Come on, I've seen you in other threads. You're doing all right. Just say what you like or don't like about a song.
It’s from ‘The Fast Show’, a comedy sketch show which was highly popular in the UK in the 90s. It was really funny stuff in it’s time, and notable for being particularly well acted and spawning many famed catch phrases and characters. Probably pretty obscure outside this isle (although oddly Johnny Depp was a big fan) but highly recommended if you’re into classic UK comedy.
For anyone rolling through here, and thinking you don't have the knowledge, eloquence or whatever to post. . We want your hearts, not your minds
What was the reason for changing the recording studio. I can understand a switch if they had changed labels. I wonder how/why that came about?
While I think this is one of the weaker tracks on the album - hey there is some pretty stiff competition - it’s still a fine track and good album opener.
I'll double check tonight. I kind of skimmed the Lola book on Sunday morning... I'll see if I missed it
The Contenders The slow start lulls you into thinking this is going to be a slow one and than WHAM! you're hit with Dave's guitar and it's time to hold onto to something. Love the boogie-woogie piano. Well, this song is a statement of intent, isn't it? Ray and Dave are recommitting to being a rock n roll band and that they're really not cut out for doing anything else. And as we'll see as the album progresses...no one is going to get in their way. When they make music together, that's where they're at their best. As others have said, it's a good opener. But is it in my top 5 off this album? nope. it's funny, when I see the name of this song , say, on a list of Kinks songs, I can't place it. I'm sure part of it is that "contenders" is nowhere to be found in the lyrics. But it also doesn't grab me like past songs on past albums have. It doesn't scream Kinks to me.
What a good idea. I am going to do a sound quality comparison later today. I think I have four versions on vinyl and three Lola’s on CD. I know this was an innocent typo but I just wanted to say this could be the title of a song about Mick Avory.
Unknown territory for me here. I never bought this album probably because of the horrible cover and the uninspired title. This first track in no way convinces me that I should have bought it.
Re: the album cover, for years I (and I imagine I was not alone) had no clue why the heck the art was executed as a Da Vinci pastiche until just last year when the box came out and within Ray explains he had the vision of himself trapped in the ‘Money Go Round’ being like Da Vinci’s Virtuvian man trapped inside a wheel. Even with this clarification, I feel that this concept could have been conveyed without doing such a full blown Da Vinci tribute and adding another unnecessary layer of obscurification on top of the already somewhat esoteric title. Overall I’m not sure how I feel about the cover art: it’s well executed but as I say I think it takes the Da Vinci thing too far/literally and ends up not reflecting the essence of the albums content very well. Another point about the album art: it’s notable that even though John Gosling had been in the group for a wee while by the time of LP’s release, he’s omitted from the composite Kink face on the front.
I don’t think Gosling was an official member on this album yet though. Wasn’t he a session musician who became a touring musician who became an official member later in the year? Hence why they kept dressing him up as a gorilla? Then again, he’s in some publicity shots from what look likes summer 1970…so who knows?
The Contenders After a country-ish opening, we are off to a rousing start with this energetic (if somewhat generic) blues-rock track with Dave's blistering guitar. The first few times I listened to it, the first part of the melody in the fast part ("I don't want to be a constructor of highways") reminded me of Derek and the Dominos' "Got to Get Better in a Little While" ("Don't you know what's wrong with me?") and I kept expecting to hear a chord change that didn't come! As Wondergirl said, it's a statement of intent; and it expresses the aspiration, the enthusiasm, and the desire to avoid "the daily grind" that can drive kids to pursue a career making popular music. That's a really good point to distinguish between the track and the song, and I agree with your assessment.
"Arthur had been the last Kinks' album to be recorded at Pye, and Ray Davies had been thinking of changing studios even before then, due to a combination of factors. '"Plastic Man" was my death knell for Pye,' he said. 'The sounds were not spreading and evolving in a way that I wanted. [Then] I think there was a dispute over the rates we were being charged. I did a try-out at Morgan and I liked the bass sound.'" - God Save the Kinks, Rob Jovanovic, p. 167