The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    I'd recommend quite a lot of Dion's work to be honest, from 1968s 'Dion', through 1989s 'Yo Frankie', 2016s 'New York Is My Home' (great title track with Paul Simon) to 2021 with 'Stomping Ground' (the track with Mark Knopfler is my favourite).
     
  2. CheshireCat

    CheshireCat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cheshire
    One Of The Survivors
    Nothing to add to other comments really. A pastiche, but well done, and nicely placed on the album to finish with a lively little number. And everyone should dig Dion and The Belmonts, if not the others!
     
  3. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    And Johnny and The Hurricanes!

    One of my favourite instrumentals. I remember a Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band concert where the record was playing as the band hit the stage and Bruce dancing to it.

     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2021
  4. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    One of the Survivors
    I really dig this one. Tons of energy, huh? As someone pointed out, the only part I don't like is the "rock rock rock..." part. Just a little...embarrassing. And GREAT to hear Dave so clearly on the backing vocals and his little lead vocal part.

    I really enjoy the horns. I'm hearing a sax but I'm assuming there are other horns mixed in. The horns sound "dirty" to me for lack of a better term...and I love that! The horns sound like Bowie's Diamond Dogs which is around the same time period.

    and Gosling is going crazy on the piano. Nice.
     
  5. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Sounds like a rock'n vinyl transfer!
     
  6. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I was just going through the December 15, 1973 edition of Billboard & I noticed that Preservation Act I was in its 1st week in the Top 200 Album Chart at #197
    (No. 1: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; no. 6: Quadrophenia)
     
  7. Smiler

    Smiler Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston TX
    Great point!
    Pastiche or not, the changes, rhythm and otherwise, are what elevate this beyond yet another I-IV-V 50s takeoff and keep it interesting.

    Not much to add to what's already been expressed, other than the chords in the verse are the same as "Juke Box Music" from Sleepwalker. And that perhaps the reason for including obscure acts like Hollywood Argyles is 1) to show how much Johnny is living in the past (he's still listening to bands nobody even remembers), and b) it fits into the theme of "Where Are They Now?"

    And it rocks! 6 for 6 for me!
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2021
  8. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    One Of The Survivors.

    Kinda fun and there's nothing obviously wrong with it. But that 50s pastiche doesn't quite work for me in this instance. And like the music the lyrics seem a warmed over rehash of what's already been done better before.

    This song is not a survivor for me.
     
  9. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    That’s all four stereo mixes so you got ‘em. :righton:
     
  10. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I find the way Ray is twisting the metrics to insert "he's got no time for complicated music" in too short a space, hilarious.

    I like the Beach Boys part too.

    I played "Where are they now" on the piano yesterday and realized I pontificated rubbish about the music in my comment (it's a B, not a B flat, and would lead to an E, not an E flat). After a few seconds of distress, I found relief in the ultimate consolation of philosophy, that is the certified fact that nobody cares.
     
  11. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Hope we're all padded up and ready for today's song - I suspect some will be bowled over by it and others will be completely stumped...
     
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  12. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Where did it get to?
     
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  13. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Am i the only one feeling mixed up?
     
  14. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Sounds like no unusual chord pattern then?
     
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  15. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I may miss it and be out.
     
  16. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Still unusual. It's juste that I used to play it one step down and I messed up with the transposition (in m'y post).
     
  17. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    One Of The Survivors

    Being a rock "n'" roll pastiche i am certain we can all hear many various artists and/or songs from both pre and post 1973 recordings here.
    For me the opening reminds of Randy Newman's Gone Dead Train from the Performance Soundtrack with Dave slotting in instead of Ry Cooder's slide guitar licks and Ray taking his turn at verbosity.
    I also hear a little descending chordal riff that has me thinking of The Clash & perhaps Train In Vain?

    Brisbane's village green didn't miss out on a Johnny Thunder as we had at least 2 that spring to mind.
    Ken Perkins presented as a 1950's greased rocker
    with his heavy sideburns, lengthy grey hair, tobacco rollies & leather and denim garb.
    Best of all his life was actually All about rock and collecting, playing and archiving records with loads of 78's being amongst the 80,000 disc's mentioned in the Tv & printed press when he recently passed.

    Iam sure Ken would have crossed paths with a man of tremendous local fame that was dubbed Rock "n" Roll George!
    For 4 to 5 decades George was constantly seen cruising the local streets blaring his music in his brightly painted FJ Holden which fittingly ended up being shown in a museum on his departure.

    A fun number that is both fun, tongue in cheek and has some sincere fond nods to acts of yesteryear.
    I smiled happily upon hearing the lo-fi needle drop of the 45 and i can't help but think that just maybe, Ken and George might too?
     
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Nice
     
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  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cricket. the game

    The earliest known reference to Cricket is from the mid-sixteenth century in Southeast England.
    The first international games were in the nineteenth century.

    Cricket is generally played on an oval, but the size of the oval isn’t really strict, and many grounds are quite different sizes.
    There are two teams as is normal in team sports.
    There are eleven players on a team, and what is referred to as the twelfth man, who sometimes substitutes for an injured player. The twelfth man cannot bat, or bowl, only field.
    A test match is played over five days.
    There are one day games, called limited overs cricket (fifty overs per team), and more recently there has been a variation called 20/20, which is a twenty overs a side slogging competition … kind of like golfs longest drive contests I guess.

    After a coin toss one of the captains will decide if they want to bat or bowl. Some teams like to set a score, and some teams like to chase a score. Another consideration is the pitch.

    The pitch is the track that the batters and bowlers are on, that is the centre of the action.
    It is 22 yards, or 20 metres between the stumps/wickets.
    The wickets are three wooden sticks that stand just above knee high, at either end of the pitch, and sitting on top of them are the bails, which are machined to fit into the grooves on top of the wickets. The bails must fall off for a player to be bowled or run out, as we’ll get to
    The pitch is a specially prepared grass, that is watered and rolled until it forms a concrete hard finish. It has a rough surface somewhat like compressed grass roots, and over the course of the game the things the pitch does will change.
    For example, on the first day of the match, the pitch may be a little green on top, and this can cause the ball to act a certain way.
    By the time we get to the fifth day, the pitch has been worn by the payers running all over it, and the bowlers footsteps causing a change in the surface that leaves it uneven and more rough and uneven.

    We have bowlers, batters and fielders.
    Bowlers deliver the ball to the batsman. They bowl six balls in what is called an over. They have to bowl extra balls if they step over the bowling line, called the crease, or deliver the ball too wide of the stumps/wickets.
    There are fast bowlers, bowling about 90-100 miles an hour. Medium paced bowlers that are around the eighty miles per hour mark. Slow bowlers, that generally try to make the ball spin off the pitch in unpredictable ways that bowl around 60-70 mph.
    The bowlers arm cannot move in a throwing action. Technically he must keep his arm straight, and if he bends or flicks the ball in a throw-like motion, it will be called a “no ball”. A no ball equals a run to the batting team, and the batter cannot get out bowled, caught or LBW on that delivery.
    The cricket ball has six protruding stitches that the bowlers use to grip the pitch, and cause the ball to deviate. Also the ball starts off very shiny, and the bowlers try to keep one side of the ball shiny, because it causes the ball to swing through the air before it bounces.

    Batters obviously try to hit the ball and score runs. They essentially protect their wicket, the stumps.
    They cannot use their body to stop the ball from hitting the stumps, or they may be out for LBW, leg before wicket. There are some technicalities involved there, but we won’t go there here lol.
    Runs are scored by the batsmen running between the two wickets. Crossing once and making it back to the opposite bowling crease. Hitting the ball across the boundary is four runs if it bounces or rolls across, or six if it goes over the boundary in the air, on the full.

    Two batsmen have to be at the wicket at a time, so with eleven players, after ten batsmen are gotten out, the team’s innings is over. A team can declare if they feel they have enough runs, and they put the other team in to bat.
    If the second team to bat doesn’t get over half the score of the first team, the first team can make them bat again, follow on.

    A player can be caught out, much like baseball, where the ball is hit in the air, and is caught before hitting the ground. They can be bowled, if the ball hits the stumps when the bowler bowls it, they can be LBW as we explained, and players can also be run out, if the fielding team hits the stumps with the ball before a player gets back into the bowling crease when running between the wickets.

    That’s harder to explain than I thought lol
    For anyone wanting to explore more about the game, this is the wiki info
    Cricket - Wikipedia

    For the visual amongst us, here is a quick youtube video that gives an image to what is going on
     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cricket.

    stereo mix, recorded May-Jul 1973 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    (Sung by The Vicar)

    Some people say that life is a game, well if this is so
    I'd like to know the rules on which this game of life is based.
    I know of no game more fitting than the age old game of cricket
    It has honour, it has character and it's British.
    Now God laid down the rules of life when he wrote those Ten Commandments
    And to cricket those ten same rules shall apply.
    Show compassion and self-righteousness and be honest above all
    And come to God's call with bat and ball.

    Now the Devil has a player and he's called the Demon Bowler,
    He's shrewd, he's rude and he's wicked.
    He is sent by Sinful Satan and he's out to take your wicket
    And you know that that's not cricket.
    He'll baffle you with googlies with leg breaks and offspin
    But keep a level head and don't let that demon in.
    So keep a straight bat at all times, let the Bible be your guide
    And you'll get by, yes you'll get by.

    All through your life he'll try to bowl you out
    Beware the Demon bowler.
    He's crafty and deceitful and he'll try to L.B.W.,
    And bowl a maiden over.
    The Devil takes the weak in spirit and so we must always be courageous
    And remember that God is on your side.
    So keep old Satan in your sights and play the straight and narrow line
    And you'll get by, yes you'll get by.

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

    Here we have the Preacher/Vicar using Cricket, the game, as a metaphor for life … and it’s a pretty good metaphor.

    I think Ray writes this extremely well, we open with the idea that people say life is a game, and it would be nice to know the rules….. and how true is this. Love your neighbour. Who is your neighbour? Everyone … I don’t know any other way to go…. That doesn’t mean that we may not get pissy with our neighbour sometimes though

    Then we come to the idea that the game that best represents life, is Cricket.
    Cricket was always referred to as a gentleman’s game, and to a degree that is true, more so in the past, than the present. Back in the day, the game would have been played mainly by toffs, rich folks, your University type folks of good breeding. These days, anyone can get in there, as it ought to be.

    The second verse is where we get a little more interesting lyrically.
    The idea of the Demon Bowler comes into play. Now these days the Demon Bowler is generally considered to be the fast bowler, who will bowl the ball in such a manner as to try and knock your head off, and basically scare you out of the game with the cricket equivalent of trying to hit you, or make you think he is trying to hit you, and make you step away from your wickets, and get out.
    Here though we have the Demon Bowler presented as a slow spin bowler, and back in the day the slow spin bowler could be the demon bowler (also when Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan were bowling in recent years…. Though Muttiah’s bowling action came under a lot of scrutiny, and many called him a chucker (thrower)), because they bowled very tricky deliveries, and tried to disguise what they were….
    Fred Spofforth was the original Demon Bowler, an Aussie of course , and he played in the eighteen hundreds. He was the first bowler to take a hat trick (three wickets in consecutive balls)… he was actually a fast bowler, for the time.

    Anyway, the reason we know Ray’s Demon Bowler is a spinner, is the balls he is bowling.
    A Googly is bowled by a leg spin bowler. A Leg spin bowler makes the ball bounce on the right, and spin to the left. A googly is a variant ball that although looks the same coming out of the hand, it spins in the opposite direction.
    So, leg spin spins from right to left, and off spin, spins from left to right, is the simplest way to put it.

    We looked at LBW up there, Leg Before Wicket.
    Bowl a Maiden over, has nothing to do with young ladies. A maiden over is a six ball over where the batsmen don’t manage to score any runs.

    Being bowled out, is when the ball hits the stumps, and the umpire declares that you are bowled, and therefor out.

    Playing with a straight bat is a common cricket term, and literally means keeping the bat perpendicular to the ground. A cross bat shot has the bat more horizontal to the ground and is seen by many purists to be a dangerous shot. So playing with a straight bat represents playing in a safe and less risky manner.

    So, I think that explains most of the cricket terminology….. for the record, I love Cricket, and given the time, I could easily watch a whole 5 day test match with two good teams. It would be bewildering to many, but although not the fastest moving game in the world, a Test Match is somewhat like a Hitchcock horror movie, as compared to something like Saw, it may not be as action packed, but there is an ever-present tension, if you care about who is going to win.
    One day games (50 overs a side) are great fun, and very entertaining. 20/20…. It’s not bad, but I am yet to be fully engaged in it…. it seems like Crickets equivalent to the pop single, a quick easily digestible slice, that doesn’t really satisfy the hunger lol

    The way Ray uses this to describe the pitfalls of life, and the challenges is simply beautiful. Even if one doesn’t believe in a higher power, or God, a God, or whatever, this metaphor still works.
    The idea of being honourable, and straight forward in life is not just for some particular religious person, it is the basis of how society should function, but of course the random factor is that no matter how hard we all try, we all fail to do this on a consistent basis. We have petty jealousies, selfish motives, and frequently find ourselves doing things we shouldn’t, and oddly enough we know they are things we shouldn’t be doing, but we are all like naughty little children at times….. such is life.
    In fact, very often, and much too frequently, it is the people that are supposed to be the moral guides that are doing the most damage, simply because they are seen to be something special….. and this is how cults form…. A charismatic person, with twisted motives leading a whole bunch of people astray from the truth…. Or more frequently, slipping that little bit of truth into things so as to make a complete lie sound feasible.

    Obviously in Ray’s lyric here, we have the devil, or an evil spirit of some description, that is an influence, and causes people to stray from the path they should be on. Whether one believes this or not isn’t really relevant, because we all know we have been misguided during the course of our lives to say or do things that we know we shouldn’t, and some believe that this is an evil persuasion from an outside source, and some believe that is poppycock … I think sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t…. again such is life…..

    This is quite a heavy song, if you really dig into it…..
    Anyway, I have done my best to be benign in the way I described all that, and hopefully nobody is offended by any of that.

    Now musically, I love this ….. I may get a few funny looks or comments, but this reminds me of some of Tom Waits post Heartattack and Vine albums in its styling, and I could actually hear Tom singing this, in his gruff Satchmo growl.

    It is sort of part Trad Jazz, part New Orleans Swing, Part Music Hall and it lurches along like a walk in the park, after a few whiskeys.

    Ray does a great showtune type vocal delivery, and it suits the song and the music style perfectly. The other things is, this track is full of melody.
    The horns lump along beautifully, and we have this whole track presenting something a bit different on the album, but certainly not totally unfamiliar to us in the Kinks catalog.

    I’m not sure what else to say about this one. I love it. It is full of character and melody and Ray gets to ham it up on the vocals…. It seems this is a track many particularly dislike, but to me, it is a very Kinks track, that does exactly what it is supposed to in the context of the album.

    Quirky, but great song.

     
  21. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    This almost makes cricket seem simple and understandable - when, of course, it's neither.
     
  22. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I don't like cricket... (insert 10CC joke here) which is maybe why I enjoy "Cricket" so much. It's great fun. It's great to hear British exceptionalism/jingoism and general delusions of superiority lampooned like this. And in this dystopian storyline, it shows how even more wrong and disturbing all that is when it gets wilfully bundled up with religion. There was an epsiode of the British sitcom "To the Manor Born" where someone says of God, "At least He's British". I always think of that line when I hear this song. The song isn't anti-religious but anti- people in positions of influence who use religion for their own purposes. Of course, the really important thing is that the tune is extremely catchy.
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    A major theme in the next album
     
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  24. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    Cricket is a song that I feel I shouldn't like, but I do. Trad jazz isn't my favourite genre, but with the lyric and Ray's delivery, it just works! Being quite a big fan of the game probably helps too :)
     
  25. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Ah, I knew @mark winstanley would rise to the cricket occasion!

    Seventh song in and the plot proper has not started yet. The village green has woken up, the Tramp has reminisced about the way love and things used to be, we’ve looked at the weather (which is changing) and at a guy named Thunder (who's remained the same). And now, the Vicar (another essentially bystander character) is philosophizing about the most British of all British sports – that is the one British sport that could never spread outside the Commonwealth.

    But I’ll argue that after the first warning (There’s a Change in the Weather), Cricket is a crucial turning point (thus its placing as side 2 opener), because it announces the arrival of real life “demon bowlers” in the village. It seems the first side of Act 1 works as an exposition of the not so well-preserved Village Green five years on, and the second side is where the two devilish characters will get there and start unfolding their plans (the bulk of the action then happening in Act 2). So this song is the final warning. It tells us (and the villagers) what’s to come, and especially announces the deceitful ways of one of the baddies (Mr Black who, in @Vagabone's words "uses religion for his own purposes"). Musically, this may be the most outrageously stylized Ray ever got to be in his dixie/vaudeville disguise (and beyond). For those who dislike this particular brass style, rest assured it’s almost over (still a couple to go on Act 2 – and they may be the best of the lot – but then Ray will be done with it). I can see how this song wouldn’t be of everyone’s taste, but it’s a beautiful piece of writing, both as a stand-alone metaphorical tune, and as a pivotal moment in the Preservation story arc. And of course, thanks to it and to @Mark's expert explanations, I’m finally fluent in cricket rules and terms. As they say, everybody needs an education… There may be no age for learning, but there’s definitely a thread for it!
     

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