The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    There may be another word for “limited” that would work better in the context of Kinkworld!
     
  2. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    This is the list of Ray's songs performed in the Chorus Girls production. A review at the time said these songs were interesting in that most of them come from a feminist standpoint.

    • Newham At Work
    • A Woman In Love Will Do Anything
    • Privilege
    • Payback
    • Reputation
    • Up On A High Rise Block
    • Glorious Sight
    • Let's Have A Dance
    • Men Are Fools
    • The Man Of Destiny
    • England
    • Everybody's Got A Body
    It's reported that the Kinks did record demos of these at the time, but none of these have ever surfaced.

    And before anyone accuses me of pulling a Ray here, ha ha, the list above comes courtesy of Doug Hinman’s work. Duly credited here.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2022
  3. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    I also found this today. This is the track list for Give The People What They Want that Ray submitted and wanted released (also courtesy Mr. Hinman):

    Side 1:
    • Around The Dial
    • Back To Front
    • Killer's Eyes
    • Entertainment
    • Predictable
    Side 2:
    • A Little Bit Of Abuse
    • Destroyer
    • Yo Yo
    • Add It Up
    • Give The People What They Want
    • Art Lover
    Note the absence of Better Things which had already been released as a UK single when Ray submitted this tracklist.
    Hmm... Art Lover as the closer?
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2022
  4. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Interesting that Entertainment comes around on UK Jive, and seems like a pretty straight swap for Better Things... I don't mind that tracklisting at all, but I think what they went with works better as an album
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    an amalgamation of the three posts, so it can all be together in one spot for the thread guide.
    Obviously much thanks to @ajsmith and @Michael Streett for setting it up and fleshing it out

    Chorus Girls


    [​IMG]

    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.


    [​IMG]

    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)

    This is the list of Ray's songs performed in the Chorus Girls production. A review at the time said these songs were interesting in that most of them come from a feminist standpoint.

    • Newham At Work
    • A Woman In Love Will Do Anything
    • Privilege
    • Payback
    • Reputation
    • Up On A High Rise Block
    • Glorious Sight
    • Let's Have A Dance
    • Men Are Fools
    • The Man Of Destiny
    • England
    • Everybody's Got A Body
    It's reported that the Kinks did record demos of these at the time, but none of these have ever surfaced.

    And before anyone accuses me of pulling a Ray here, ha ha, the list above comes courtesy of Doug Hinman’s work. Duly credited here.

    A Woman In Love Will Do Anything (A Chorus Girls) Charlotte Cornwell

     
  6. Brian x

    Brian x the beautiful ones are not yet born

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Give the People What They Want

    First listen/first impression

    Back in May 2022, I was occasionally participating in a very interesting and erudite song-by-song Kinks thread on an online music forum. I'd discovered the thread after it had reviewed my favorite Kinks albums, but I was familiar enough with Schoolboys in Disgrace and Sleepwalker to make some small contributions. I'd figured that I'd stop commenting once the thread got past the last Kinks LP I'd owned, Misfits, & that I'd read along with the rest of the thread to see if there was anything worth listening to from the sad, corrupted tag-end of one of my favorite band's careers.

    See, back in 2022 I still had some residual snobbery about '60s legacy acts who tried to stay relevant in the '80s. Even forty years later, the residue of various prejudices gleaned from the music press and my hip peers gave me such a visceral animosity against certain sub-genres of rock and roll that I hadn't even considered listening to the later output of someone I still considered one of rock music's greatest songwriters.

    But, as the forum moved into Low Budget and One for the Road, I learned that the band hadn't departed in any fundamental way from what made them great, a large part of which was their inexhaustible playful openness to exploring and exploiting a wide range of musical genres -- of never, ever sticking to a single formula for more than a couple of albums -- all without losing their original, unpredictable, cockeyed lyrical genius.

    But surely the following LP -- something cynically called Give the People What They Want -- was going to be the end, the final sell-out, the one where the Kinks gave up and just churned out a bunch of radio-friendly crap. I'd recently gotten a contract to do a huge amount of work, which seemed fortuitous -- I'd lurk on the forum when I could grab a minute, but I wouldn't bother with the multiple listens required to form a coherent opinion on a bunch of artificially manufactured & slickly marketed 80s pop junk.

    But on a busy Saturday, I listened to the LP while driving my children back and forth to various classes, appointments, and play dates. That night, I listened to Paranoia about a dozen times, Art Lover a good 5 or 6, and Better Things -- BETTER THINGS! -- over and over until I fell asleep.

    That was the day, May 7 2022, that I fell in love with Give the People What They Want.
     
  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Nice ... that makes me happy. I wasn't sure about how I felt about this album now, until I peeled off the skin ....

    I think the title of the album is deliberately misleading. There isn't anything about this album that is particularly what the people seemed to want, if we go by charts, in 1981.

    The top ten albums for 1981 were apparently

    10 Get Lucky - Loverboy
    9 Tattoo You - Stones
    8 Bella Donna - Stevie Nicks
    7 Moving Pictures - Rush
    6 For Those About To Rock - Acdc
    5 Memories - Barbara Streisand
    4 4 - Foreigner
    3 Business As Usual - Men At Work
    2 Face Value - Phil Collins
    1 Greatest Hits - Queen

    .... and frankly, I don't see anything about Give The People What They Want that is particularly in line with any of those albums.
    I suppose the extreme cynic desperately looking for something may say Loverboy and Foreigner, but that would be an incredibly broad brushstroke ... The style and sound of the Kinks isn't really anything like either, and I have and enjoy the Foreigner album. Essentially it is just guitar based rock music, but with an undeniable Kinks twist ... Give the People isn't drinking and shagging music. It isn't party music... in fact it isn't even good time music. It is cynical and deeply observant, and in places somewhat disturbing.

    To my ears, this was yet another album Ray put together, that on a passing glance may somewhat seem like some of the stuff around the place, but any serious look at it can see that these guys were not in the slightest way pandering to the mainstream... much in the way Superman somewhat mocked disco, this album pretty much bares its butt to the idea of the commercial album, and Ray intentionally made some songs that were obviously going to set people on edge, lead them to be caught inside their own biases and judgements and have to think about it .... I think to a large degree it is Ray, yet again turning his back on success, but this time much more aggressively. I also think that it explains why, even though Come Dancing was a huge hit, and State Of Confusion got into number 12 on the album chart, it didn't sell as much ... Give The People... being the last Kinks album to get a certification.

    It is really incredibly interesting seeing the way Ray sort of stepped into, and directly back out of commercial acceptance... it's almost like he resented it in some way.
     
  8. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Dave Davies- Glamour

    A few brief thoughts on this album. I had a chance to listen again and read some of the comments. I am only going to comment on the songs I like.

    "Reveal Yourself"- Now we are talking. The first Dave solo song that I really enjoy. I'm definitely more of a fan of his Devo or Sparks approach. It kind of sounds like a lost 80s classic. Maybe it's not a great song, but it's a breath of fresh air after all the previous Dave songs. I should have picked up this album and left AFL1-3603 on the shelf.

    "Too Serious"- I really like the part that starts with "Life is a drag, and it's too serious". The lyrics and vocal have a punk energy. If it was stripped back and more raw, it sounds like a song that the band X could have done. It even has Dave singing in a higher backing vocal that recalls Exene. We also get a rockabilly guitar style that would totally suit Billy Zoom.

    "Telepathy"- Yes! Things are getting weirder, and I approve! Very catchy guitar riff and great vocal by Dave.

    "7th Channel"- Now we are in a sort of Sabbath/Ozzy arena. It also reminds me of the new wave and space rock era of Hawkwind with Robert Calvert on vocals, and that is right up my alley! "Human Race, Outa Space, Travelers." Nicely done Dave!

    "Eastern Eyes" - I don't love this one, but it blends several of the albums styles into an appropriate closing tune. It's kind of mixing the Journey aspects with the Hawkwind and more new wave influences.

    Dave has many more tricks up his sleeve on this album than the previous. Five out of nine tunes is a pretty great ratio and I wasn't expecting it. Maybe I can trade back my AFL1-3603 and pick up a copy of this.

    I think there is enough here to appeal to fans of PIL and Devo as well as fans of Journey and Pat Benatar. It's just a matter of which tunes these fans would enjoy. I love PIL, especially the first three albums. Their later albums like Album (I had Cassette) and Happy also have some great songs. I like Devo, but really only know their first three albums. I'm not into the Journey and Pat Benatar side of the coin.

    Not a bad album. It doesn't have me dreading what comes next from Mr. Dave "Death Of A Clown" Davies.

    Dave doesn't even have a song on the next couple Kinks albums. I think he should have saved a few of these songs for The Kinks. I may have to try adding a couple to the next album.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2022
  9. pyrrhicvictory

    pyrrhicvictory Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manhattan
    Here’s the opening scene of a Barrie Keeffe play that aired on the BBC Play For Today drama series:
     
  10. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    A belated Mother's Day to Avid Wondergirl, who's probably the only person in this thread who qualifies. I hope she had a great day w/her family.
     
  11. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Avid Pyrrhicvictory, I really hate to tell you this, but this got posted already around the time we talked about "Waterloo Sunset". You still get an A+ anyway.
     
  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Indeed!
     
  13. Brian x

    Brian x the beautiful ones are not yet born

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    good, because I don't think anything other than this insightful and well-curated thread could have led me to these later LPs. Thank you.
     
  14. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Give the People What They Want

    The Kinks album released when I was in my rock n roll infancy. Late summer and early fall '81: first beers, first joint and that fall lots of this album and Tattoo You playing on friends stereos and on the airwaves.

    Despite this fact I didn't love either album. But I sure loved Destroyer though even in my rock infancy I knew the main riff came from All Day And All of the Night. Didn't matter still a great tune.

    This is such a wildly uneven album. So many great songs yet so many marred by clunky arrangements, guitars too loud for the mood of the song (I'm looking at you A Little Bit of Abuse and Yo-Yo) plus the pointless Back To Front which is just noisy and one of Ray's worst. He wouldn't hit those depths again till UK Jive.

    But man when this album is on it is on. The one two punch of the Around The Dial riff fest and the punkish title track hint at a real barnburner of an album. Killers Eyes is ok, a bit meandering but Predictable brings the welcome return of quirky Ray (love the various Ray looks in the video). Add It Up is a misshot at new wave despite Chrissie's presence. Destroyer is still a monster kicking off side 2 which closes with two beautiful songs. Art Lover really walks a fine line lyric-wise and Ray does his best to make us think the worst even while expressing the song's true narrative. A classic in every way and Better Things in a just world would've been their biggest hit not Come Dancing. It sounds completely different than anything else here productionwise (almost like it was tacked on). Doesn't matter still a Klassic.

    So there's my take on Give The People What They Want. Some of it among their best and not just Arista years best and some of it subpar or marred by Dave mixed too loud in the track.

    The next album however is more than a return to form it starts a three album run that for my money is up there with anything post Lola. YMMV and it definitely will.

    The cover sums the era very well. Ray on the run after his deliquent graffitti act-still a Schoolboy in Disgrace. That's two great covers in a row!

    Sidebar: the drums (including presence of Mick) and overall sound of the track has always made me wonder if Rock N Roll Cities backing track originated during these sessions since it sounds nothing like the other tracks on Think Visual.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2022
  15. pyrrhicvictory

    pyrrhicvictory Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manhattan
    Sorry all, I was only lurking back then (like an art lover), but I forgot it was ever posted! I’ll go to my corner now...
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Naaaah, it doesn't hurt to post stuff.
    Better to be here twice, than not at all :)
     
  17. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Don't worry about it and don't be sorry about it.

    Looking at those top selling albums of 1981 from Our Headmaster, the only one I own is Tattoo You and I just got that several years ago from a thrift shop.
     
  18. "A Woman in Love Will Do Anything" is the most intriguing thing I've heard on the thread in a while. Too bad the rest of the score is MIA.
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I haven't got Loverboy, Babbs or ...Men At Work... which is probably criminal for an Aussie in the US lol
     
  20. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    I'm guessing this is the list for the USA? Or is it world-wide? I think the UK list would have things like Dare! by the Human League on it.
     
  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I assume it's US.
    I doubt that Loverboy album was huge in many other places.

    It's much harder to get other countries figures
     
  22. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    I found what seems to be a UK list:

    1. Queen Greatest Hits
    2. Rolling Stones Tattoo You
    3. The Police Ghost in the Machine
    4. Phil Collins Face Value
    5. Foreigner 4 (I'm really surprised by this!)
    6. Human League Dare!
    7. REO Speedwagon High Infidelity (also a surprise)
    8. Kim Carnes Mistaken Identity
    9. Starsound Stars on 45
    10. ELO Time
     
  23. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Headmaster, were Men At Work just as popular in Australia like they were over here?
     
  24. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    Pretty much! And we were all very excited by their international success.
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, we were.. I liked them.... I was disappointed that of all the great Aussie bands of the 70's and 80's, Men At Work were the ones that went big...
    But Little River Band, Air Supply and Inxs went big too I guess..... I suppose Aussie rock, aside from Acdc didn't translate in the US lol
     

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