The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Steve it was your afterthought note that really got my like!
     
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  2. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    This Time Tomorrow

    Not much to add but need to say that like our headmaster @mark winstanley I was until this thread unaware that a linear themed thread ran through the entire album.

    Ray has so many ways of revealing his headspace in lyrical form that it is genuinely startling to consider!

    A sweet song to be sure but as Avid @Steve62 had declared this fine effort still would not make my top 30 unless it was solely compiled from 70's releases!
     
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  3. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    You know how we fans are : despite everyone acknowledging the beauty of this track, this is such a masterpiece and key Kinks song for me, that I'm almost hurt by the minor reservations posted since this morning. I expected unanimous and overwhelming praise because to me, it's one of the elite songs. The ones that, whenever they’re played, obliterate all others and make you spontaneously go “you know what, this might be the greatest song I’ve heard in my entire life”. It’s one of Ray’s most brilliant use of metaphor. This time tomorrow, where will we be ? How great is this line? And how astute is it for him to switch to “I” everywhere in the song outside the “this time tomorrow…” refrains sections? This must be one of the human condition’s central questions, but of course, it’s also just the reverie of a musician on tour, being flown to wherever the plane’s taking him for the next show. The road as a metaphor for life itself, many did it, but rarely in such a beautiful simple yet profound way. “I feel the world below me looking up at me”, this is stunning, just devastating. I’ll add that no matter what the lyrics say, it’s definitely the music that makes the listener fly.

    After take off, we just cruise along through the sky. This song earns many “best ever” points in the Kinks kanon, as far as I’m concerned. Some of the very best drumming by Mick, incredibly powerful, yet beautifully musical ; some of the best ever Ray’s “straight” singing, with no theatrics at all ; what’s arguably the best ever John Gosling contribution to the band’s sound (thus probably the best piano part on any Kinks recording) ; and last but not least, what I see as the best ever duet singing by Ray and Dave. I agree the vocals are mixed low, but I think it adds to the beauty of the song, what Ray aptly calls its "floating" quality in the quote @mark winstanley posted. Dave usually belts out his harmonies in a passionate way, which we all love, but this time around, he’s being suitably soft and sweet, soaring like he’s David Crosby or Rasa Davies or something. I especially love the way the two voices blend then part away on the “pass me by” and (best of all) “ain’t so big at AALLL” peaks of the second section, and the “looking up / looking UUP” hair raising moment of what we’ll call the middle-eight. As a production, this is an absolute triumph for me, another very unusual structure (with the verse becoming the chorus, a clever trick Ray often comes back to), one of their best sounding recordings ever and the peak of that whole Lola thing, reaching much much higher than the album’s (albeit brilliant) concept. Absolutely astounding !!!!
     
  4. Invisible Man

    Invisible Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lemon Grove
    "This Time Tomorrow": I like the "bridge" (I guess) section better than the verses. The contrast of the rather lethargic verse vocal against the sprightly music is interesting. Maybe jet lag? Good song. I like that it's not so laser-focused, as some of the other tracks are, that it can't be about more than just flying overseas to tour America. 5/5.
     
  5. Brian Kelly

    Brian Kelly 1964-73 rock's best decade

    This Time Tomorrow
    This is an excellent song and at worst the 3rd best song on the album behind the hits "Lola" and "Apeman". It is classic Ray in both lyrics, music, singing, and just the general feeling of it.
     
  6. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "This Time Tomorrow"

    I'm with @Fortuleo on this one. What an absolutely gorgeous piece of music. Another contender for my favorite song on the album. The melody is pure bliss. Listen to Mick on the drums! He sounds like Ringo Moon! It also resembles a song that Wilco would have loved to call their own. The sound would fit right in on the Mermaid Avenue sessions. Jeff's "Airline to Heaven" seems like it may have taken a little inspiration from this song.

    I'm not even sure what else to say. This song is guaranteed to cheer you up. I have also played this song many times while flying over the clouds.

    As for yesterday's song, I have had that song going round my head on a constant loop for the past 2 days.

    I believe all these songs work just fine out of the context of the album. I never even knew how much of a theme ran through this record. A great song is a great song, it shouldn't need support to stand on its own. It only becomes more impressive when you look at the entire picture. I can't think of one concept album where the great songs don't work on their own. Ray has many concepts and story lines coming up, but I still think the songs are more important than any concept. I can't wait to hear what everyone has to say about the Preservation records.
     
  7. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    To me, the arrangement of This Time Tomorrow expresses an unusual mixture of uncertainty and momentum - our hero and the airplane that propels him across the sky, represented by the song's consistently driving beat. Throughout the song there is a sense of opposition between these two forces, and we can think of the airplane as a metaphor for the external events that drive our actions and can leave us feeling that we are not in control of the direction our life is taking. One example of how the arrangement emphasizes this opposition is how the vocalization of the verse tends to begin after the first beat of the measure, and then continues to waver across the upbeat. For instance, when Ray sings "where will we be", his vocalization of these four words meanders across two full measures, with the vowels stretched out such that the vocal accents never match a downbeat. In fact, the only time vocal accents consistently line up with the beat, it's with the upbeat during the "I don't know where I'm going" section, creating essentially a ska rhythm - so at this point our hero and the airplane seem to be in direct opposition to each other. Otherwise he's being carried along by that airplane, and life, wondering where it's all leading to.
     
  8. markelis

    markelis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Miami Beach FL
    This Time Tomorrow: As noted above, by the time I carve some time out during my busy day, you guys have done such an amazing job of discussing the song de jour that there’s not much left to say. I didn’t know this song before listening to this album for the first time a few weeks ago, and I’ve never seen the Wes Anderson movie that featured it, but I’ve got to say, this one is rising quickly to become possibly my favorite song on the album. You guys have explained it so well, the amazing, thoughtful, touching, emotional lyrics and the across-the-board great instrumentation, I can only wonder how this song is not played daily on the radio like Stairway to Heaven and Hey Jude. I mean, truly what an artistic achievement!

    I will mention that I do like the new mix too. Maybe not as much as the original, but I do like the way it brings the vocals forward (buried a little bit too much in the original mix, as our fearless leader, Mark, has noted) and the way it emphasizes the guitar work more. I have been breaking Kinks songs out into chronological playlists and since my second playlist, which begins with TKAVGPS, ends with Lola vs…, I’m going to take the new mixes from the Lola Deluxe set and put them on the next chronological playlist, which will start with Muswell. I think they’ll fit in there nicely (it’s also where I’m placing the songs from Percy) and create a nice bridge between those two playlists.
     
  9. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    This Time Tomorrow
    Lovely acoustic guitars and another little beauty from Ray.
     
  10. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: To me, this has always sounded like an alternate version of "This Man He Weeps Tonight" in the same way that "Don't Ever Let Me Go" sounds like an alternate version of "You Really Got Me," and I mean that as a compliment. The meter, tempo and chordal structure works just as good either way.
     
  11. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    Kinks Part One - Lola vs Powerman and the Moneygoround

    Is this The Kinks best album? On some days and listens, for me it is. It is best to listen to it as an album, from start to finish, as intended. While many would direct a novice to VGPS as a starter album, I'd go with this one.

    Why? I suppose it's more accessible, it sounds great to this day, and has some fantastic songs on it, not to mention a couple of big hit singles, one at least being well known to this day. Strangers, Get Back In line, This Time Tomorrow, A Long Way From Home, Powerman, Got To Be Free - all great, and the new mixes from the box set sound great too.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2021
  12. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    I enjoy the Darjeeling Limited Kinks set pieces and especially this one, where the suspense is to know which of the two actors will actually get on board of the movie itself. Whenever a piece of cinema is driven by a great song, you have to ask yourself whether the images elevate the music or the other way around. In this case, I bet the director himself would recognize the obvious!

    Interestingly, there was another film where the song was used a couple of years before Darjeeling. It’s called les Amants réguliers by cult French director Philippe Garrel (longtime Nico partner) and it’s set in 1968-1969 (I know, I know…). I don’t care too much for the film (or the director, for that matter, despite his rock “credentials”), but the party scene that you can see here is arresting, if only because he made the bold decision not to cut the song at all and leave it all the way through. And that whole scene ended up being used as the official trailer for the movie !


    Lastly : bits of the piano part and chord structure of This Time Tomorrow were close to being replicated on the beautiful 1982 song, His House Her Home, by Kinks über-nerds Squeeze. Of course, there are a lot of connections between the two bands, both punkish melodists Londoners turned kitchen-sink observers and humanist storytellers. This may not be the most obvious one, but I thought I’d mention it. You can listen to it here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgYwVAc4JLI
     
  13. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Worth noting that in Village Green's "Big Sky" Ray contemplates upward to conclude the world doesn't matter much to him....and in "This Time Tomorrow" he flip flops it--he's in the the sky now, contemplating downward--and reaches the same conclusion. I guess no matter where he is, once the man really starts contemplating a deeper purpose, things like preserving china cups, vaudeville and variety or money due from Robert, Grenville, and Larry all lead to the conclusion later expressed in Phobia's "Scattered" when he sings: "...in the end what will it matter? There'll only be my ashes to scatter..." Just something to think about.

    As for today's song...those four lines Zack quoted above rank among Ray's finest poetry, IMO.
     
  14. This Time Tomorrow: The jet engine fades up, and we expect to hear the crisp and clinical sound of the White Album Beatles. But no, this is the Kinks, grinning lopsidedly, playing on a more human scale: a guitar strummed not very subtly and what I always assumed was an inexpertly played banjo. The whole thing lurches, and seems ready to fall apart. The entrance would be comic, really, if the song weren't so utterly charming. A fantastic number.
     
  15. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    Just another note about John Gosling's piano in This Time Tomorrow... I am not a music theory expert, but what I love is how the piano part builds. In the first verse, it sounds like the piano is just playing some chords. And then about halfway through that first verse, there is a lead piano part that starts and leads into the second verse. After the "leave the sun behind me" bridge, when the third verse starts, the piano lead part is clear and appears to be playing these rolling 8th notes. Then when the final verse begins (after "matter much to me...."), John seems to be playing those 8th notes again, but when the chorus repeats (at around 2:50), he appears to upgrade again to these rolling triplets instead of 8th notes. It's just so beautiful, when combined with Mick's drums, the guitar sound, and I am pretty sure there's an organ back there is the mix too. Never get tired of hearing it....

    Finally, although the audio/video is a bit shaky, here is a video of Ray performing Days and This Time Tomorrow with Mumford & Sons live in 2010.

     
  16. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    An entire obscure Kinks song used like that: c'est vraiment incroyable!
    That trailer also reminded me how much I like the late sixties, even though I was too young to experience it first-hand.
     
  17. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    After reading such a brilliant write-up I wish I could go back and edit out the minor reservations I put in my review - which I note were not about the song per se. This is a wonderful song for all the reasons @Fortuleo has outlined.
     
  18. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    This Time Tomorrow
    How much do I love this song? Tears are in my eyes from listening to it. It just hits me in all the feels.

    As Mark mentioned the vocals are mixed very low (which happens in another upcoming song on this album...don't even get me started). But I guess that's a minor complaint as the sadness and longing comes through anyway.

    Ray of course mentions the good ol' sun -which he has left behind him and going toward the sad clouds. "I don't know where I'm going, I don't want to see". It seems to me that the future is a place of fear for Ray. I guess we all have those moments. But I wonder what scares him? Does Ray see that the future doesn't offer anything better than the present? Is the past the only thing that holds happiness even if it's a distorted memory of it?

    Though I don't have a specific memory of knowing this song from my childhood, I have a feeling of an echo that this song crossed my path in the distant past. It's such a beautiful song, I'm sure my subconscious never lost hold of it.
     
  19. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    And I need to see the Wes Anderson movie, however, I hate Owen Wilson, so I'm trying to get beyond that. :D
     
  20. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    I usually like Wes Anderson films, but Owen Wilson is in nearly all of them, so if that's an issue for you... focus on Bill Murray who's also a regular :D
     
  21. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Love me some Bill Murray.
    I've seen some of Wes' films. Love his style. Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore are my faves. I never got The Royal Tennenbaums though.
     
  22. Invisible Man

    Invisible Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lemon Grove
    In case anyone is interested, here is a Rolling Stone interview with Ray Davies dated November 26, 1970, the day before
    Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One was released:
    Q&A: Afternoon Tea With Ray Davies

    Edit: they talk a lot Arthur and not at all about Lola, which seems odd when you have a new LP out the next day.

    Edit of the edit: apparently Rolling Stone meant 1969 as per @DISKOJOE
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2021
  23. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I just found this while going through YouTube before going to bed. Can our Aussie Avids explain this:

     
  24. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    The interview is from 1969 not 1970. If you notice, they talk about Arthur just being released, which it was in October 1969. The RS website made a mistook.
     
  25. Invisible Man

    Invisible Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lemon Grove
    I thought that might be the case given they failed to promote the Lola LP at all. Here's the cover of the "Lola" sheet music to make up for the outdated interview link.
    [​IMG]
     
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