It's a looking a lot better now than it has in some previous years, it's actually open for business for a start - even if it looks more like a wine bar than a pub. There was some convoluted long running saga with the owners which meant it was shut for years and in constant danger of being sold off to be redeveloped.
It hasn't looked like the cover of the album for years. I'd been in there a few times before it got closed down and it was not that different from the cover, i.e. it still looked like a pub, but that was a long time ago.
Coincidentally if you carry on past the Archway Tavern on the left of the picture you end up at the top of Highgate Hill. A few years ago, having spent a fruitless Sunday(?) afternoon trying to find a half decent boozer in Highgate I ended up in a pub on Highgate Hill and got into a conversation with one of the regulars who told me Ray Davies had been in the night before and was something of a regular. Can't remember the name of the pub but apparently it was Graham Chapman from Monty Python's local.
Also on Sundays I often used to go and watch football in a pub that was almost directly across the road from Konk Studios, never saw any of the Kinks in there though. Mind you I didn't know Konk was there for a long time.
I just checked. Here's where we were at for our previous "turns of the centuries". Page 100 (May 18th): discussing I Am Free and The World Keeps Going Round (we still did two songs a day back in the Kontroversy times). Page 200 (July 26th): running through the alternate mixes and versions of Something Else's songs. Page 300 (August 13th !!!) : playing around with the track-lists of our personal Village Green-era double sets and starting the Hidden Treasure's discussion with This Man He Weeps Tonight. Page 400 (September 29th): reviewing Denmark Street. I'm so happy we get to the highly symbolic 500 mark while covering this extraordinary miniature of a masterpiece. As I said, Oklahoma USA is my number one favorite Kinks song, the one that moves me the most, the one where form, substance, concept and execution converge in the most beautiful and emotionally unique way. I don't know if it's a sign, an expert manoeuvre by our fearless leader or just a fitting coincidence, but I'm really, really glad. Happy 500 to all.
Haha I don't really do those I fly by the seat of my pants, and hope not to end up getting charged with indecent exposure lol
"Oklahoma USA" I think I like the Shirley Jones story from @ajsmith more than I actually like the song. I honestly never thought much about this tune, and can't share in the same level of praise that it is receiving from many of you. It has started to grow on me over the past couple weeks. I recently started to open up to it and question why it never made any impact. It's just always felt a little schmaltzy to me. Maybe because I also think of the film as a bit of a corny musical? Although, I don't even recall ever seeing the entire film. Why am I being so cold hearted? It almost sounds like something Shane MacGowan would sing. I'm listening this morning and it's a sweet song. Perhaps not something I would rank with his greatest ballads, but it's a pretty piece of music. This is a case where all the love from you kind Kinks fans has already given me a stronger appreciation for this song. The remake on his Americana album didn't help much. Sadly, I feel that way about most of Ray's last two albums with The Jayhawks. I have only listened briefly, so maybe by 2023 I will have change heart.
I just recently bought them. I've only had a chance to listen to a couple of tracks.... it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.
I don't know what it is, he isn't a particularly good singer, but most of the stuff I know of his, i love..... i think the earthy humanity of his Pogues stuff just works for me.... but i only know about three albums.
Oklahoma USA Absolute perfection in song. It truly is beautiful and the best track (IMO) on the album. It rarely fails to bring a tear to my eye, and it certainly did when Ray dug it out for his 2012 tour. The opening two lines are amongst my favourite lines of any song. About escapism from work and the drudgery of life in the decaying houses built for the industrial revolution. Those very houses which would, across all of Britain have been demolished in slum clearance programmes. The other side of my street suffered that exact fate, yet my house (also built for the industrial revolution) survived. I expect it was near decay, back in the 1960s when there was no money about, but now, these two-bedroomed terraced cottages go on the market for quarter of a million pounds or more. (there's no lavatory in the back yard anymore, but the outhouse remains) The other side of the street was eventually developed with more expensive houses at the turn of this century. 'All life we work, but work is a bore, if life's for living, what's living for'. Perfection.
I'm a huge fan of Shane and his vocals. Some of those Pogues albums mean so much to me. There are only five with Shane and I think they are all essential. I also love his two albums with The Popes. Check out the recent documentary "A Crock Of Gold". It's sad to see him in the shape he is now, but its a pretty good documentary.
Great tune. I’m enjoying Muswell Hillbillies a lot more than expected. But I still don’t think it’s an album I’ll go back to often. Not quite sure why that is.
There's a long standing observation that to Rogers & Hammerstein, "Surrey" is a noun meaning Carriage or Buggy. To Laura Nyro it is a verb meaning Saunter or Mosey. One thing is for certain. Anyone who isn't into music will probably live their entire lives without once ever saying the word out loud. Lot's of musically gifted people have emerged from Oklahoma, most notably Tulsa. Leon Russell, David Gates, Bobby Goldsboro, Jimmy Webb, Garth Brooks etc. The scene in the song is obviously taking place in a much less heavily populated area.
The setting is 1906, Indian Territory. Overcrowding isn’t an issue. (If you’re talking about the musical, which is being dreamed about.)
Oklahoma USA A beautiful song, so wonderfully spoken about by @Fortuleo. It really is the essence of Muswell Hillbillies, in that you THINK it's about US/Western/Country culture but it is in fact very English indeed. Here the subject is not Oklahoma (neither the state nor the play), but rather the unnamed "she" who seems to be struggling with the day to day monotony. I see this as almost a sequel to Two Sisters. Is this Priscilla, grown up a bit, now working but wanting to escape? Or is this Sybilla, after the kids are now in school, becoming a working mom, but then wanting more? Or is this "my baby" dreaming away while "working" at Holloway Jail? Ok maybe that last one is a bit too much of a stretch. My point is that the sentiment sure is relatable, and it is delivered beautifully. Take away the accordion, and this could fit onto Lola (a la A Long Way From Home). I can also hear this musically fitting in with the other ballads on Percy. The piano, the accordion, the guitar plucking, Ray's vocals, Dave's occasional backing vocal... just a gorgeous landscape of sound that envelopes you.
Good point. I hadn't considered that, but it certainly could tie into that, with the way Ray follows up on songs
Or read Sherlock Holmes (“Watson takes Holmes to a friend's estate near Reigatein Surrey to rest after a rather strenuous case in France. Their host is Colonel Hayter.” etc etc “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire”)
