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
    Are they even cups?
     
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  2. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I assumed so but when I opened the drawing tab it didn't look too kinky!
     
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  3. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Fine but which Kinks album art is going to be the wall mural?
    N.b. Iam guessing Misfits with your colour prep!
     
  4. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Of course i myself was in the space program, ran Heathrow airport, guested on Beatles sessions & lifted one Wimbledon trophy.
    Now you try telling the kids that today and they won't believe you!
     
  5. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    I forgot to note that when I did all the things I mentioned I was blind in three eyes, paralyzed from head to toe and dixlecis.

    Moreover, I have accomplished all these things without having ever been in Yorkshire.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
  6. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Wow

    A vintage 2005 web page designed to look like a pdf, about a vintage 1982 Kinks comic strip that never was. It says that back in 1982 there was no Internet and the Kinks had little publicity. Two guys decided to make a comic strip about the Davies brothers. It fell apart, but there are a few cartoons left. These were drawn by this site's owner, who's a graphic designer and musician from the Basque country, who boasts he has written 250 songs and a number of rugby hymns. The script to the comic strip was to be written by a journalist from the South-East of France, who intorducess himself as the Founder of the Kinks French Connection, a glorious French fanclub that recently had a surge of fame: its internet presence just doubled, thanks to your mentioning it on this page!

    Though this fanclub doesn't seem to have had much existence on the internet, it might have been active back in the 80s: the journalist (Bernard de Gioanni) mentions an 8-page "new-letter" (?), under the title "Kuppa Kinks". Did anyone ever see one? On this blog, a guy claims he was part of the fanzine's team, and someone asks him for digitized copies.

    Yes, but for some reason it never clicked. I've got to get that vinyl some day.
     
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  7. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Then i won't Boycott you!
     
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  8. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I hope you are ok that it will contain 18 tracks and as a bonus also have a very famous French Connection for your collection?
     
  9. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I'm not sure I'm getting it ; are you referring to the fact it was recorded on the French Riviera (close to where the Kinks French Konnektion guy lives), to the French title of the "Stones in Exile" documentary ("Rolling Stones, la French Connection"), or to an artifact included with the vinyl that I'm not aware of ?
     
  10. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Knowing you, I believe it was never your intent to do so. On the other hand, I think it quite likely that you will boyscott me.
     
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  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    lol... that was off the cuff.... I don't know if there is a pic before lol.... One of those flat beige colours that looked like chalk on the walls lol ... after five years I had to get it gone
     
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  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The pictures on the wall is all for Steph.... I think she has more pictures than we have wall.... I'm pretty sure Donald Roller Wilson is going on the wall down there :)
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Nice info. I haven't had a chance to look yet
     
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  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Skin And Bone

    stereo mix (3:36), recorded Aug-Sep 1971 at Morgan Studios, Willesden, London

    Fat Flabby Annie was incredibly big
    She weighed just about sixteen stone
    And then a fake dietician went and put her on a diet
    Now she looks like skin and bone
    She looks like skin and bone

    Do the meditation and yoga
    And she's thrown away the good food guide
    And she's given up the alcohol and pizzas
    And the pies and now she looks as if she's ready to die,
    You can't see her walk by

    Don't eat no mashed potatoes,
    Don't eat no buttered scones
    Stay away from carbohydrates
    You're gonna look like skin and bone.

    Living on the edge of starvation
    And she says she's got no appetite
    And her father and her mother
    And her sisters and her brothers
    Couldn't see her when she walked by
    You can't see her walk by.

    She don't eat no mashed potatoes,
    She don't eat no buttered scones
    Stay away from carbohydrates
    You're gonna look like skin and bone.

    She used to be so cuddly,
    She used to be so fat,
    But oh what a sin cos she's oh so thin
    That she lost all the friends that she had,
    She looks like skin and bone

    If you look flabby
    And you feel overweight,
    And you wanna lose a couple of stone,
    Take a crash course diet do your daily exercises
    And you'll look like skin and bone.

    Come on rattle them bones,
    Put your hands up to the ceiling,
    Bend your hips and touch your toes,
    Do your daily exercises,
    You're gonna look like skin and bone,

    Don't eat no mashed potatoes,
    Don't eat no buttered scones
    Don't eat no carbohydrates
    You're gonna look like skin and bone.

    Written by: Ray Davies
    Published by: Davray Music Ltd.

    This song is like an unusual misfit amongst these other songs in some ways.... It seems like we have a couple of vague musical references to much older tracks.
    The bulk of this song always makes me think of Shortnin Bread, and near the end we get a vague similarity and reference to Dem Bones Dem Dry Bones .... neither are exact replicas, but they sound like they are there to me.

    To me this is just a bit of fun, and a somewhat tongue in cheek poke at the dieting phenomenon .... It is kind of interesting and I wonder if this all came about via Lesley Hornby, better known as Twiggy, who won two Golden Globes in 1971. She became a very well known model around 1966, and was voted the Face of 1966, and also got The British Women Of The Year. I'm certainly no fashion guru, and frankly I could do with losing twenty pounds, but if I remember rightly the Twiggy phenomenon changed the face of the modelling world and started the whole thin look, that seems to still be the thing ...... but that is just a guess, because it's outside my wheelhouse...... I'd be interested for any of our folks more knowledgeable fashion gurus to fill me in on that.... but anyway.

    Ray is singing about a lady that was very large, who went on a crash diet and ended up thin as a rake.... It is all a bit tongue in cheek, and doesn't really praise the idea of dieting.

    I think the main attraction for me in this song is the music, and mainly the way the guitars play against each other. We have some nice layers of guitar that via a series of rhythms and licks create this addictive rhythmic structure.
    Dalton and Avory set a rhythmic groove that is tight as a drum here. Avory is pretty much playing a very straight beat, with a few nice little accents and such, and Avory is rolling some nice walking basslines, and the guys have a really nice tight sound.
    This sets up a base for the guitars and on the left we have the riff guitar, the right we have a guitar more focused on the rhythm and in the middle we get this slide guitar, and the three of them all mix it up a little, and they create this excellent layered rhythmic stew that is the heart of the song.
    We get some nice backing vocals in here as well.

    I like this song, but really for me, this is the weakest song on the album. It is more a bit of light relief in some ways, and is the first track that doesn't feel directly linked to a theme.... although it could be seen that an eating disorder has its roots in mental health issues.

    So a cool track that is entertaining and a bit of fun, but for me a lesser track, in light of the other tracks on here.

     
  15. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Skin and Bone"

    Yeah, it's certainly not my favourite Kinks track. It's not even my favourite Kinks track about potatoes.

    This is the low point of the album for me - the first thought that springs to mind is lacklustre T.Rex. It doesn't do much for me musically or lyrically and is probably the track I'm most thinking of when I use the word "dreary" about this album.
     
  16. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    The third comedy-style track in a row, and this is by far the worst. In fact, it's the worst piece of music The Kinks had done for a good number of years.

    Side 1 of Muswell is a bit of a roller coaster!
     
  17. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    I swear I was happy thinking about the Skin and Bone day, because I’d be able to say “well, this one never did much for me” which I thought would be kind of refreshing after a tad too many enthusiastic posts of mine. But Ray’s got me once again. I know the song by heart but listening to it again this morning, I didn’t hear the generic barroom rock that I always thought it was (a kind of sped-up Bip Bop throwaway) but the genuinely charming dancing ditty that it was always meant to be. Once you understand it’s nothing more than a feel-good participation number for a live audience (“c’mon rattle them bones”!), albeit with oblique lyrics about anorexia and all sorts of food disorders, it becomes a lot of fun (and probably irresistible in concert, where they upped the tempo quite a bit). I agree the little guitar licks are all around fabulous and despite the Bolan warble, Ray’s smiling delivery is great, especially when he turns the melody on its head during “if you look flabby” part. I also agree the backing vocals are superb throughout, with a personal preference for the “bones & bones &, skin'n bones” bass vocal part (2'20''), that sounds like what Mike Love would do live around that time, and a few months later on some So Tough tunes.
     
  18. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    Indeed. And I love it.

    Not really a comedy track, IMO. And neither are the two preceeding it as the subjects of all these are serious. This isn't Zappa or Flight of the Conchords :D
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Definitely. I'm not sure any of these tracks are comedy tracks as such.... More lighthearted fun in the face of serious issues. I think the bouncy presentation can be somewhat misleading
     
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  20. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    And that is when people get angry... :D

    Nah, seriously, all part of the stocism of the British Empire. A smirk instead of a smile and always hide your pain and fears behind a quickwitted quip spoken thru a stiff upper lip and such. Personally I can respect and understand that way of living more than over-emoting and sentimentality just for the sake of it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
  21. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    Another great post and the quoted part is so true: when he finally hooks you things that you first thought of as slight or filler become suddenly something entirely different.
     
  22. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    There are 3 kinds of tracks on this album : those I always liked, those that grew on me and those I don't care for. This one is definitely type 2. I used to skip it, now I really enjoy it, for the reasons already described the Master and Fortuleo.
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    For the record, least favourite doesn't mean I don't like it.

    A bit tired this morning, and my brain is in limp home slow mode lol
     
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  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Oh dear... obviously I meant Dalton .... smh
     
  25. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Although I generally think it’s better to see the good in anything, I have to admit I’m kind of reassured to see the poor reception this one is getting in a way as it’s never been a favourite of mine (and I enjoy all kinda campy hokum). I always inwardly groan when it comes up on a live bootleg, thinking ‘we’ll that’s 4 minutes wasted they could’ve spent playing something better’ (ie nearly any other song in their repertoire imo!) .. and they played it A LOT in the 70s… it was pretty much an unmovable live set staple from when the album came out until the late 70s when they cleared house to make way for the stadium era stuff.. even after that it would often creepy back in. I do like the guitar on the studio version, but live I just find it a groaner, sorry. Here’s a rare live version from the middle of its reign in the live set, during the Preservation era, with Ray in Mr Flash garb. 1974 probably.
     

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