This has to be one of the best reviews so far. Oreo cookie comparison...although I'm in the camp of cookie is better, I get this comparison. I'm still pondering my thoughts on this one. Stay tuned.... (ok, no one will...)
Unreal Reality I'm going say that this may be the most Americana song Ray has done thus far. I don't quite get the exact link to Acute Schizophrenia...it's not as...manic. Maybe more existential. I don't have any idea what's going on here, but I know like it. I don't think that anyone mentioned the lyric "It's the real thing". around the late 60s into the early 70s Coca Cola "it's the real thing" was a huge thing in the advertisement world. I imagine Ray 'sponged' that up from his travels in the US. I'd almost bet money on it. So far I'm on board with this album.
Here's something that mat be of interest to you, Avid Luckless Pedestrian: Crescent City Soul - The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974 (1996, CD)
On the question of liquid cheese I had to look up Wikipedia to find out what Cheez Wizz really is and the entry has this helpful line, which I find pretty funny: "According to a Kraft spokesman, the product does include cheese..." I'm surprised the thread's French contingent hasn't weighed in on this, given that country's vast range of real cheeses. In my experience the French have a liquid cheese of sorts when a soft cheese like brie, epoisses (mega-smelly) or chaource become so ripe they can no longer be contained by mere packaging. Delicious!
Unreal Reality Like the previous song I find the lyrics of this to be a bit one-dimensional. On the musical side, the faster-paced part of the tune is entertaining and toe-tapping. I wonder if Ray wrote it with an eye to it being performed on stage, where the slow-fast sections would have worked well.
Hot Potatoes. stereo mix (3:31), recorded May-Jun 1972 at Morgan Studios, Willesden, London My baby woke me up this mornin' She said get down that labour exchange, And if you don't come home with a job son, You'll get no dinner to-day. You gotta secure me a weekly workin' wage. You'll get no more fancy cookin', You'll get no more apple pie, You'll just get those plain hot potatoes To satisfy your appetite. La la la la la la Potatoes, Boiled, French fried, any old way that you wanna decide. Hot potatoes, yeh, I want your lovin' every single day. I said I don't need your fancy cooking, I like the simple things in life, Just give me those plain hot potatoes And I'll be well satisfied, They'll satisfy my appetite. La la la la la la Potatoes, Boiled, French fried, any old way that you wanna decide. Hot potatoes, yeh, I want your lovin' 60 minutes an hour, I want your lovin' 24 hours a day, I want your lovin' 7 days a week. Yeh, yeh, oh yeh. I want your love, I need your love, But all I get is hot potatoes When I come home late at night To satisfy my appetite. Don't give me no more potatoes, Boiled, French fried, any old way you wanna decide. Hot potatoes, I want your lovin' every single day. I want your lovin' La la la la la la Potatoes, Boiled, French fried, any old way that you wanna decide. Hot potatoes, Hot potatoes, yeh. Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Davray Music Ltd. This is such an odd song. I actually quite like it, it sure isn’t Waterloo sunset, but it has a charm of its own in its delivery and subject matter, and yes it becomes song 2 in the food leaning lyrics…. I wonder if Ray was hungry when he was writing this album? Like when you go to do the shopping and you’re hungry and you buy a bunch of stuff that wasn’t really part of the equation, but your hunger got them in the cart anyway. We have a pretty straight forward scenario here…. The male here doesn’t seem to want to go and work to earn the money for the household, and he is given the option of essentially – go and get a job, or all you get to eat is potatoes…. I don’t think Ray has any hidden meaning here, but potatoes are a staple of British food… In the late 16th century potatoes arrived in the UK, and by 1597 the first lot of potatoes were being grown. Sir Francis Drake discovered potatoes in Latin America on his first, and the second overall, full circumnavigation of the globe. The crop established itself very quickly in Ireland, but was slower in England and Scotland. Potatoes established themselves as a staple of the British diet during the industrial revolution during the 18th and 19th centuries, and perhaps that is where Ray got the idea of this guy not wanting to work for his dinner? I don’t know. It’s funny thinking about it in these carbohydrate fearing times, but the potato was grown as a cheap food for the masses, and was hugely successful …. Anyway, any agriculture and particularly potato experts are very welcome to expand on the info, but it seems moderately relevant …. and well …. I have always like potatoes, whether chips (fries) crisps (chips) boiled, mashed, or an old favourite potato scallops …. But anyway, lets not devolved into a culinary class This isn’t exactly one of Ray’s most poignant lyrics, but it is a bit of fun, and I am wondering if there is some kind of double entendre or something going on here, or if the acceptance of just potatoes led to physical gratification being withheld …. As we move into the whole I want your lovin’ section…. We move from just wanting potatoes, to don’t give me no more …. and no matter how much someone likes potatoes it is hard to believe anyone would want just potatoes lol Obviously, this song is not the most serious song, and it leans into the novelty song direction quite heavily, and that’s fine with me. Not every song needs to be a deep and heavy study of the human psyche or the socio-political world or whatever…. It is some lighthearted fun. The music opens sounding a little like something George Harrison might write, or perhaps even did write…. I think it is just the sound and style of the slide guitar there, but it is the first thing to come to mind when the song starts. We have the piano bouncing somewhat lazily along, and adding some nice runs as well. The drums and bass are quite steady here…. In fact the whole set up of the song is in the easy going less complicated side of things. Interestingly we move back to something we haven’t heard a lot recently, and that is Ray and Dave trading out vocals. I think they are just alternating lines, then coming in together. Either way I enjoy hearing these guys sing together again, in the truest sense of the word. This is an easy-going track that isn’t trying to prove anything to anyone. We have some nice playing from the band, and we have fun lighthearted vocals from the brothers…. This isn’t going to be high on my list of Kinks songs, but in the context of this album I find it enjoyable. The piano at the very end makes me think of Itchycoo Park.
The main and probably only thing I have to say about 'Hot Potatoes' is how much it sounds to me like 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. (also famously covered by The Beatles) Not entirely melodically, but it's got exactly the same sway and underpinning riff. That's what I immediately thought the first time I heard it, and that still remains the extent of the insight I can offer into this one. Incidentally, has anyone ever remarked upon the similarity of the title of the Smokey song to that of The Kinks breakthrough hit? The title of 'You Really Got Me' is the Motown monsters moniker minus 'A Hold On'.. I've sometimes wondered if there was a distant influence going on there too.
Let me know if you guys want me to put Sitting In My Hotel up a little later today for a Saturday Afternoon, Sunday discussion track. Cheers
The instrumental intro is pure All Things Must Pass (a huge album for me. Bought and played by my brother upon release when I was nine) and specifically "My Sweet Lord" which is funny considering @mark winstanley 's above comment and the fact "My Sweet Lord" was ruled in court to have huge similarities with "He's So Fine". For me, Ray is not really talking about hot potatoes - I hear a food/sex metaphor. It's light hearted fun - a bit slight I suppose but enjoyable. But generally, I have fewer songs that I have a real bond with on Showbiz whereas on Muswell Hillbillies, there were many.
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 1965 Never Say Yes Nov 1970 Lola Vs Powerman And The Moneygoround The Contenders Strangers - live 1970 - Dave live Denmark Street Get Back In Line Lola - TOTP - video - alt version Top Of The Pops - video Moneygoround - mono This Time Tomorrow - 2020 mix A Long Way From Home - live 70's - Ray live Rats Apeman - video - alt stereo - alt mono - ToTP - Calypso - live 94 Powerman - mono - 2020 mix - live 70's Got To Be Free Anytime The Good Life 1971 Golden Hour Of The Kinks Feb 1971 Percy (movie) - trailer Mar 1971 Percy (soundtrack) God's Children Lola The Way Love Used To Be - Ray live Completely Running Round Town Moments - Ray live Animals In The Zoo Just Friends Whip Lady Dreams Helga Willesden Green God's Children Outro The Follower Ray On Wonderworld 1971 You Really Got Me - Mini Monster EP Nov 1971 Muswell Hillbillies 20th Century Man - single - Alt Instr - Ray live Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues - live 73 - John Peel Holiday - live 73 Skin And Bone - live 70's - Ray live Alcohol - live 75 - cartoon Complicated Life Here Come The People In Grey - live 72 Have A Cuppa Tea - alt version - live 72 Holloway Jail Oklahoma USA - Ray Live Uncle Son - Alternate Muswell Hillbilly Lavender Lane Mountain Woman Kentucky Moon Nobody's Fool - Cold Turkey(Kinks?) Queenie Dec 1971 Muswell Hillbilly EP 1972 Muswell Hillbilly single (Jap) Mar 1972 Kink Kronikles Aug 1972 Everybody's In Showbiz Here Comes Yet Another Day - live 74 - live 75 Maximum Consumption Unreal Reality Hot Potatoes The Kinks Live AT The BBC 1973 Preservation Live Starmaker Tv Play Oct 2018 Dave Davies - Decade If You Are Leaving (71)
[QUOTE Martyj Anyway, it is here at this point, the third track in, the middle song of the five songs on side one, that a Kinks fan pauses to mourn—and celebrate—the Greatness that is the Kinks. For it is at this precise point, IMO, that for the first time since the Autumn of 1965, that the Kinks give the world mediocrity. Some might say that was yesterday’s song. But, nah…”Maximum Consumption” was plain ol’ drunken fun with “Dave Davies on lead guitar!.” Today’s song is just a rinse, wash, and repeat. [/QUOTE] I wonder how much of this can be attributed to Davies taking control of everything around this time. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all? The album we are discussing contained their last hit for years. Is this a coincidence? From Rogan; Without a producer or manager to offer guidance and support, there was no longer a sounding board or critical ear to challenge his opinions. As the exiled Robert Wace perceptively noted: "The personal motivation of the artiste is to come up with the right song. But it is also a question of spotting and making sure he locks on to the potential of the song that has the special magic that maybe twenty others he's played haven't got. 'Lola', for example, was recorded three times until it was done to my satisfaction. If you've got somebody who is not in the group but has a relationship with them, he becomes an outside arbitrator. He's able to say 'that's good' or 'that's terrible'. Ray needs that because not everything he does is good. Some of it is really awful. He's with a bunch of musicians who are not enthusiastic about what he does. They couldn't give a toss. You need somebody there who's an enthusiast, who'll say 'that's terrific' - so that he's almost making the record for you. At least I was able to make reasonable criticisms he would accept." And maybe things were about to get worse. A few years after this album Davies bought that building in Tottenham Lane and turned it into Konk. Total control. But I have my doubts it was for the best considering what followed.
"Hot Potatoes" Some people think The Kinks had had their chips by this point, I don't think so. However, Ray had gone from writing about Queen Victoria three years ago to writing about King Edwards now. OK that's enough of that. This is almost certainly the most inconsequential song of the album, in fact probably the most inconsequential Kinks song to date. But it has a certain easy-going charm and I like the way that Ray and Dave exchange lead vocals during the verse. First time I heard this I wondered what the intro reminded me of, and soon tracked it down to "My Sweet Lord". The "I want your loving..." bit was also naggingly reminding me of something, and I eventually worked out there's a vaguely similar bit in "Predictable" from 1981. It's nothing special, and in truth it doesn't always hold my attention throughout its length, but if you've bought into this album then it fits in just fine. I'd vote for leaving "Sitting In My Hotel" until Monday. I'd suggest moving up to a few tracks per day when we get to the live portion of the album.
Hot Potatoes - it's so laid back that it's hard not to like it. And I agree, potatoes is being used as a metaphor for carnal delights! Nice piano also.
The description seemed so far from actual cheese that it didn't stir any reaction from me. I'm impressed with your familiarity with some of our smelliest, nearly weapon-like cheeses!
One correction and a suggested addition (both equally anally retentive) for this guide: I see you have Ray's Wonderworld appearance from the early 80s placed between Percy and MH: would it be possible to move this back to the end of the list between Starmaker and Decade where it would fit chronologically awaiting insertion into the 80s master list when the time comes? In it's place, could I suggest linking to another Australian TV appearance, the interview on Hit Scene in 1971, as this fits exactly between Percy and MH chronology wise? Here's the link to where I posted it in the thread: unfortunately the embed doesn't work, but the direct link to the video does: The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)