.... if I am up for it I'll post the album intro on the Sunday, if not it'll be the regular Monday. Cheers guys Mark
Have a great break Mark! Can't wait to get stuck into the 70s material. Even more so since just receiving a copy of Preservation Act II through the post.
The 1970 'The Kinks' compilation double album is most notable for being compiled by Ray Davies himself, which on paper makes it more 'canonical' than most of their comps as it reflects the artists vision. This was somewhat acknowledged with the comps inclusion in the 2016 'The Mono Collection' box set which is otherwise made up of the well known sequence of regular 60s LPs. Unfortunately what this comp also bears out is that often an artist isn't the best curator of their own work, as I think most fans would agree that the 1970 double LP isn't as compelling a proposition as the fan compiled double LP 'Kink Kronikles' from 2 years later, which remains an oft eulogised collection, whereas despite being on paper more 'legit', the 1970 comp remains pretty obscure and never attained that kind of Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy -style 'seminal comp' status that it was likely intended to and that instead Kronikles nipped in and assumed. Why was this? I think a main reason is that Kronikles captures more of the essence of the Kinks late 60s purple period, not to mention it has tons of non LP rarities that make it more essential and allow it play more as a unique experience, whereas the 1970 record is a bit more of a 'here's the story so far' round up that largely follows a chronological path and offers no extra bang for buck for fans who'd already collected everything. Plus, let's face it, Kronikles was on Reprise so it probably got adequate promotion, whereas the 1970 record was on Pye so they probably dumped it onto shelves without even a press release! One further note: The sleeve design of the 1970 Kinks LP always puts me in mind of a box of luxury chocolates you might typically buy for a female relative for Christmas.
This 1970 anthology' is fine but any Kinks sixties' comp' is likely to be just as nice. Yesterday's attempts at doing our own personal "playlists" showed that given its brilliance, you just can't go wrong with this katalogue. I mean, if I was to try a playlist of my 4th and 5th song favorites from every album, it would still be a marvelous listening experience ! As far as I'm concerned, the real frustration was their decision to include this 1970 double disc in the Mono box. Why would they do that, since half its songs are already present on the original albums from the box ? They should've gone the "Past Masters" route and just put all the missing singles sides in there. Anyway, have a nice break, Mark. This is a special thread for everyone around you here. Already 377 pages of wonderful insight, info, opinions and analysis by all involved. No bickering, no posturing. Not one "the Kinks were so much better than the Beatles, the Stones or whoever" or "the only real genius is Dave" trolling. Just genuine admiration for the music and genuine respect for one another on this thread. If the Kinks were only to be judged on the quality of their fans here, they would be at the very top of the pop Olympus. Which they already are anyway, but you see what I mean.
I think it’s cos it’s the ‘canonical’ comp from the time curated by Ray himself, and so on those terms can more ‘authentically’ stand alongside the original run of 60s LPs than a practically more useful ‘Past Masters’* style collection compiled after the fact would do. It’s appeals to a weird nuance of collector mentality that I’m afraid to admit I understand while acknowledging it’s nonsensicality! *the 1987 double LP ‘The Kinks Are Well Respected Men’ is pretty much The Kinks equiv to Past Masters.
