Misfits… higher highs and lower lows than Sleepwalker for me. Also, even if the idea was a bit cult band, I’d think Clive and his sales department would have appreciated Ray’s idea of marketing the band as the Misfits of big time rock. I mean, it’s a hook. The lead song and Rock and Roll Fantasy also both include the audience in a way Ray often did in performance, but more rarely in song. So which couple of songs do we think Christgau was referring to that had the same hummable melodies as on Everybody’s in Showbiz?
I am crossing my fingers that none of my kids get quite as angry as I did at that age. Part of it was moving to Japan just when I'd finally learned how to be perceived as cool. Another part was my dad telling me what he *really* did for a living after lying about (*strategically concealing*) it for 15 years. Part was the fairly accurate teen/adolescent perception that the world was much more cruel and rotten than everyone seemed to be pretending it was. Anyway, Living in Paradise was much more relatable at that time than Hay Fever or Permanent Waves, heh.
I collect badges/buttons of bands I'm into (I have about 300 unique badges for the Ants/Adam Ant alone). Anyway, just purchased this badge on ebay. It should arrive any day. How perfect.
I was at the Record Exchange today getting a gift for a departing fellow employee from my library when I noticed a "Rock of Boston" WBCN badge. I think I also have a Duane Glasscock badge somewhere in my desk drawer. I also looked at the Kinks section on the vinyl side of things (I usually get CDs) & I noticed an original copy of Soap Opera going for $7.99, as well as several RSD copies of Percy. I also noticed plenty of copies of Showbiz & Preservation Act 1, as well as a copy of TGLKA.
I very much do NOT collect badges and buttons, but one of the fewer than 5 I own is an old "God Save the Kinks" one which, alas, since I am not a button nut I have no natural place I store it so it is, I hope, in some random box or drawer SOMEWHERE. But I for sure had it, and that's enough for me.
That's a good one to have (or at least I hope you still have it). I like to collect them, in part, because they are pretty small, so you really don't need major space, like say albums, for them. I have a box that I store them in.
Misfits I guess I bought the CD shortly after Sleepwalker back in the early 90s. The truth is I don't really remember, I never had a very good memory of my mostly uneventful life. I liked the cover art, it did a lot to enhance (or suggest?) the crystal-clear nature of the sound, much better than Sleepwalker's. My feeling was that of a pleasant record, but substantially weaker than its predecessor. My favorite tunes from my early listening days were Rock'n'roll Fantasy (that I enjoyed as a guilty pleasure) and... the 2 songs that our leader feels are the lowest lows of the album, Hay Fever and Black Messiah. Musically speaking, I think Messiah is the most successful on the album. As for the words, they're in English. I forgot about the other songs for long years. I re-discovered the album over these last weeks for the thread, and I must say I enjoy most of the album now. The only real lows, for me, are the first and last tracks. Misfits may have touching lyrics, but they seem to be written in the same foreign language as the aforementioned song (and all the others), and I'm not really fond of the music. On some of the last times I listened to it though, it started to move me a little bit, so maybe there's hope left, since I'm easily swayed and everybody seems to be raving about this song, I may get carried away with the flood. I have less hope for the closer, which I may replace with Father Christmas.
I’m in the higher highs than Sleepwalker, which I struggled with, but lower lows camp. We’ll see if that holds up as we move through. I haven’t gone back to listen and will be taking it day by day. I will say in advance that I also have my difficulties with Low Budget, but we’ll get there in due time.
I mean, if you THINK about it and contemplate it and write about it, of course "Hay Fever" is a slight, silly, ridiculous thing. And yet, on first hearing til most recent, I find it amusing and delightful every time so I gotta give it the "sounds better than it sounds" regard.
MISFITS to me is when the Kinks got back into the groove of being a top group with a solid album again after several years of inconsistent releases, though still containing a few brilliant songs (Celluloid Heroes, The Hard Way, Sitting In The Midday Sun). MISFITS is a very good album.
That's a good question, because I can't really figure out either what he's talking about. Maybe the title track and "Celluloid Heroes"? But that's still a stretch.
Misfits - Like others, I heard "Rock and Roll Fantasy" and "Misfits" on FM radio back in the day but they didn't make enough impression for me to buy the album. I have those songs on the Come Dancing comp. Fast forward to Jan 2022. I started listening to the album online and overall wasn't impressed. I had the chance to tack the used CD on to my Discogs Schoolboys order for $7 but instead chose to download "Live Life" (US) and "Trust Your Heart"...partially because I ought to be getting rid of CDs at this stage of my life, not accumulating more! But as I kept giving it a chance online, other songs started sticking and I regretted not picking up the CD for $7. (Has this thread driven up prices of used Kinks CDs??? ) I did just order it for about $10 +shipping from Germany (good thing the dollar is strong!), so I can let go of that regret! I think I will like it more than Sleepwalker, partially for the variety and maybe more hooks. I'm looking forward to seeing the lyrics, most of which I haven't made out. Like Sleepwalker, the cover is striking to me. Classy looking yet off-kilter, it may be my favorite Kinks cover. And I didn't realize that was Dave on the back either until reading this thread today!
What's odd is I have never cared for this album and I was not looking forward to discussing it. A few years ago I tried ranking all the Kinks albums, and at the time I would have said it was near the very bottom. There are a few songs I liked, but overall it was a record that annoyed me. What happened to The Kinks? In the last week or so I was suddenly trying to figure out what my problem was with it. So, it may only take 30 years for it to finally make sense. I'm wondering if it was a fluke and how I will react when we go through it. There are 4 or 5 songs I could choose as favorites, and they are most likely the ones that don't get much attention. It does have instant skippers for me, but I feel I am coming around to enjoying this album more. I am struggling more with all the albums that follow it! Hope you enjoy Misfits!
It's the album cover...right?? In looking ahead at Low Budget and without getting too into it, I'm not sure what major issue is. I don't see a big shift from the previous two. It's shouty Ray, right? LOL
It's big and brash and unsubtle in writing and playing, both these albums. Risking goofy in their sometimes brutally honest or direct lyrics and subject matter. I happen to find them both very much in my pleasure zone but might be artifact of my age and evolution in my fandom and musical tastes when I discovered them---very early in both cases. Songs like Hay Fever Black Messiah Out of the Wardrobe Gallon of Gas Little Bit of Emotion Catch me Now National Heath Low Budget felt like they were working on a somewhat, if not higher, at least entertaingly wider stage conceptually than the pure radio AOR I was used to. It might be if I found them when I already owned 200 lps instead of 20 or so that aspect of them----Ray's unique mindset and tastes in what he'd write a lyric about those days---might not have seemed quite so interesting and appealing. But at the time it did and that affection has stuck
The Headmaster has spoken! Seriously, this is going to be a rather interesting discussion coming up with Low Budget. There seems to be a bit o' polarization about it developing among the Avids. Jeez, almost like real life! Just remember, it's only a rock & roll album from 1979, nothing more and nothing less.
