"Scrapheap City" provides some variety in the larger context of Preservation most notable in the vocals. I find the opening verse rather dreary sounding but once it hits the "Look at all the people" verse, the song's considerable charm emerges. Yes it fits the theme of Preservation perfectly and it is interesting to hear Ray's words sung by other singers (who else would write lines defending manners than Ray Davies?). One thing interesting to me is the mention of album sides and Exile as an example. Exile is my favourite album by anyone but part of my attachment is because it was in my house since its release. I knew it as a tactile experience with the gatefold sleeve and the cover art plus the two actual discs you had to take out, play and turn over. So I understand that record as four distinct sides. I bought the first Preservation album on vinyl but never once saw a vinyl copy of Act Two. I only know it as a CD and it is not the same. I know the sequence of songs but not how it was originally consumed on vinyl. The Who's two double albums that tell a story were also in my house upon release and I have strong bonds with both of them (the visuals that were part of the vinyl package augmented my experience immensely). It is an experience I did not have with The Kinks but it's interesting to hear from those who did.
"Scrapheap City" It's back to the Americana sound again, and like the previous forays into it, I'm not a great fan. (I'm also not a fan of Ray's Americana album either!) The song is OK, but this version is just a bit jarring to appear near the end of a Kinks album. Listening to the Ray-sung version again, I think I prefer that version, although it still wouldn't be a highlight on this album, being a bit slow and laborious.
"Scrapheap City". I like it, it's corny but that's deliberate, and the slightly amateurish "golly gee" vocal is absolutely perfect for the song - though it's weird to hear a Kinks song with no Kinks singing on it! Again, the lyrics don't really add up. We're told that Flash's empire is being dismantled and replaced by the dystopian hell of Big Brother... sorry, Mr. Black. Things are so dreadful that they're even digging up the flowers - but, hold on, though, weren't we just told a few tracks previously that our newly forged hero Flash had ploughed up the fields and turned "a simple village into a vulgar playground"? Has Ray forgotten that bit? Ray's fathoms deep distaste for property development apparently doesn't apply to property developers - like Flash - but only where it involves this nebulous Welfare State monstrosity that he's conjured up in his head. Does Ray just not understand how property development works? Does he think private property developers only build neo-Georgian townhouses or something? The story's collapse into sophomoric nonsense continues apace.
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 1965 Never Say Yes 1966 Trouble In Madrid 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 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 Sitting In My Hotel - 76 remix Motorway You Don't Know My Name Supersonic Rocket Ship - fan vid - BBC live - band video - live Look A Little On The Sunny Side Celluloid Heroes - live 82 Top Of The Pops Brainwashed - Alt Mr Wonderful Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues - Alt Holiday Muswell Hillbilly - Alt Alcohol - Alt Banana Boat Song Skin And Bone Baby Face Lola Til The End Of The Day You're Lookin' Fine Get Back In Line Have A Cuppa Tea Sunny Afternoon Complicated Life She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina Long Tall Shorty History Sophisticated Lady January 1973 The Great Lost Kinks Album Apr 1973 One Of The Survivors/Scrapheap City (Ray Vocal) One Of The Survivors (single version) Ray's near death experience/suicide? The Kinks Live AT The BBC 1973 Oct 1973 Golden Hour Of The Kinks Vol 2 1973 The Time Song I'm Going Home Nov 1973 Preservation Act 1 Morning Song/Daylight - live 74 Sweet Lady Genevieve - Ray live - live 70's There's A Change In The Weather Where Are They Now? One Of The Survivors - Compile version - edit 1 - edit 2 Cricket - Cricket Money And Corruption/ I Am Your Man - Alt/ext Here Comes Flash Sitting In The Midday Sun - video Demolition - Peel sessions extras Village Green (Overture) Picture Book/People Take Pictures Of Each Other (live) May 1974 Preservation Act 2 Announcement Introduction To Solution When A Solution Comes Money Talks - Peel Sessions - Live 74 Announcement Shepherds Of The Nation Scum Of The Earth Second Hand Car Spiv He's Evil - Hippodrome 74 Mirror Of Love - Band Version - Hippodrome 74 Announcement Nobody Gives Oh Where Oh Where Is Love Flash's Dream (The Final Elbow) Flash's Confession Nothing Lasts Forever Announcement Artificial Man Scrapheap City Preservation Live World Radio History Starmaker Tv Play Winterland 1977 Ray On Wonderworld 2005 Thanksgiving Day Ray live on Conan Obrien Oct 2018 Dave Davies - Decade - interview If You Are Leaving (71) Cradle To The Grace (73) Midnight Sun (73) Mystic Woman (73) The Journey (73) Shadows (73) Mick Avory Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street Rasa Didzpetris Davies John Dalton
Scrapheap City: a straight-ahead American country western number complete with a vocalist singing in an American accent. She may well be a converted Floosie because it sounds as if she’s chewing gum while she’s singing. Lyrics (as described by Mark)? A cultural revolution. Looking through the wealth of material provided by @DISKOJOE (and posted by Mark) I notice that in the first (posted) performance that Scrapheap City isn’t include in any of the scenes. It is (Scene 7) in the second production. (Thank you @DISKOJOE for your preservation efforts!) The song: hmm, not a favorite. Kinda plodding along.
I've checked my "A Play in Two Acts" 1991 double CD and Maryann Price – or Mary Ann Price, as she is labelled in the booklet – is indeed credited, which she wasn't on the 1974 vinyl presumably for contractual reasons. But even on that CD release, her name is just one amongst the other singers, so there's no way to be 100% certain she indeed sings all the female leads on the record. I like to think she does, though, as she's quite a versatile vocalist, able to modulate the level of "technique" and proficiency she displays on any given track. On Scrapheap City, she's a cow-girl with a bit of a southern country girl attitude (think Jean Arthur as Calamity Jane in Cecil B. DeMille's the Plainsman, or so it is what I make of it, with my poor ear for accents in english). Jazzy (but not too much) and sexy (more than just a little)… I've just come across a solo version Maryann did in 2007 where she really goes for a full-on lounge/jazz performance, and you can see what I mean about her singing abilities. It's incredible to think such an easily overlooked song ended up having not one, not two but three officially released versions!
Oh man, did I miss a link in the thread to the Ray-sung version? I've not heard that before. Scrapheap City: on the song itself, I don't have much to add to what's been said already. I think it's another in a long line of stylistic diversions on the album, which I like. I also would point out that the opening "Happy Trails" cowboy riff is played on the *harpsichord*, right? I know the bass comes in and doubles it, but if that's not a Kinky innovation, I don't know what is. I think about my avatar BW and California Girls (also built on a Roy Rodgers-type bassline) and even Brian didn't go that far! Edit: Here's the Ray version: Nicely done, with a more lounge-y shuffle vibe. I like it!
So, one more example of a disgusting French custom ! Like questionable hygiene, shared WC or dipping one's toast into one's coffee. My wife tells me she's seen it in München, there were theatrics in the public but no wetness. I just checked, the cinema I was referring to is still showing the movie to this day, and has been showing it without interruption since 1978. BUT... The web page specifies "rice and water only"... We're losing our souls ! There's no purity. ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
The cinema’s manager was asked for comment and said, “We are just preserving the seats from being abused and protecting the aisles for me and for you. What more can we do?”
Must have been a drag to clean up, yes. But it's the price of silly tradition. I might have invented the eggs. But flour and water for sure, I think I remember seeing the white traces on the seats once I went to see another movie there.
I saw the movie in the US and in London. Great fun. There was toilet paper and rice and newspapers and squirt guns. But nothing that would ruin your clothes.
Cool! Being from the Boston area, I recognize all the business ads! So wish I could have seen this. I was living in Boston at this time too. Darn. Missed opportunity. I recognize some of the names of the players - Mick Maldonado and T Max. I don't know them...just the names.
Scrapheap City: I see and respect that many have been able to find something they like in this song. Sadly, I can’t get there. I don’t wanna hear anyone other than Ray or Dave singing lead on a Kinks album. I’ll try again and report back but my fiancé and I are picking up our new puppy today, and I think you are more likely to get a puppy picture than a positive review of Scrapheap City as my next post.
I try to find value where I can in Kinks lyrics. I remember encountering this word back in the day when I first heard this song and wondering what a trilby was. I looked into it, and--viola--expanded my knowledge. Words such as "spiv" and "punters"(from Second Hand Car Spiv) likewise put me into research mode. Fault "Preservations" story as a whole if you will, but I always enjoyed adding new words to my vocabulary as result of this sprawling, lyric-heavy album. My only regret is I have never had a credible opportunity to use the word "spiv" in my normal day-t0-day conversations. Or, on second though, maybe I shouldn't regret it...
First off, I wish to thank our esteemed Headmaster for putting up those programs. I didn't realize I had them until I went through my archives. My friend Jimmy gave me the 1993 one while I got the 1998 one when I saw it, along w/the Flash Dollar. I wanted to share these w/my fellow Avids & thanks again to Mark for making this possible. Back to the action, or shall we say ActIIion? Today's song is "Scrapheap City", a song that perhaps shows Ray's love of cowboy movies & music that started when he & Dave watched them in the movies when they were kids. Ray even wrote a song called "The Duke" when John Wayne died, which popped up in the Picture Book box set. It comes across like one of those songs from Annie Get Your Gun, except for the lyrics. Speaking of which, Avid Vangro does have a point in saying that Flash is also guilty in destroying everything in the name of profit, while Black destroys in the name of progress, or their twisted versions of the concepts. I didn't mind the non-Kink lead vocals, although I do prefer the bluesy alternative version. Avid Wondergirl, how many of those businesses are still around? Also, did you see Rocky Horror at the Harvard Sq. Cinema, where it played for decades? I only saw it once in a small theatre in Newburyport, but I have a friend who saw it every weekend in Cambridge for about a decade.
Not to belabor the point, but listening again, I don't think that riff is a harpsichord. Maybe a clavinet or some electric piano. In any case, it's a cool texture.
Congrats on that Avid Markelis. I would like to see a puppy piccy. Ray did do the lead vocal on the alternative version, if that's any consolation to you.
Scrapheap City A little to western for my tastes, although the lyrics do lend themselves to that style. The Kinks were among the early architects of both metal and punk..... now with a title like Scrapheap City, I'd kinda like to hear the guys launch another genre and give us a little proto-industrual!
Thanks for preserving those programs @DISKOJOE ! A nice trip down memory lane, seeing the adverts for the Garment District, the Middle East, and all those record stores. In those days most of my weekends were spent wandering around Boston and Cambridge visiting all the unique record shops in the unique neighborhoods, then listening to my musical harvest all night. It was a better time, wasn't it? Not least of all because I was a lot younger back then!
Maryann is great. We have crossed paths in years past. I got her a gig at my old Manhattan hang, Sidewalk Cafe, probably 10 years ago, while she was touring. She used to participate in the old Kinks newsgroup forum, or email group (or was it both?) circa 1993-4. I reached out to her by Facebook and tried to get her to actively participate in this thread. She may have checked it out a little, for all I know.