I'm just referring to the 60s albums (+ Lola) to not get too off-topic. I also like some of their later album art, eg. Sleepwalker, Muswell. But we can revisit this topic when we ruminate on the 70s albums!
I don't think someone having gone to art school actually suggests they're any good art art.... plenty of folks go to regular school and struggle with reading, writing, mathematics etc..... Then again I'm not as perturbed by the album covers as most seem to be. Personally I like Kontroversy, Something Else, Village Green, Arthur, Muswell Hillbillies, Sleepwalker, Low Budget... I've never felt that there was anything particularly wrong with the band's album covers.
So it's the end of our "wrapping up the sixties" week. The most remarkable thing about the Kinks' output in those years is they indeed weren't like everybody else. We've often noted their reluctance to go the psychedelic route when it was fashionable. Ray's infamous Revolver "review" seems to indicate it was mainly due to the fact he considered he'd been there done that two years before the Beatles (and everyone else for that matter) with the not too successful See My Friends single. It's hard to fathom but in 66, he thought he was long passed that style and wanted everybody to know he was not looking back. The Kinks were cocky dudes in those days… So I took notes all through our discussions and, as I hate off-days on the thread, I thought I'd share a list of all the songs that any of us described as "psychedelic" in our posts, or having some psychedelic elements to them. All in all, we end up with the following list of only 15 songs (to be exact, Funny Face didn't get the psychedelic tag, but I believe it was because the many mentions of Itchycoo Park to describe the phasing vocals were clear enough). So here it is, folks, I proudly present you the (un)official song by song thread’s "Psyk Kinks" list. I've just tried it, and I can assure you it's a fascinating listen. There’s a New World Now Opening for Me See My Friends Rainy Day in June Fancy Funny Face Lazy Old Sun Autumn Almanac (stereo) Wonderboy Sitting by the Riverside Phenomenal Cat Wicked Annabella Lavender Hill I’m Crying King Kong Australia
You play the first 4 or 6 or 8 songs on Golden Hour Of The Kinks, you don't need no stinking album covers.
Days Wonder Boy Autumn Almanac Waterloo Sunset Dedicated Follower Dead End Street Set Me Free Sunny Afternoon
I am When you get up at 3:30 am every day, it's hard to suddenly learn how to sleep in lol I was going to do some painting, but I'm not feeling it this morning, and Steph isn't awake yet, so I'm chilling and listening to the ocean
I think it was @Martyj who said they should have just switched the covers of Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society, and I don’t think I disagree.
Art. I bought a set of paints last vacation, and enjoyed the oil painting. I'd want to get better before trying acrylics, but the four paintings I did last year turned out pretty good for a first try. With anything I do though, I have to be in the zone, so if I'm not, I do something else
I do agree with you but I guess it was more that he should have been exposed to some concept of quality or could have had connections to artists. He might have wanted to be a painter, I don't remember, I know he wanted to be a filmmaker. I also know he draws/doodles. And I'd imagine he would have had to have taken some basic visual art/composition classes, or even art history and been exposed to art that way, regardless of his tract/medium. I think all those covers you mentioned are fine-to-cool, except Low Budget, which in my opinion looks like a Spinal Tap album cover.
I'm playing this "Psyk Kinks" right now, and as Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating!" Five of those songs made my own 60's Kinks Top 25 list, with both "Funny Face" and "I'm Crying" being serious contenders. Going just by the numbers, my album rankings would be: U.K. albums Village Green - 4 Face To Face - 3 Kontroversy - 2 Something Else - 2 Kinda Kinks - 2 Arthur - 1 Kinks - 1 Komps The Kinks Are Well Respected Men - 8 (7 of these are also from Spotlight On The Kinks which includes a few of the main album cuts too) The Great Lost Kinks Album - 1 Hidden Treasures - 1 Weird that I ended up with a 3-way tie for 3rd place, even if I would objectively rank both Kontroversy and Something Else (those two are basically neck-and-neck for me) above Kinda Kinks. Even more strange that Arthur placed so low, which I would at least rank above Kinda Kinks, but then "Shangri-La" is a comparatively lengthy song probably worth about two tracks from the one of the other titles, and Spotlight only included "Victoria" from that album anyway (I seriously considered leaving that one in as well) with nothing at all from Village Green (go figure!). As most of these lists demonstrate, you really need some kind of compilation to get those essential non-album tracks, provided you don't go the "deluxe edition" route. While Hidden Treasures is easy enough to obtain, the others are unfortunately OOP. I've seen a myriad of "Greatest Hits" type sets floating around, but will leave it for the more knowledgeable among us here to recommend the best ones currently out there.
Here's another World Radio History Kinks article dive, this time of the UK music paper that Paul McCartney once called the "enemy", the New Musical Express. First, here's the link to the paper in general, which contain links to all of the History of Rock magazine series that Uncut Magazine put out for the years 1965-88 & which contains Kinks articles from the NME & MM: NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS: UK Music Magazine started in 1952 Now here's the articles: https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...-12-S-OCR-IDX-2.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...R-OCR-Page-0016.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...14-S-OCR-IDX-13.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...09-13-OCR-IDX-6.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...05-31-OCR-IDX-6.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...05-21-OCR-IDX-6.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...R-OCR-Page-0007.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...-08-S-OCR-IDX-6.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...R-OCR-Page-0011.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...04-26-OCR-IDX-5.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...6-OCR-Page-0014.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...R-OCR-Page-0008.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...4-16-OCR-IDX-10.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...4-09-OCR-IDX-13.pdf#search="ray davies kinks" https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1965/New-Musical-Express-1965-04-09-OCR.pdf (Page 8) https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1965/New-Musical-Express-1965-04-02-OCR.pdf (Page 9) https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1965/New-Musical-Express-1965-03-26-OCR.pdf (Page 2)
A question for Avid Fortuleo which is somewhat on point. You live in France. Are you familiar w/Jacques Dutronc, the sorta, kinda husband of Francoise Hardy? Are you familiar w/his mid-late 1960s musical output? The reason why I ask is that I do have his early albums on CD & he was compared w/Ray Davies in his lyrics. Here's a sample:
Hey all! I'm back and all fixed up. Looks like a picked a great time to come back. So we're ranking the 60s Kinks' albums. Well here goes mine: Something Else By The Kinks The Village Green Preservation Society Face To Face Arthur The Kink Kontroversy The Kinks Kinka Kinks
Ok, and a three CD greatest hits from 60s Kinks? Here's mine (chronological because I like it that way): Cd1: You Really Got Me Stop Your Sobbing All Day And All Of The Night Nothin' In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl Tired Of Waiting Everybody's Gonna Be Happy Set Me Free Where Have All The Good Times Gone I'm Not Like Everybody Else Till The End Of The Day CD2: Party Line House In The Country Fancy Dead End Street Big Black Smoke I'll Remember David Watts Death Of A Clown Love Me Till The Sun Shines Lazy Old Sun Waterloo Sunset Susannah's Still Alive CD3: The Village Green Preservation Society Do You Remember Walter Picture Book Animal Farm Starstruck People Take Pictures Of Each Other Victoria Yes Sir, No Sir Drivin' Brainwashed Shangri-la She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina Arthur
I will chime in with a more decent rundown from my perspective this week, but I want to say before the weekend is out: I love all the Kinks’ album covers on Pye. Kinda could maybe have used a better photo, but the layout is great. TKaVGPS is also better with the B&W Swedish cover, but I do enjoy the UK one a lot, and the colours are what I see in my head when I hear the album.
My Greatest Hits of the 60s (which I see as different from Best Of or Personal Favorites) would be as follows: Disc 1: You Really Got Me All Day And All of the Night Tired of Waiting For You Stop Your Sobbing Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy Come on Now I Need You Who’ll Be Next in Line Set Me Free See My Friend A Well Respected Man Where Have All the Good Times Gone Till the End of the Day Dedicated Follower of Fashion Dandy Sunny Afternoon Disc 2: I’m Not Like Everybody Else Dead End Street Mr. Pleasant David Watts Death of a Clown Waterloo Sunset Susannah’s Still Alive Autumn Almanac Wonderboy Days Village Green Preservation Society Picture Book Starstruck Plastic Man Victoria Shangri La