The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    You Can't Stop the Music is a nice 'encore' for the album, though perhaps not as good as the Village People song of the same name :hide:

    As for Soap Opera, it's my favourite Kinks RCA-era album along with Preservation Act 1 and the studio album in Showbiz.
     
  2. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Q. If Ray had pitched himself as "the" office worker could they have slotted I'm into the 1980 film?
    Disclaimer: I could not see him dancing to "Milkshake!"
     
  3. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    Are you saying that he dosen't bring all the boys to the yard?

    And there will be plenty of dancing come 1983, but we shouldn't forget that we are a few years away from that yet :D
     
  4. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Wow I had forgotten that song and video which is decidedly attracting lovers after a different flavour.
     
  5. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    One of the hits of my youth. Knowing myself, I strongly suspect that I prefered the video to the music...
     
  6. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    Anyone who likes "Salt of the Earth" this much, will always me more than okay in my book. Even if that person is not so secretly planning world domination :)
     
  7. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    "You Can't Stop the Music"

    I like it a lot. Dave's guitar to the fore and of course the irony of putting a song by that name as the last track is so very Kinksian.
     
  8. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    Woke up at 11:33 this 'morning'. I guess I know who to thank for this.
     
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  9. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Soap Opera

    Unlike others, I like this a lot less than either Act of Preservation. The oldies pastiches and echoes of various other songs old and not-so-old become tiresome, suggesting a hack songwriter writing against the clock. The dialogue is distracting and though necessary in the TV version, I think it should have been cut down more for the record version to make repeated listening easier. The initial "Starmaker" set up is extremely off-putting and tedious but the big twist does make it an interesting concept overall.

    "Face In The Crowd" is the obvious high point and stand out to me. It goes on my career-spanning Kinks playlist. "Nine to Five" is also very nice, though a relatively minor work. 4 stars for those two.

    "Rush Hour Blues" and "Holiday Romance" are two songs with some very good elements, and some very bad elements, that exclude them from my list of highlights. (3 stars each). "Rush Hour Blues" is spoilt by reasons hinted at above (rock 'n' roll pastiche segments and overacting). "Holiday Romance" is a rich-sounding production in a style I like, but it relies heavily on a borrowed hook (the orchestral intro, as someone pointed out, sorry for forgetting who). Then there's the shifting parade of weird accents in the vocal, the horrible phrase "lovey-dove" and the seeming downplaying of the seriousness of adultery, even if unconsummated (I quote, "sweet and innocent") and the fact that it's shoehorned awkwarkly into the story.

    "Have Another Drink", "Neon Sign" and "You Can't Stop the Music" I'd describe as inoffensive and mediocre (3 stars). "Ordinary People", "When Work Is Over", "You Make It All Worthwhile" and "Ducks" I actually dislike (2 stars), though I can see why others like them, I must admit. The album begins with its absolute nadir, "Everybody's A Star", which is a total automatic skip-track (1 star).

    I've followed the thread and enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts. It's got me involved in the story and concept more than I otherwise ever would have been. I watched a good chunk of the TV play and listened to each song several times. It's all a lot more substantial that it first appears. But I've held off commenting along on a day by day basis because I still feel the majority of the tracks are not especially notable by Kinks standards, and I didn't want to bring too much recurring negativity to the party. But remember I'm the idiot who didn't really get most of Lola, Muswell or Showbiz either.
     
  10. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    You always struck me as smart!
     
  11. GarySteel

    GarySteel Bastard of old

    Location:
    Molde, Norway
    My mother would agree.
     
  12. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Don't you fret, I prefer both Preservation Acts over this follow up despite being shown it's merits!
     
  13. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Superb post, very well argued. Interestingly, I agree with almost all of it, though I end up disagreeing with your conclusions, especially regarding your rating of the songs. I've just listened to it in its entirety this morning (as I do every time we wrap up a record on the thread – and yes, @All Down The Line, it's better than the stupid twofer I owned before, though no sonic masterpiece by a long stretch) and it remains a very agreeable experience for me, full of fantastic moments. I think there's a surprising freshness to the whole thing, and a lot of it is not in spite but because of what you aptly identify as flaws. You're talking about both the good and the bad "elements" in Rush Hour Blues and Holiday Romance, and I think it's a key aspect of the record : you don't get many highlight standalone songs but what you do get is a lot of highlights within the songs, arguably in each and every one of them. I grew up listening to the ex-Beatles solo records. My first were Back to the Egg, McCartney II, Double Fantasy, Somewhere in England (Egg and England remain firm favorites of mine to this day…:hide:), so I'm quite versed in looking for bits of brilliance within works whose quality control is, shall I say, questionable… Once you open yourself to the "campythonesque" humor of Soap Opera, there's so much to enjoy musically! The triumphant return of the verse melody at the end of Ordinary People, the guitar fest and electric piano bridge of Have Another Drink, the bass & claps break in When Work Is Over, the big chord change before the chorus in Neon Sign, the harmonic and vocal lift in the middle of You Make It All Worthwhile, Ray's stand out vocals on the "stand out" line of (A) Face in the Crowd, not forgetting a lot of little memorable phrases here, there and everywhere ("cool it baby, I've got plenty of time", "just in time for the dinner gong/ding dong", "darling, that would be maarvelous", "those that we thought would never last", "quack quack" and many more…)… A masterpiece, it certainly isn't, and not trying to be either. But as a record equivalent to a surprise bag or an easter egg hunt, I find it a very rewarding (and fun) listen.
     
  14. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    There's far more in the way of 50s pastiches - not to mention borrowing of other people's music - on the next album.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm still waiting for the Archives release of Back to the Egg, but I like the stuff I know.
    Somewhere In England is actually, probably my favourite Harrison album... if the Carmichael tracks were replaced with the dropped Harrison songs, it would really be a contender for me...
     
  16. zipp

    zipp Forum Resident

    campythonesque?
     
  17. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I think for today you get the chocolates!
     
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  18. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Back to the Egg is absolutely great, I never understood why it had such a bad reputation. I believe the context in which records are released influences the critics enormously. McCartney, which is an EP's worth of good to great songs interspersed with improvised demos, was lauded by critics ; while Ram, arguably the only record by an ex-Beatle that compares to a Beatles record, was panned. In between, McCartney had become the bad guy of the Beatles breakup, which accounts for 100% of the badness of those bad reviews. I remember seeing McCartney, a poor judge of his own output, answering a question about Back To The Egg by saying "well, you cannot always be at the top". I have no idea why the album was received so coldly, except that McCartney must have appeared as an ageing star from the 60s trying to be hip. But then, so did the Kinks, didn't they ? Of course they might have been a bit more credible than McCartney in the part. Still, great songwriting, great playing on that album.

    Sorry for the interruption. I realise this sort of crap must have been written a million times on these forums, and this thread is mercifully free of it. I can't help doting in my old age.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2022
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  19. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    It’s a day off, so I think these side conversations are ok!

    It’s odd isn’t it? Didn’t all the other Beatles say they didn’t know what happened to Paul when Ram was released? This is what Ringo had to say.

    I don't think there's one tune on the last one, Ram,” Ringo Starr told the UK's Melody Maker at the time, adding that “I just feel he's wasted his time” and noting that “He seems to be going strange.”

    Fifty years later and it remains one of the best post Beatles albums by any of them. Imagine putting out Ram and Ringo saying it sucks. :D

    I also think Back To The Egg has some good tunes. A worthy effort from Paul in the late 70s.
     
  20. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I agree w/your opinion about Ram, which I remember my sister getting when it was new. I also like Band On The Run. As for Back To The Egg,which I haven't heard, remember that it came out in 1979 when everything was either New Wave or Disco & it probably fell between those two stools when it came to the critics.
     
  21. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    You Can't Stop the Music

    From Celluloid Heroes to... Vinyl Heroes & Zeroes?

    I also hear the Pure Prairie League's Amie at the opening of this, and the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction (although silly me, I first pegged it as Get Off of My Cloud), and of course the nod to the lyrics of Celluloid Heroes. But then the song definitely comes into it's own with the horns that recall some of the Something Else or Arthur period. I definitely hear some of the late 60s era Kinks in this one, with some great '70s Dave guitar thrown on top. It's a good singalong closer in the vein of most of their concept album closers. They still got it!

    Soap Opera
    They still got it. That's what I get out of this album. I never really read many of the awful critic reviews of this album before. I just sorta knew it existed and was generally panned. Definitely didn't know what to expect diving into it about 3-4 weeks ago. My pattern for all these new albums, is to start going through them about 3 weeks prior to them appearing on the thread, and listen through a couple times a day, and pick out a particular few songs that are memorable. Initially, the second half of Rush Hour Blues, When Work Is Over (which I thought was just the 2nd half of Nine to Five at first!), and the heavier sections of You Make It All Worthwhile were my favorites. I think it was something about the sound of Dalton's bass was so different on these segments than anything we heard before. The Kinks are still Kinking, still changing it up and giving us new and different sounds. As I listened more and more, the other songs took hold too and I think I love this album. The running narrative is strong, makes sense over the course of a day or two, and is just enjoyable! I think that's the key. It's certainly not as legendary as the '65-'71 "Golden Era", but it is VERY enjoyable. I smile, I laugh, I sing along. That's what music is supposed to do -- make you feel. Make you enjoy listening to it. And that's what this album does. Am I biased and bought into what Ray is doing here? Yes. Do I agree that I wouldn't recommend a Kinks newbie to take Soap Opera for a spin? Also yes. But really, this thread is the perfect avenue to get to it. We have seen the theatrics and concepts grow in ambition and execution.

    For me, every coming album will be completely new-- short of a single here or there in the early 80s. So per my pattern now, that means that I started going through Schoolboys in Disgrace about 2 weeks ago, and am just now starting on Sleepwalker. I think I am now familiar with and remember most of Schoolboys, and look forward to diving in deep day by day.

    You can't stop the Kinks.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2022
  22. Brettlowden

    Brettlowden Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rochester ny

    Dave's guitar is Godlike on this great song.
     
  23. Geoff738

    Geoff738 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Well, I came away from the last couple weeks not hating Soap Opera. I wouldn’t have guessed that before we started. Is any of it top tier Kinks? I don’t think so, but most of it was at least enjoyable. I might even give it some repeat listens if I can get my turntable functioning again. Looking forward to Schoolboys which I’ve always liked. Let’s see if that holds up for me.
     
  24. Brian x

    Brian x the beautiful ones are not yet born

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I've read this whole thread thinking it went all the way through to whatever Ray last released and see you've just ended on the Kinks LP I may listen to the most. First heard it at 15 played complete on WHFS in Bethesda, MD and bought it the next day, then bought Sleepwalker the day after. My kids are young enough to love the Holiday Romance & quacks and dialogue snippets; my wife puts up with them, mostly. "You Make it all Worthwhile" is one of the 3 or 4 songs that reliably makes me cry (though as someone above said, I'm still laughing from what came before).

    I know the next three albums well but quit after Misfits, which I've never rectified. I'll lurk when I don't know the music but I hope it's cool if I comment about the songs I have something to say about -- you seem to have a pretty tight group here.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2022
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  25. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Everyone's most welcome with no suppression of minorities!
     
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