The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I’m thinking of taking another look. I can’t remember what I said…much less others. :D
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I had to look. I mentioned it would be possible that this could have some connection to gigs, but you don't traditionally line up.... though there is somewhat of a selection process for big support gigs for young bands.....
    Something like that...
     
  3. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Fortunately, we have your table of contents to access.
     
  4. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The line up thing and the fact that it's a union man who is choosing who gets to work that day is straight from "On the Waterfront".
     
  5. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I thought he was singing about Okumidori Kyoto Uji Matcha. :D

    I just had a cuppa black tea (Yorkshire Gold) to go along with all the British tea discussion. Not bad, but in my opinion, Japanese green tea trounces it. They really can't be compared though because they are two totally different things.
     
  6. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    P. 472 for the table of contents. It seems I agreed with your thought, @The late man . This is what I said: “As @Fortuleo notes, my image is outside the realm of the music industry, of folks standing in a line seeking employment…” So there’s a number of us that are thinking like you.
     
  7. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I bought some English Breakfast Tea when I visited London maybe twenty years ago. Back in Tokyo my wife and I were drinking it…and couldn’t move! It felt like hallucinating. :D That was some strong ****!
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, I think we mentioned that also.
     
  9. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Today in Kinks history:
    The master tapes for Lola arrive at Reprise Records in the USA today in 1970

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  10. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Ce nay pa correctomondo.
     
  11. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California

    :kilroy: Well, no one can deny that this was certainly influential. If you perform it at three times the speed, you get something resembling John Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy."
     
  12. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Doesn't that featuring Sophie the bugs bunny hostess that 'attempted' a musical career?
     
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  13. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Great, what should we all wear?
     
  14. WHMusical

    WHMusical Chameleon Comedian Corinthian & Caricature

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    :tiphat:
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2021
  15. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Not commenting as English may not be your native tongue but that you obviously just innocently forgot that tea has only 3 letters.
     
  16. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    The master tape has other artists on it too?
     
  17. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Re: The 1st shot.
    Q. Would they be drinking from Royal Doulton?
     
  18. A Local Bloke

    A Local Bloke Forum President

    Location:
    canada-na-na-na-na
    (I know this isn't exactly the right thread but) I was just looking for a good version of the Village Green 12-track cover online, but the best one I could find was a bit tilted. Here's my corrected version (I also edited it slightly to remove 3-4 of the biggest dark spots).

    Seeing as I couldn't find any better one online I thought I would upload it here in case any of you would like it.

    [​IMG]
    The original source
     
  19. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    It would seem so.
     
  20. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    This is a Kinks thread… it’s Royal Dalton!
     
  21. WHMusical

    WHMusical Chameleon Comedian Corinthian & Caricature

  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I think it does actually ... You haven't seen The Castle?
     
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  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The best version I know of is in the Village Green box set .... but I am no record expert
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Holloway Jail.

    stereo mix (2:23), recorded Aug-Sep 1971 at Morgan Studios, Willesden, London

    They took my baby to Holloway jail,
    They took my baby, down Holloway jail,
    She was a lady when she went in,
    Now she's in jail, and it's giving me hell.

    She was just succeeding in the city,
    She was just beginning to excel,
    And then a spiv named Frankie Simes
    Led her to a life of crime,
    And led her on the downward trail.

    Frankie came home late from work one evening,
    The C.I.D. were hot on his trail,
    Frankie promised everything,
    And then he went and turned her in,
    She went and took the rap for him,
    Now she's impaled in Holloway jail.

    They took my baby, down Holloway jail,
    They took my baby to Holloway jail,
    There ain't no pity, there ain't no bail,
    And she assures me that it's living hell.

    She was young and ever so pretty,
    Now she looks so old and pale,
    She never sees the day,
    She wastes her life away,
    Sitting in that prison cell.

    They took my baby to Holloway jail,
    They locked my baby in Holloway jail,
    She was a lady when she went in,
    Now she's in jail, and it's giving me hell.

    She's impaled, in Holloway jail.

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

    Early on in the thread we spoke about the Kinks not really being a blues band, and generally being unconvincing when they cast themselves in that role …… but things have changed substantially by this point.
    I’m not exactly sure exactly what changed, perhaps it was just Ray’s writing that led them to what they needed to pull it off, and that they just never really worked well as a cover band, but for me this is one of the most convincing blues style tracks the band did up to this point……. and I think a lot of it comes down to the band’s seemingly newish ability to find that point of beautiful scrappiness that really good blues requires.

    So here we have a minor blues that starts off like rather old school folk-blues, with the acoustic guitar and vocal.
    As we move passed the first verse the electric comes in with a really cool flowing chordal riff ….. but the big thing here that really makes it work so well is Mick Avory. He lays down this beautiful shuffling beat that rolls the flow along so well, it gives the song this really cool comfortable groove, and everyone sits on top of it grooving beautifully.

    Lyrically we somewhat step outside the perceived theme of the album here.
    Ray’s “baby” went to work in the city, and she was starting to become successful, but Frankie the spiv (a man who dresses well, but is a bit of a scumbag) leads her into some bad stuff, and then drops her in the crap with the law, and she ends up in jail.
    To some degree we could see this as being related to the idea of the modern world leading people constantly astray due to greed, but of course greed has been around for as long as people have.
    Also, we could look at this as things that can often be taken away by people and things around us…. The 20th century took away someone’s sanity, diet fads took away someone’s health, alcohol took away someone’s ability to function, the complicated life took away someone’s life … or ability to be comfortable in their own skin, the government took away someone’s house, Frankie took away Ray’s baby’s freedom…..

    However, we look at it, it’s an interesting series of stories on here that loosely tie together to paint a picture of the times, like any good songs in the folk tradition do.
    For me though the lyrics here are somewhat incidental, it is the music that gets my full and undistracted attention.

    Again, the guitars are just great, the percolating groove created by the guitars, bass and drums work beautifully to my ear. Also, whether it was Ray’s production techniques or Dave’s choice of amps and such, the sound of the guitars on this album is just great.
    Gosling lays down some great piano too.

    I really like the way Ray constructed the chord pattern and melody here too. For the most part it is a pretty straight minor blues, but with some very subtle little chord additions it creates some really nice change ups that keep the song in the zone.

    I am assuming the fingerstyle guitar at the beginning is Dave? … It’s a really lovely piece of fingerstyle playing.
    Then we get that electric coming in sort of early, but perfect, because it grabs the song by the scruff of the neck before the final chord and vocal of the opening, finish.
    Then Gosling’s piano is throwing in some beautiful counterpoint lines.
    Then we get the little slide lick
    Then Mick comes in with that shuffling beat
    The bass is holding these somewhat mournful sounding bass notes, letting them ring as he methodically goes through them, while the guitars and piano bounce and clatter on top…
    The way this rolls into the groove is brilliant, and that groove is very cool.

    At this point Ray punches the vocal up about half an octave and twists the opening melody into a more urgent melody.
    It’s interesting, and someone better with theory can probably explain the way I hear this better than I, but it is like Ray is singing in a minor pentatonic and then moving the melody through a major scale…. Anyway, it works really well, and gives the song a slightly less than traditional blues melody, but it never loses that blues feel or sound to me.

    We get the female backup singers coming in and they add even more texture to the song….. I know Rasa is no longer on the albums, but Ray has noticed that she offered some very good textures to the sound of the band, and we have, I guess, some more traditional style female backing vocals here, and for me it works well.

    At the end of the first real chorus during the groove section, the drums drop out, and the song rebuilds itself back into the groove, but with Gosling knocking out some really nice piano, that for the life of me sounds like something Ray Manzarek might have done…. And again it is just the mining of roots, and barrelhouse stylings.

    Anyway, for me this is another top-class song. I don’t think it technically fits into any real concept on the album, but thematically it can link in the way I looked at it above, but only in a “sort of” way … As much as I like concepts and themes, it’s no big deal to me that the possible run seems to have ended somewhat, because at the end of the day I just want to hear great music, and this is great music.

    9 for 9

     
  25. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    "Holloway Jail" just sounds so great to me - I love how it builds. In that respect, it reminds me of the Stones' "Let It Loose" from Exile recorded around this time. It is funny reading the lyrics because this is a song where I had never really paid much attention to the words because I always just loved the various sounds including Ray's voice. Of course, Ray is out of sorts - this time because his baby is incarcerated and the system has beat her down. Still sounds kind of joyous regardless of the mood the lyrics.
     

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