This is also one of those highlight albums to me, though the highlights are very high indeed. I bought it in real time. Art Lover is one of my favorite tracks of this era. The double layering of the storyline is brilliant, and the relationship to Ray’s life obviously deepens it. It’s also a gorgeous tune. Ray’s performance of it on Saturday Night Live is a Kinks all-time highlight for me, with the bemused look in his face, and the bit where he puts on the shades. I also like the 1997 remix better than the album one because it strips away a bit of the over production (mostly the extra keyboard that sounds like steel drums). Speaking of which, I do have a problem with the muddy, blaring sound of the album. Around the Dial has a sound I don’t like, lyrics I don’t like and also find to be pandering (it’s glorifying of AOR radio even if it seems to cast a jaundiced eye). Why then do I love it anyway? It’s catchy as all get-out! Can you hear me! Yo-Yo suffers a bit from the same over-egging (especially in the chorus - though there’s an argument to be made that angst is the proper emotion) but is another highlight. Which brings us to Better Things. I know there are some who say this is just a sop to the old fans to show that Ray can still write and sing a song like this, but on the other hand, n9 one else can! It’s a wonderful song, sad and lovely at the same time. Another of my favorite songs of this era. Oh yeah, Destroyer. I have no issue with the Kinks making a song in this style but “paranoia” again? I know Ray wrote a lot of songs in his career, but this theme seems tired, and this song adds nothing lyrically. Perhaps Ray figured that none of his new listeners had heard Muswell Hillbillies anyway! I look forward to listening to songs I don’t listen to that often. The ones above are on my Kinks iPad playlist which only has room enough for 47 Kinks songs (second only to the Stones).
That would be Sarah Lockwood Murray, Konk secretary and future studio manager. Is Ray thrifty, or what? I’m sure it was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill for her to be asked to play the wife on Yo-Yo, and it was sweet of Ray to think of her, but certainly the pocketbook was front of mind. ‘Come on, luv, you can do it on your lunch break, first take like me.’ As for how many songs Chrissie Hynde sang on, I too have only heard it was on Predictable. And yes, Wikipedia can be sketchy. But here are two nuggets for any of you conspiracy theorists out there to use: 1) Around the time of the album’s release, Creem magazine’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll News’ section states: ‘Dave Davies told us over Thai food that Chrissie was rapidly becoming ‘like a member of the band’, she was around so much.’ A statement which may have foreshadowed the events between Dave and Chrissie the following year. 2) Ray is notorious for not giving credit where it is due. Ask Rasa, whose song-altering input went unheralded. Or ask Nicky Hopkins (if only), how he felt not getting the recognition he deserved for his crucial Kinks work. Even Sarah, mentioned above, would have been delighted to see her name credited. The actress used on Come Dancing and Long Distance remains anonymous, too. So, if Ms. Hynde did indeed grace a handful of songs on Give the People What they Want, I would be surprised, but not shocked.
Good call there. Without Hinman's book we wouldn't even know this. Not credited anywhere else other than being listed in the Thanks sections in the Velvel CD remasters series along with the other Konk employees. Hell, not even Hynde is credited in the remastered 1998 CD booklet, not in the musician credits and not even mentioned in the text of the booklet essay. I just looked at my original 1981 LP and checked that. Nope. Not credited there either but that could have been due to record label politics back then. The Pretenders were on Sire which was under Warner Bros. I think Arista was separated from Columbia by this point but not yet acquired by RCA so who knows how this stuff really works. The non-mention in the 1998 and later releases with liner notes and essays has to be deliberate.
This is my favorite Kinks album and Art Lover is probably my second favorite Kinks song behind Waterloo Sunset. This album is loud and bombastic and I love it for that. This was the album my dad played for me after I discovered the Kinks by finding a 45 of waterloo sunset that we have no idea how we got. Back to front is about the only song I'd skip on it.
I'm back from a few days in the sun. I have not had time to read through all of the Dave discussion. I recently listened to Glamour a couple times, and found that it only got interesting on the last few songs. I recall liking "Telepathy". I will refresh my memory tonight and read what everyone had to say about it, but first I have to get back to The Kinks! I have had Give The People What They Want on CD for at least 20 years, but never paid much attention to it. I love the last song, but was always let down by the rest of the album. Within the last few months, I bought a vinyl copy, and also started listening to it in my car. It's a bit of a mixed bag. I'm not totally feeling it, but I have found enough charm that I keep going back to give it another chance. I wish they went in a different direction, but it's not bad for what it is. At this stage, I count 3 or 4 songs that hit the mark. This may go up or down in the next couple weeks, but I am looking forward to hearing what people love about this album. It does feature what is perhaps their finest song of the 80s, but we are getting farther away from what I consider to be prime Kinks.
Yes he did, the spoken word stuff in the middle section, so good call there too. Did Ray credit her? Nah, of course not .
Never heard the LP in full though i am now familiar to one degree or another with 5 of the 11 songs. I guess the title tune and Predictable (video) were insufficient bait to temp me into purchasing this longplayer. I had no idea Chrissie sang on this LP and I wonder if Dave put up any opposition to this? Also i am shocked that the UK version came out 4 months later, just imagine that in more recent times!
I'm another who went Beatle crazy after Lennon's murder, then found The Who and thanks to SNL, The Kinks. The following monday everyone was talking Buckwheat while I was looking for someone to talk Kinks with. No matter as the Rock Station that would employ me 5 years later had plenty to offer. Better Things, Destroyer, Around The Dial and even Art Lover got their share of spins alongside everything from Waterloo Sunset to Celluloid Heroes to Jukebox Music etc. I was hooked GOOD! Bring on the track by track!
Yes, the release dates between the US and the UK are very surprising to me in hindsight. I was going to bring it up, decided not to, but now I will since you did . It's startling and surprising some of these gaps. In every case the UK release noted below is the later release. This started in the RCA era but I'll limit it here to just the albums we're discussing now, going back a couple. The Come Dancing single will alter this release pattern where the UK release was first as Clive Davis did not want this released as a US single. So much for Clive having his pulse on the industry at this time. Some of these gaps are not that long really but a couple are especially GTPWTW. Low Budget album US release 7/10/79 UK release 9/7/79 One For The Road album US release 6/4/80 UK release 8/1/80 AFL1-3603 album US release 7/9/80 UK release 9/26/80 Glamour album US release 7/1/81 UK release 10/16/81 Give The People What They Want album US release 8/26/81 UK release 1/15/82 Edit: Sorry, I did this in an Excel spreadsheet with nice neat columns as a table for easy reading but in copying to here the format doesn't copy. Oh well…
Catching up just a bit with you fine folks. I got my copy of One For The Road in the mail yesterday. Found a decent deal at a Goodwill. We were in Derby party mode so I’ve got that plus some Springsteen live deals, a Robert Palmer, a Bob Marley and a Bobby Darin box that all landed on my doorstep to listen to. Speaking of deals, I’m going to look for a Dave Davies comp that has a decent focus on the first two solos. I don’t remember any of Glamour being played on the radio but I really like his new wave bent on some of this record. As for Give The People What They Want, my middle brother had it on vinyl but at that point I guess I was more focused on other artists. I do remember “Destroyer” and “Art Lover” getting airplay. I gave it a listen yesterday and though I don’t think it is as consistently good as Low Budget, it does have “Better Things” which I consider to be one of the bands best songs from any era.
Are you planning to cover 'Chorus Girls' Mark? Chorus Girls (musical) - Wikipedia It's a musical Ray collaborated with Barrie Keefe on in the late 1980/early 1981 timeframe. Tbh, I don't know much about it and I don't know how much info is out there about it. Unlike the later 80 Days musical, I can't seem to find a complete list of the songs written for it: the only one I can find is 'A Woman In Love Will Do Anything' sung by Charlotte Cornwell of which a poor bootleg is on Youtube here: I can't remember if you have it lined up or not, but I can totally understand if you're not including it as I don't know if any of the songs beyond this one are even available anywhere. However I thought it at least worth mentioning today while it was era appropriate.
Give the People What They Want Like several others this was the first Kinks studio album I bought in real time. I have a special attachment to it because this was the album the Kinks were touring on the first and only occasion I saw the band play live (Festival Hall, Brisbane, Australia, February 1982). It's also one of the armful of records I asked Ray to sign on the morning after the concert and the only one in which he added my name. As for the album itself, the music is contemporary, with jagged rhythms and heavy riffs: you could almost be fooled into thinking Ray went out of his way to write a big seller that would enable the band to sell out bigger venues. The lyrics though are challenging in many places - showing either that Ray thought those were just the right lyrics for the times or that he just didn't care what people thought. One general observation on the lyrics is that Ray has returned to a subject matter that he almost invented in pop songs - insightful vignettes about the lives of ordinary people. I don't know whether it's his problem or our problem that some of these characters are unsavory, violent or living in an intolerable situation. I look forward to hearing what others make of it as we go along.
Coincidentally, I was just reading that Ray wrote 'A Little Bit of Abuse' at the request of Chorus Girls' female cast.
I've never heard of it... We didn't have it in the line up... This is what I can find... Chorus Girls Written by Barrie Keeffe Ray Davies Characters Prince Charles, his bodyguard and various female activists Date premiered 1981 Place premiered Theatre Royal, Stratford East Original language English Genre Musical comedy Setting under-stage at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East Chorus Girls was a 1981 musical written by The Kinks lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies, who collaborated with The Long Good Friday screenwriter Barrie Keeffe. It opened at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London starring Marc Sinden and also had a supporting cast of Michael Elphick, Anita Dobson, Lesley Manville, Kate Williams, Sandy Ratcliff and Charlotte Cornwell. Directed by Adrian Shergold, the choreography was by Charles Augins and Jim Rodford of The Kinks played bass with the theatre's 'house band'. The plot was set around the story that Prince Charles (played by Sinden) was kidnapped by activists wanting to save the theatre building from demolition. Dobson played the girl who falls in love with him, and Elphick played Sinden's inept bodyguard. Ray Davies History today: April 6, 1981 A new musical play called Chorus Girls -the book by Barrie Keeffe, the music by Raymond Douglas Davies, opens at the Theatre Royal, Stratford. - "A gloriously entertaining play," writes the critic for Melody Maker Chorus Girls (musical) Aside from the song you posted, that seems to be about all there is... Perhaps someone on here has more info they can add for us... I have nothing
My assumption has been that the lack of other musicians and a producer was an indication of some kind of megalomania on Dave's part - but upon further reflection, I wonder if this is an indication of minimal support from the label and Dave trying to make ends meet with a very limited budget. Professional producers and musicians don't work for free after all. I'm not sure of the financial arrangement at Konk, but surely studio time wasn't completely free as engineers and office staff also need to eat. I can imagine the label minimizing their risk by offering a meager advance and an investment in the production of the physical product and some marketing once the recording was finished, but I would guess that Dave had to make a significant personal investment in order to get these albums produced while still putting food on the table.
Avid Rockford & Roll, the only Dave Davies compilation that has many songs from his first two albums is the 1998 CD UK version of Unfinished Business. You probably would be better off getting the 2 on 1 CD or even the original vinyl. Speaking of the Derby, my brother actually took a trip to Churchill Downs to see the Derby in 1980. He put his money on the filly that actually won the Derby that year.
That's a pretty good summary, Headmaster. If that's Barrie Keefe in that piccy w/Ray, he sure looks like the guy who played the Hispanic neighbor in Sanford and Son and one of the detectives in Barney Miller.
I assume it is Barrie, or someone from the cast or crew, mainly due to where it was.... next to the flyer lol
