I’m with you on this album but am keeping abreast for the thread camaraderie. (Your music taste often mirrors my own so I’d probably allow you access to the player controls if you came over to the house. Possibly! ).
I just want to wish a Happy Easter or a very beautiful Sunday to all the Avids out there and their families. I especially hope that Avid Ajsmith gets a bit better. I wish you all the best no matter what. Also, us MA Avids will have an extra day off for Patriots Day on Monday. I'll actually comment on songs again in a bit (spent the past couple of days cleaning up the homestead & am now working at my library job)
I’m still flabbergasted by the (to me) startling fact that Dave’s bar-code album reached #42 on the US album charts. I checked my top 100 albums list for 1980 and I have nothing; zero. Not a single album made the grade. I’m working my brain and recall that I bought the Pat Travers Band ‘Crash and Burn’ that year. Haven’t played it since (!) so that one didn’t hold up. I found this list of the top 30 best-selling albums (U.S.) for 1980. Note that a few were released in 1979 but still sold like hot cakes in 1980 (The Wall, for instance): 30. Just One Night – Eric Clapton (RSO) 29. Go All the Way – Isley Brothers (T-Neck) 28. The Empire Strikes Back (Orig. Soundtrack) (RSO) 27. Hotter Than July – Stevie Wonder (Tamla) 26. One Step Closer – Doobie Brothers (Warner Bros.) 25. Cornerstone – Styx (A&M) 24. The River – Bruce Springsteen (Columbia) 23. The Whispers – The Whispers (Solar) 22. Kenny – Kenny Rogers (United Artists) 21. Phoenix – Dan Fogelberg (Full Moon/Epic) 20. Women and Children First – Van Halen (Warner Bros.) 19. Back in Black – AC/DC (Atlantic) 18. On the Radio – Greatest Hits, Volumes I & II – Donna Summer (Casablanca) 17. Give Me the Night – George Benson (Quest/Warner Bros.) 16. Christopher Cross – Christopher Cross (Warner Bros.) 15. Crimes of Passion – Pat Benatar (Chrysalis) 14. Kenny Rogers’ Greatest Hits (Liberty) 13. Emotional Rescue – The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones) 12. Mad Love – Linda Ronstadt (Asylum) 11. Damn the Torpedoes – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Backstreet/MCA) 10. Hold Out – Jackson Browne (Asylum) 9. Xanadu (Orig. Soundtrack) – ELO, Olivia Newton-John (MCA) 8. Guilty – Barbra Streisand (Columbia) 7. Diana – Diana Ross (Motown 6. The Long Run – Eagles (Asylum) 5. Urban Cowboy (Orig. Soundtrack) – Various Artists (Full Moon/Asylum) 4. The Game – Queen (Elektra) 3. Against the Wind – Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (Capitol) 2. The Wall – Pink Floyd (Columbia) 1. Glass Houses – Billy Joel (Columbia) ‘Glass Houses’ was the biggest selling album of that year (during that year). Point is that this is a snapshot into the environment in which Dave’s album was released. Naturally, there’s a whole lot more, but these were the big, monster sellers.
"Visionary Dreamer" I've never knowingly listened to Journey (no, not even that song), so I wouldn't know about any similarity to that. This is quite a nice song with a good melodic flow in the verse, although the chorus seems a little out of Dave's comfortable range (and he will be going higher still in later tracks) consequently the screaming is a little off-putting. The arrangement of the third verse is the highlight for me. Possibly the best ballad on the album. "Nothing More To Lose" Never been a big fan of this one, as it seems more of a straight rock track than the others, but I think the bridge section saves it and gives it something a bit extra. I don't think I have ever heard the word "separative" in any context before, let alone in a rock song lyric.
So essentially a Dave Davies solo album fared better than every one of Ray's rock theatre albums. And on RCA no less. Wow. Well now, knowing this the next album Kinks makes perfect sense. Ray's ambitious rock operas being one upped on the charts by his baby brother's bar code titled solo debut. It brings another meaning to the Give The People What They Want album title. I had of those 100: 1-4, 11, 13, 19-20.
Where Do You Come From I don't hate it, but I don't love it. I find the initial 30 seconds or so engaging. And then it goes into that guitar hero stuff that is a bit over the top, then it settles in and sounds pretty ok until the vocals come in. I don't like the echo of the vocals at all. very distracting. I'm no expert on drums, but I do like some of the big drum sound. Doesn't seem complicated, but somehow works. Doing the Best for You Hmmm...not doing much for me. And I'm not sure I have the patience nor the time to listen to it several more times. It's not really a sound I enjoy overall.
Maybe I Love You Stripped of the vocals it sounds like a Stones outtake (the guitar tone and groove). I like the drum breaks on this one as well. I think Ray has a point about the lack of lyrics and it being a single. It's a rare Kinks groove track but it works well. Ray might have gotten sued because it is obvious the song bears a strong resemblance to Baby I Love You. Regardless, I like this one as well. Stolen Away Your Heart Spot on with the Nick Lowe and Better Things references. When he sings Sweetheart I think of that Frankie and the Knockouts single with that title. It's ok but a slight track and the weakest of these outtakes. The bones of this one will be used in a much Better song.
Yea, I think sound is a huge factor in whether someone is able to give this album a good chance. Even for a 1980 album it has big splashy production. I wonder if all the extra reverbs added were due to confidence? Reverb softens vocals to the ears somewhat.... that's why people say they sing better in the bathroom, because the tiled walls give good sound reflection, and so your voice kind of layers over itself and thickens up a little. I think he may have just dialled in a bit too much.
Nothing to do with the current Dave odyssey, but here's a half hour long 1969 interview with Ray about Arthur I'd never heard before: Ray Davies discusses the album "Arthur"
Am listening now. Studs Terkel interview; excellent. “‘Some Mother’s Son’ was played during the moratorium, I was told.” Anyone know what this is reference to? (Ray responds that he’d heard that.) 1969. Edit: I’m wondering if Terkel realizes the band name is The Kinks. It sounds to me like he might think it’s ‘Reprise’!
Ray is not exactly an enthusiastic salesman in this interview. He’s about as laid back as they come. Almost Jay Farrar-like.
I have five of these albums. Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, and The Stones are the three favorites from the list.
Thanks so much for posting this. . @mark winstanley , would you be willing to link this on the index? Studs Terkel is very well prepared as he comes into this interview and, by the end, he gets even Ray to sound engaged. Note: it’s clear that tidbits of the various tracks were played during the original interview. On this recording, the music has been cut.
Definitely mate... I'm trying to link all the Kinks audio and visual stuff, and any relevant other into
but like the stereotyped Irishman wearing two condoms "to be sure, to be sure", I'll do it now Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 - Kinks get a haircut Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 1965 Never Say Yes 1966 Trouble In Madrid Nov 1970 - Jun 1976 Ray interview Ray Interview with Studs Terkel 1969 The Kinks Move To Arista Records Feb 1977 Sleepwalker Life On The Road - OGWT 77 - ITV 78 Mr Big Man Sleepwalker - Mike Douglas - OGWT - Supersonic - SNL - Outtake Brother Juke Box Music - single - OGWT Sleepless Night Stormy Sky - OGWT 77 Full Moon - live 77 - Ray live Life Goes On - OGWT 77 Artificial Light Prince Of The Punks The Poseur On The Outside - remix Elevator Man Kinks Live Feb 1977 Ray acoustic Apr 77 Kinks Old Grey Whistle Test show 77 Kinks Live Dec 1977 Christmas Concert 1977 The Pressures Of The Road Nov 1977 Father Christmas - video - live 1977 - tv promo - Dave live May 1978 Misfits Misfits - tv 1978 Hay Fever - live? Black Messiah Rock And Roll Fantasy- the hotel room - live Paris 1978 In A Foreign Land Permanent Waves Live Life - US version - UK tv Out Of The Wardrobe Trust Your Heart - live 1979 Get Up 1978 The Misfit Record EP Lola live in the hotel room UK tv 1978 The Misfits Tour Live in Paris 1978 Sept. 1978 20 Golden Greats Jul 1979 Low Budget Attitude Catch Me Now I'm Falling - remix - alt mix - The Late Man, Sea Cows In Love Mix Pressure - live 1983 National Health Superman (ext. mix) - single/album mix - ext fan mix - video - straight mix 12" Low Budget - Extended mix - Live 89 - Ray Live In A Space A Little Bit Of Emotion A Gallon Of Gas - Live in 1982 - Full US single version - Alt mix Misery Moving Pictures studio outtakes Hidden Quality Duke Nuclear Love Maybe I Love You Stolen Away Your Heart Mike Konopka Restores the Kinks for the Velvel Reissues The Low Budget interview Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Ray On Wonderworld The Kunks Ray on the Stones Compilations part 1 Dave Davies - AFL1-3603 Where Do You Come From Doing The Best For You Visionary Dreamer Nothing More To Lose Live In Frankfurt in 1984 Kinks live TOTP 1994 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) Web Of Time (75) Mr Moon (75) - Why Islands (78) Give You All My Love (78) Within Each Day (78) Same Old Blues (78) This Precious Time (78) Mick Avory Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street Rasa Didzpetris Davies John Dalton John Gosling Jim Rodford Andy Pyle Gordon Edwards Clive Davis
But, then again, maybe he’s pronouncing it incorrectly. (After all, I just learned to pronounce it Ray’s way after a lot of practice.)
I think I have or had 15 of those albums. And I would later double back on stuff like Donna Summer and Barry Gibbs' work with Streisand. That whole early 80s R&B/Top 40 thing, I would also revisit - Pointer Sisters, Diana Ross, etc. In my mind, just good pop music, well constructed, usually by top-notch songwriting teams, studio pros and producers who knew what they were doing. Of course, at the time, I would have choked on those words, and done so for about the next 15 years thereafter! Of course, this list also feels like 1980 to me, too. I have roughly the same number of albums, but tracks from nearly all of these albums in my collection. That 1978-80 period was such an interesting time in terms of pop music, so much going on, all these genres that would later go on to have their own charts, just starting to form.