The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. side3

    side3 Younger Than Yesterday

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    True- but the vintage live performance were more raucous. Plus Dave's guitar tone is incredible and the backing vocals are audible. Just my opinion, or course.

     
  2. luvtotha9s

    luvtotha9s Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Count me in as another that loves this Live Album. Especially these 3 tunes...all Kinks killers!
     
  3. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I agree. A proper double live album would have been a classic, and better for their career, but if the label didn’t want it what was Ray to do? Could it be that Ray also thought they might eventually get around to releasing another live album that would have more of the classic songs? So he stuck with more recent material for this bonus live album? Like I said, I think this live album works great as it is because it is is paired with the studio album. I get where everyone is coming from that it could have been better, but it gives a nice abbreviated version of their live show in 1972 which is probably all Ray wanted.
     
  4. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Just found a photostat from a Kinks Singles article in UK Record Collector c late 80's so here's a little blurb on the last 4 Singles issued there that we have discussed from 1970"s Lola through 1972's Celluloid Heroes.

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I would have either...
    A) released the studio album Aug 1972, the double live album November 72, with aime Christmas advertising. A double hit of new releases normally gets attention.
    Or
    B) I would have put together a marketing campaign around a double release, and released both in August 72.... perhaps September....

    With there being quite a few Muswell songs on there, that would have been the main likely back catalog pick up. So RCA would have benefitted.

    Also it could have given the band an image bump, to raise some expectations for Preservation....

    Obviously all speculation.
    I understand why RCA did what they did
     
  6. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I like both versions. I like both guitar tones.... I don't really hear the earlier version as more raucous
     
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  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I like the, sort of, novelty songs, for want of a better word, but I just don't think the sequencing works well. The album starts strong and peters out.
    At the very least, to me, they should have dropped one of the "novelty" tracks and put a strong closer in as well.

    I think the album can entertain some fans well, but it couldn't really pick up many/any new ones, in that format.
    I certainly don't
     
  8. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Get Back in the Line
    Yes, a surprising song to play, but I like it a ton. Ray's vocal is a little different than the original...I'm hearing Dylan. A winner though.

    Have a Cuppa Tea
    Fun! Hallelujah! Knee-slappin' - love it.
    Why oh why weren't these other songs mined way back when?
    For crissakes have a cup of tea!

    Sunny Afternoon
    This is a perfectly wonderful live version of this song. One of my favorite Kinks songs...it's just very special for reasons I can't even explain.

    How did the record company and the Kinks screw this up? they could have released a killer 2 disc live album. instead they just confused everyone. "aren't we clever...let's be cute and release half studio/half live album...people will love it".

    Bottom line: I'm happy these other live songs are out there. that's a good thing, right?
     
  9. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I never even gave it much thought until a few days ago, but I found it to be a fun and enjoyable live album. I get what you are saying, but also get why they released what they did. It’s an odd album and I really have no idea what went on behind the scenes. They could have just released the studio album and none of the live album. I’m happy with what we got.
     
  10. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2021
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  11. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Yes but RCA (not saying Ray) were only interested in moving their own catalogue.
     
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  12. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Agreed. :agree:
     
  13. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    YRGM, often blended with All Day, did indeed have a constant presence in the live shows. That’s one reason why I was happy they didn’t appear here. Not only is it tiresome hearing them over and over and over again, but the performances are typically perfunctory and never have a chance of reproducing the adolescent angst of the originals.

    I once commented that the solos could not have been played by Jimmy Page because they were too primitive. The same can be said for the adult Dave Davies.
     
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  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Would that have been the case in 1972?
     
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  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Complicated Life.

    I'm very fond of this song, and here we get a little twist to the start.
    We open with an overdriven organ, and it gives a bit of a hard gospel feel. Ray opens with a spiel about the song, and then says, "Come and confess your sins to uncle Ray", so I figure that was what he was actually going for.
    The guitar comes in with the horns, and it has, to me at least, a really cool sound and feel.
    The tempo is slower and more measured, and although I guess some may feel that it drags, I think it has a pretty good feel..
    For me this is another winner.

     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina.

    We get Ray introducing John Gosling, and we open with a beautiful arpeggiated piano, and ray crooning really nicely. It starts more like a reflective ballad, and it sounds really good.
    The second verse comes in, with the beat and augmented by the horns. Again it has a really nice feel to it, and we get the Mick snare strikes leading into the "buddy can you spare me a dime section", and we get the uptempo section breaking it up nicely.
    Then Mick gives us a really great drum fill to take us into the fast verse, and it works really really well.

    It is slightly surprising to me how well this one comes across live. I sort of thought it may be a bit dodgy, due to the sort of awkward changes, but I think it works really well here. I also assume that it would have been really entertaining at the actual show.


     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Long Tall Shorty.

    It is almost stunning to me that the band were still playing this song.....
    It's nice to get another vocal from Dave, and we also get a nice lead break.

    This is well done, and a bit of fun, and there are some things about it that I like ....

    To be honest though, this is a song that I would have dumped by 1965 lol

     
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'll throw in the alternate version of the original album tracks for those interested.

    Muswell Hillbillies.

     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Brainwashed.

    I think this is the other version.... hard to tell they are pretty much identical length.

     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues.

     
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Alcohol.

    We open with an old traditional Scottish folk song, whose name escapes me at the moment, on the horn.

     
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    To me the bonus disc is somewhat of a revelation.
    The tracks they played, taken on the whole, show such excellent diversity, and such a deep catalog, that it does make one wish they had been able to see this crazy version of the band playing live in the early seventies.

    With news of there being video of these shows, it has me hoping that in the process of doing these in depth sets of late, that we may get a concert video of a whole Carnegie Hall show. I for one would be on it instantly.

    Anyway, there are so many what if's surrounding this album, and even the extended version.

    I like the original release.
    I think the studio album is very good, and the live album is an interesting novelty, that works like a teaser. With no prior knowledge of what they played and how good it was, it satisfies me well enough, without me thinking it is an essential live release.
    The bonus disc on the other hand, aids and abets my disappointment with the original live album, because frankly it's awesome....... but there is a still a bunch of stuff missing from it, and at this stage, that doesn't make much sense to me.
    Then there's the fact that it would have been cool just to have that lengthy second show complete.....

    But anyway, in spite of the what if's.... I liked the original, and i love the bonus disc.
     
  23. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    And it gets even better with the studio outtakes!
     
  24. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Even slowed down, Complicated Life is fantastic, vocal and sound are absolutely stellar.
    Princess Marina is a strange beast in the Kinks catalogue, I can't help but thinking the comedy aspect of it works against the emotion instead of enhancing it, which is usually one of Ray's greatest strength. A 100% straight version would be better in my opinion but it's still quite enjoyable (especially the middle "rocking" part).
    Long Tall Shorty… I think Dave's singing is not too great on this. I don't mind them doing these early numbers in 1972, but I feel bad for Dave that he was relegated to that spot in the band every time he'd step up in front of the mic around that time, instead of playing some of his own excellent Something Else/Lola tunes, or some of his singles. It's a bit like imagining the Beatles touring in the seventies, and George singing Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby every night.

    On a side note, this Ray Davies person liked to banter and introduce his musicians, didn't he ?
     
  25. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Not so much, but my recollection of their early ‘70s concerts at the Auditorium in Chicago do include disappointment with their YRGM performances as something they did out of obligation only.
     

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