I don't understand this either. It reminds me of CSNY's 4 Way Street, which begins with a half minute snippet of what is arguably their best song, "Suite Judy Blue Eyes". Why not include the entire song?
Yes, we're not talking about rhoticity as far as conquistador is concerned. We're not talking about regional or national accents. We're talking about the most widely accepted pronunciation of a particular word in a country, which then becomes the norm in that country. And to say one country has the correct pronunciation and another contry has an incorrect pronunciation, is a waste of time. Language is extremely democratic. The people decide.
The live Lola: This is insulting. I just scrolled through almost 50 pages to double-check what was on the album cover. ‘Lola,’ it says it right there. And there isn’t a notation that it’s a 1:40 snippet. Back in 1972, I’d carefully consider how much bang for the buck I was getting. Should I purchase the studio album or go for the live album (which is essentially a best-of…in most cases). A big decision and no opportunity to listen first. And, in Japan anyway, no way in hell could you return the record. Edit: and I’m being extravagantly generous by calling an audience sing-along a snippet.
As a Kinks Koncert goer from the early 70s till the end of the day, heh, let me say that the inclusion on the live album of things like Baby Face, the Banana Boat Song, Mr Wonderful, and the now-dreaded Lola singalong, served as an accurate souvenir or sample of the band's fun concert act at the time. You had to be there, maybe - but that stuff was great to be part of, at the time. We all loved the campy (or drunken) goofiness of it, which became a ritual, and cheered Ray on. Not perhaps so great to hear now, as it hasn't seemed to age well... but I'd not have missed it!
I can just imagine looking over the album cover and, enviously, saying to a friend, “man, you got to see ‘em play ‘Lola.’ Fantastic. And as the finale. I bet they really stretched it out!” Friend: “Oh yeah, it was great. We sounded great!” Me: “We?”
The live portion of Show Biz ends so awfully w/that snippet of "Lola", which frankly borders on the insulting at best, bait & switch at the worst. I don't mind the goofy renditions of "Baby Face", "Banana Boat Song", et al since I would have to see the Kinks in the 70s. By the time I got to see them, they were more professional & the goofy edges were smoothed out or fossilized, like Ray's "Day-O" shtick. The problem is that the live portion is badly edited. It should have been like the bonus disc on the 2016 reissue. Even better would be actually watching video of the concerts, which were filmed, but never released.
On the copy I've got, which is a US copy, the track times are shown on the back cover. Checking on Discogs, looks like they weren't shown on the back of the UK version. As for today's tracks....well "Skin & Bone" is my least favourite track on Muswell, and this live version doesn't do anything to change that. The remaining snippets/song fragments are at bit of a waste of time. So that's about it for the as-originally-issued live disc. Not something I envisage listening to a lot, although the studio disc will be coming out a lot more. However, I am interested in listening to the bonus live tracks!
One more Lola comment. Re: Ray’s father story, ‘write a hit, go on the road.’ And the hit doesn’t get played? And a post script: this is when Deep Purple, Steppenwolf, Ten Years After (a year later), Humble Pie, Free, Grand Funk Railroad etc etc were putting out memorable live albums so it not as if there wasn’t a template to work off of.
Surely the version of ‘Lola’ on this album is an edit from a full performance? That’s what I always assumed, but people today have been talking like that’s literally all they performed on the night. Do we know for sure either way?
I don't have much to add for the live disc. I'm not a huge fan of a number of what was included on the original live album release. Those snippets/fragments (to me) don't translate well as separate tracks. I much prefer the live cuts from the additional bonus disc... I generally do like hearing live albums or setlists, but what they chose to release on the original album doesn't do it for me. The renditions are either too boozy, or two drawn out, or just too different from what I am used to on the studio recordings. I think it would have probably been better absorbed as a separate video/documentary of their Carnegie Hall shows so you could see Ray's acting/theatrics/crowd-interactions.
It seems to me that Everybody's In Showbiz was a missed opportunity. It included three good songs (that's three more than Muswell Hillbillies), but then they added on an inept live album with very little going for it. The treatment of Baby Face is unlistenable and a complete travesty. The best version is the original which is here :
That's why I said "inasmuch as there is a correct way" it should be the Spanish way. My point was of course that there is no single correct way and in particular, the British pronunciation is no more correct than the American. In any case, @mark winstanley was only joking around when he made that assertion, just a bit of the same friendly cross-Atlantic rivalry that our nations have engaged in since the 1770s.
The remaining songs on the live album don't bother me. If it was only an extra $1 to get the additional live album, then I see it as perfectly giving a preview into one of their live shows. A little snapshot of what you may hear at a Kinks Koncert. "Be bop boogie and jive, alright!" "Baby Face" is fun, in my opinion. Ray sounds like a mix between Louis Armstrong and Julian Casablancas. That's a strange vocal mix I never thought I would mention. The ending with "Lola" is like the end credits running. The live album achieves what it was going for.
That's a fair call.... I suppose from my perspective, im thinking of Kelvin Hall, and being a bit disappointed. I guess I'm thinking more of it being their chance to put out a solid live album in the early seventies.. . It seemed to be career changing for many..... but with the record company knocking the double on the head.... I guess a bonus disc live sampler is pretty cool. I suppose I'm looking at what it could have been rather than what it was. It's ok, but it could have been excellent
If this is an edit, the person responsible for having just this tail-end sing-sing put on the record should…well, I won’t spell it out. Suffice it to say, I’m guessing the individual didn’t last long in the music industry. Unless it was Ray himself! In which case this decision didn’t seem to impede his career at all.
By this stage, I think there’s no chance it could be anyone but Ray’s idea! Not sure if he was going for the end credits idea as @palisantrancho says or if he was trolling the fans. Either seems likely.
I always assumed it was an edit. And it was a disgraceful thing to add to the LP to con buyers into thinking they were at least getting one hit. And that it was Raymond's idea to annoy the record company for refusing to let him have his film funded.
I'm not saying that there wasn't some drunken behavior from Ray and the boys during the early 70s, BUT I'm not so sure that Ray is really drunk (or THAT drunk) for Alcohol. I think much of it is a put-on...or as they say in the biz: ACTING! I think all the versions of Alcohol have that slurry tendency, but I believe they're mostly Ray pouring it on (so to be speak).
Well, gotta admit, that was all a bit of slog. Probably worked much better in person than on disk. I haven’t heard the live tracks in decades probably and I’m ok with not hearing them again for a long, long time. Like others have said a wasted opportunity to do a proper live disk.