The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Rock N Roll Fantasy

    "Here come the jesters one by one"...oops wrong Rock N Roll Fantasy. There is a fragility to Ray's voice as he opens the song almost tentatively. He combines the state of the band with the death of Elvis and the life of a superfan named Dan. It's a little on the schmaltzy side in its melody and lyrically Ray seems both determined to continue yet unsure of his place. So it's a bit muddled in its message and musically. Is it a ballad? Sort of but not really yet it doesn't really rock either. It's probably the closest the Kinks ever came to sounding like Bread (at least in the chorus). It has some great hooks though and Dave adds some tasteful, yet soaring leads. We can all relate to Dan in this song. The problem is Ray is trying to tell three stories here in a song that he can't seem to decide is a ballad, and if so it is sweeping or more intimate, and winds up in AM soft rock territory. But credit to Ray for pulling off a song that is really good soft rock. After listening to it though you leave with the feeling that while he accomplished that he didn't quite accomplish his ambitious vision for the song. I've always felt that way when listening to this is song. It's a song I've grown to like more over the years. Though a slight misfire it's a fine song nonetheless. I may not love it, but I do like it.
     
  2. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    It could have been worse.

    Dan is a man who is a fan of this band, driving his van across the barren land
     
  3. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Or Dan is a fan who jams out to our band in his Chevy van.
     
  4. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    why thank you. I wish I could wax poetic, but that's not my style. I enjoy others doing that as they're good at it. Me, not so much. Short and sweet is normally how I roll. :laugh:
     
  5. Geoff738

    Geoff738 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    This one always felt a little bit less than the sum of its parts to me. I like it, but maybe don’t love it. I can understand why it was chosen as a single though.

    I didn’t weigh in on BM. I did say I felt there were higher highs but lower lows on Misfits as compared with Sleepwalker. This one is definitely one of the lows. Clumsy in the extreme lyrically. And I don’t much care for the faux reggae either. It is in the running for my least favourite Kinks tune in their entire katalog. And I own UK Jive. Ok, moving on.
     
  6. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    Ah that reminds me of one of my favorite little couplets:

    Bruce Berry was a working man
    He used to load that Econoline van


    Guess I’m a fan of “an” rhymes lol
     
  7. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Pity as for me it's a rare instance of a live version being better than the studio cut.
     
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  8. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Brilliant post!
     
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  9. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I think Allen Klein fancied jeans and casual attire.
     
  10. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I like that shirt....i want it!
     
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  11. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    He became a cop because of Elvis?
     
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  12. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Glad I could make the Smiler smile ! And most French words that really count are about food anyway, so consider yourself near fluent.
     
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  13. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Strange that Ray had just signed with Clive & Arista & is peddling promises about an elaborate stage show and movie of Preservation!o_O
     
  14. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Apologies to Avid @Luckless Pedestrian for my rising-chord-sequence-bashing, I was only trying to sound smart ! You make a great job of praising the song's musical construction. And thanks to both of you for putting a name on that diffuse odd-beats feeling at the end of the chorus ! I think I proudly commented on the 7-beat bars in the Dave tunes you mention at the time (or shortly after the time, in my catch-up posts, since I joined up, well, late) but I hadn't noticed this one. Which means it's really well done.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    In A Foreign Land.

    stereo mix, recorded 12-16 Jul, 1977 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    It was a matter of fact that when I paid all my tax
    I held my world in the palm of my hand
    And all of my debts were causing me to defect
    To a land of bananas and sand
    So I ran, yes I ran, yes I ran to a foreign land
    Here I am, here I am
    Here I am in a foreign land

    I'm so glad we made it
    I thought we'd never land
    I grabbed all my cash
    And I decided to dash far away
    Far away, far away in a foreign land
    Here I am, here I am, here I am in a foreign land

    Goodbye to all of the rich men's daughters
    Goodbye to my debts now I'm way across the water
    Far away, far away in a foreign land
    Here I am, here I am, here I am in a foreign land

    La la la la la la
    La la la la la la

    Please tell my mother and all my ex-lovers
    That I've finally made the grade
    Please tell my debtors and the money collectors
    That all of my bills will be paid some day
    I'm away, I'm away in a foreign land

    Goodbye champagne and the caviar set
    I wanna slum and drink all of the rum I can get
    I'm away, I'm away in a foreign land
    Here I am, here I am, here I am in a foreign land
    But I'm all out of my jack and I can't go back
    I'm away, far away, far away in a foreign land

    La la la la la la
    La la la la la la

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

    This is such an infectious melody and feel, that this is probably the first time I have ever even thought to check out the lyrics. Aside from the In a Foreign Land lyrics, I actually wouldn't have a clue what this song is about or what it says.

    This seems to be somewhat based around what became a fairly constant theme when the rock music industry really exploded.... the tax exile? ... Did the Kinks ever have to be tax exiles?
    Anyway, this song is also able to quite easily relate to someone who has just accrued so much debt that they need to run away.

    This is an excellent lyric really. It flows so beautifully, and it tells its story really well, with some typically clever Ray lines.

    This song seems like it should have been a single...

    We open with an hesitant guitar that does a couple of double hits, and then gradually moves into a steady rhythm. A rhythm guitar playing a chord riff comes in underneath, then Ray comes in with the vocal, followed by the rhythm section and we roll into the song beautifully.

    The bouncy happy feel of the song is infectious, and the rhythmic structure is really excellent.
    Although the chord progression may not be something stunningly new, or an unheard of type of progression, it is simply perfect for this track, and the way the melody of the vocal fits with it is absolutely spot on.
    The rolling melody of the verses is very engaging, and the chorus uses rhythmic techniques that from my perspective are just a fantastic hook. With the slide guitar echoing that melody, it sort of doubles down on the perfection of this hook.

    We get nice dynamic set ups , and the constantly engaging melodic and rhythmic flow, just make this song irresistible to me.

    We get a sort of bridge where the song drifts into reflection when Ray sings" Goodbye to all of the rich men's daughters" floating above the glistening keyboard bed.
    Then after the punchy chorus we get some klassic Kinks la la's, over a reprised glistening keys section, and it just works beautifully.
    Dave does a short little lead guitar, and the flow just continues on perfectly.

    Look, I'm not really sure what else to say about this.... to me it is pop/rock perfection and it is one of those songs that never gets mentioned, but is absolutely fantastic.

     
  16. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    That's what he said. I could never wrap my head around that one either. I don't believe Elvis played a policeman in a movie...although Elvis, in his own mind at least, was a special, top secret, undercover DEA Agent, appointed by Nixon. He had the badge and photo op to prove it!
     
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  17. “In a Foreign Land”—A bit of a throwaway, and placed in a spot of lesser consequence, in the “Mr. Kite”/“You Gotta Move”/“Eyesight to the Blind”/“Only a Fool Would Say That” end-of-side-one ghetto. That said, this has always been one of my favorite tracks on the album. I can’t hear it enough. Satisfying, catchy, concise, unpretentious, tossed-off in a good way—worth every moment of inner-groove distortion on my original vinyl copy. Encountering the tarnished aristocrat of a protagonist is like bumping into an old friend from the glory days in London. I like to see Ray once again thinking about class distinctions. And what about his pronunciation of “bananas?” Too great.
     
  18. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    Another excellent track, with a bit of a smooth MOR sound like much of Sleepwalker. That's 4 good songs out of 5 on side 1 for me!
     
  19. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "In A Foreign Land"

    A nice little track, a bit of a throwaway but it also feels like a throwback to the Kinks of the Pye era. It reminds me of "Apeman" for some reason - maybe it's the mention of "bananas" that's in both tracks. The concept of musicians running away from the UK to escape our taxes wasn't unusual at the time of course. I think the "I'm all out of jack" part is maybe one line too many for the song, but otherwise it's well-structured and unmistakably The Kinks.
     
  20. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The only Kink who could ever have been a tax exile is Ray Davies because he's the only one with any money - apparently - so this is a song with a subject very close to Ray's heart! I must admit, until I'd read the Johnny Rogan book I had no idea Ray had lived in New York for a while, given that he's so often portrayed as the quintessential English songwriter.

    To the song it took a few plays for me to realize that this song is a little cracker. The lyrics are clever and funny, the music/vocals are excellent, add it together and you have a helluva catchy pop song This is the only time on this album where this kind of jokey lyrical approach allied to light and poppy music really works.

    Leaving aside "Hay Fever" and the lyrics to "Black Messiah", this is a very good side of music from the Kinks.
     
  21. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Discovering the words lifts this one upwards in my appreciation. To me, it's one more striking instance of my "verse better than the chorus" theory. (Disclaimer: not a "Ray can't write a proper chorus" theory)
     
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  22. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    At first, it's like hearing a mellower Blondie outtake, clever, funny, propulsive, exhilarating and even, dare I say, modern! After such an auspicious start, things really derail for me with the « So I ran / Yes I ran » chorus, which I expected @The late man would use to resuscitate his “bad choruses” theory. And so he did and… this time, I won’t dare trying to offer a counter argument, especially since the song seems so anxious to come back to it again and again and again (be it with different lyrics or even in an instrumental form). It's almost weird. As often, Ray cooks up very different parts, slower, faster, verses, bridges, pensive lalala’s, stops and starts, various beats, moods and melodies, but it's like each and every one of them can't wait to abort themselves to run back to repeat that same A/E/A/E repetitive chorus. It makes this track a rare exception in the Kinks oeuvre, a great premise that ends up being poorly developed by a guy’s who’s proven 200 times to be a master developer. But really, it starts absolutely great, gloriously even, in a burst of easy melody, like a champagne bottle full of ebullient music popping up.
     
  23. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Is that 1977 recording date correct? I thought this was the one track on this LP to feature Dalton on bass: ie it’s a ‘Sleepwalker’ leftover. Maybe John D snuck back in for one song amongst the bass player transience that reigned in the studio during this time?

    While Ray lived in the US for a time in the 70s, correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think it was a tax evasion thing. Or maybe it was: but in any case I remember reading something to the effect of that when he relocated back to the UK latterly, he was willing to take the hit despite his famed (perhaps over played?) meanness with money because of his attachment to London.
     
  24. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Not really, by now we all realise that the Kinks were a band that were perpetually experimenting with bars and how long they stayed in one before hitting the next!
     
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  25. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    "In A Foreign Land" - I enjoy this song though it does seem a mystery to me as to why Ray wrote this song as he was not a tax exile (unlike the Stones). However, the highest marginal tax rate in the 1970s in the UK would have been 95% (as in "one for me; nineteen for you"). So I suspect such an idea may have been on Ray's mind and why he was concerned about all of the men in grey and the "social welfare state". I like the melody of this song, its production. Maybe it is written about the Stones!
     

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