Yeah, it was great when Vin was on Sunday nights. It was a great way to relax before the start of the work week. It was much harder to just sit and really listen when he moved to Saturday night. I have heard Paul Cavalconte - he seemed to play a nice mix of music, but I never felt the same connection. I’m sure you never really know public personalities, but Vin let you feel like you did know him. I remember little things like him playing The Clash song Rebel Waltz when his daughter was born. I’ll also never forget listening to him half the night the night John Lennon was killed. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Yes, it's no "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio" but it's still a pretty decent song. Not really my bag though.
Around The Dial A fantastic opener to the album, which sets the scene and feel of the album. Clearly, despite being told we're going to give the people what they want, there's no such thing. Can't even listen to the radio DJ you want to. Anyway, it's lively, rocking and has a memorable tune to boot. One you can hum/sing along to. Top tier '80s Kinks.
Nice. I wonder if this is the earliest? There must be several songs that open with the radio tuning. I still say The Ramones is by far the best. I’m not feeling this Be-Bop Deluxe song.
Willie Colon and Reuben Blades’ album Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos (Jan 1981) opens with someone tuning a radio dial on the beach, first I thought of.
Another good example. Same year as The Ramones, but End of the Century came out a few months earlier. I also found this one from 1968 which I think counts. Silver Apples- Program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeU8peWXSZM
Modern Music is a twelve minute suite… a little different than a single three minute song. "Radio Tuning" Songs
Around the Dial This one brings me back to this time period. This was played a lot on the radio and I loved it then and still love it. I haven't read anyone's take on this other than Mark's. I agree with most of his write-up on this other than I do think this is a Kinks Klassic. For one thing, there's this story. What happened to this DJ? He's missing. Did he leave of his own accord? Did something nefarious happen? Was he forced off the air due to mental illness? we never find out, do we? But the questions engaged this listener back then and still does. Then there's wonderful SOUND. Big and bold and catchy. The descending chords always catch my ear and make me happy. We've made comparison to the Buzzcocks, and I feel like this one also fits the bill. Grungy, energetic and melodic. What's not to love? I know my enthusiasm for this song is in part due to my past, but honestly, I know I would love this if this was new to my ears. And what a way to kick off an album. Might be the best opener in some time. Killer tune! I'm dead.
Around the Dial There is so much going on in this song, that it takes a lot of listens to really get it all. It's like hook after hook after hook after hook. There's the thunderous anthemic intro... then the faster riff into the verses. The verse has at least 2 ro 3 hooks in it before get it gets to the pre-chorus. The bass part stands out in the "AM, FM, where are you?" And then the muted guitar change up that occurs with the "Where did you go, Mr. DJ?" And then there's the Beach Boys again! I must say I was pleasantly surprised that those references continued into the 1980s. I didn't even realize the nod to Moneygoround until reading that a little while ago, and that part has some of the 60s-style backing vocals too. The drum sound is obviously different, but the piecing together of this song, the hooks, the voices, the different textures from section to section.... this is klassic Kinks. And I think I am surprised that I am saying that, based on what I had heard about this era over the years.
I can't read the article due to paywall. who were the DJs involved? this sounds vaguely familiar to me. and just ran across this pic of Oedipus from 1981. No doubt he was involved in getting some Kinks played at the time. FUN tatt!
For those intrigued by the radio dial question.... here is an old closed thread on it "Radio Tuning" Songs
I really like the radio dial tuning in here, I think it works.... It's hard to top Wish You Were Here for the sound, effect and execution though. The transition from Have A Cigar to Wish You Were Here is flawless. Cigar slides into radio static, we get a series of stations and then the iconic acoustic intro, still in radio station sound, and that clear beautiful lead acoustic.... one of the magic moments on recorded music for an album. But Around The Dial is a completely different context, and is perfect within itself, regardless of the hundred other tracks that use this effect.
I do think The Ramones and The Kinks songs are the most similar in their use of opening a rock n roll song and album with it. It also wouldn't have been The Ramones lifting anything from Pink Floyd. That was all Phil Spector and who knows where he got the idea.
I guess my problem with the Ramones is I love three songs, and then I'm bored. I'm neither here nor there on Spector. I like some stuff, and other stuff, not so much... Death Of A Ladies Man was an abomination
Well, that's my favorite band, so now we have a problem! Just kidding. I'm very defensive of The Ramones, but I get that they may not be for everyone. I also like Death Of A Ladies Man, especially the song "Iodine".
Here's the article: A 3‐Week Strike At FM Station In Boston Ends By Michael Knight; Special to The New York Times March 13, 1979 BOSTON, March 12 — A three‐week strike to save the personality of an FM radio station, known nationally for its trend‐setting programming and locally for its role in providing a sense of community to the youth of this youth‐oriented city, ended today in victory. It was a famous victory, everyone agreed, although no one could agree on exactly what had been won aside from the temporary reinstatement of 19 employees who had been abruptly dismissed when the station, WBCN, changed hands last month. But the crowds at the Orpheum Theater gave the news a riotous welcome over the weekend when striking staff members mounted the stage between rock music groups to announce a tentative settlement. And the 32 station employees who had gone out on strike rather than agree to an absentee owner's personnel cuts were jubilant as they returned to the air today with a blend of progressive rock music, news and public affairs broadcasting that has made the station renowned for more than a decade. Not Just a Business Michael Harrison, the publisher of Goodphone Weekly, an industry newsletter, called the strike settlement a milestone for those who believe a radio station is “part of a community and not just a collection of wires and turntables, or a business like any other.” Even the new president of the station, Michael Wiener, praised the settlement as a victory, although it represented a repudiation of his policies and a delay, at least temporarily, in his attempts to cut costs at the station. But what mattered today was that Boston had its WBCN back, an event as important ib some circles here as if New York's WBAI or Channel 13 had escaped dismemberment and returned to the air. Thirty‐two of the station's 37 employees walked out Feb. 16 after Mr. Wiener, the president of Hemisphere Broadcasting Corporation, called the 19 employees one by one into his office the day he took over and discharged them in what he said was an economy move. Special Significance Word of the dismissals and the strike spread throughout the radio industry, where the station's call letters have a special significance. It was one of the pioneering counterculture stations of the late 1960's and has survived to discover new rock movements and new rock groups and aggressively pursued “community broadcasting” in its news and public affairs programming. The threat to the station's individuality represented by the dismissals stirred the youth community here, where 250,000 students and 100,000 or more young adults weigh heavily in a population of only 600,000. The city's sizable youth newspapers directed attention to the strike, college radio stations lent the strikers facilities and air time, and the hat was passed from rock club to disco and back again. Mr. Wiener, a New Yorker, said the station had been losing money and that staff cutbacks were needed to save it. Employees of the coporation's California and Florida stations were brought in to keep the Boston station on the air during the strike. Bought at a Low Point Hemisphere Broadcasting bought WBCN from the Concert Network Corporation for a reported $3.9 million at a time when its earnings were at a low point and its .quarterly Arbitron ratings were just beginning to improve after a long slump that started a few years ago when other stations began imitating its style. But, Mr. Wiener said, the new owners never intended to make drastic ‘changes in the station's identity. “We intend to keep the format,” he said. “We just had a great many parttimers and some marginal people we felt we had to get rid of.” Hemisphere agreed to recognize the strikers' union, which was formed seven years ago but never recognized by the previous management, rehire everyone involved and make staff cuts only after a two‐or three‐month personal evaluation period. That provision, combined with Mr. Wiener's determination to make economies, may mean dismissals later this year. But for the moment everyone is calling it a victory.
We pretty much agreed on a decade of The Kinks. That’s about as good as one can expect! Sooner or later the big musical disagreements are inevitable.
Thanks so much @DISKOJOE . That helps me in my search. I think I saw that 2fer on some site. I was at that Derby too. Back in the infield days. Tell him to check out Keeneland if he’s ever back in Kentucky. It’s smaller than Churchill but a simply beautiful track and experience.
