The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Avid Martyj, this is true. I have his 1960s albums on CD. Here's a video of one of my favorite songs of his that sounds rather 1966 Kinks:

     
  2. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    And here's the video for "Les Playboys":

     
  3. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Since we've been talking about Big Star lately, how about the documentary about them, Nothing Can Hurt Me, that came out in 2015? I first saw it in a small theatre in Gloucester, MA, now since gone, that was above Mystery Train Records, where the seats were old couches and recliners. After the movie was over, a bunch of local musicians played a short set of Big Star songs. It was a great experience.
     
  4. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    Thank You Friends : The Ardent Records Story (2008, CD) - Discogs

    Several unique mixes/versions on here. If you've seen my posts on such things for The Kinks, Big Star and Chris Bell are some others where I have also done a deep dive in this area and have extensive notes.

    Another one with unique stuff
    Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me: Original Soundtrack | Releases | Discogs

    Essential

    Chris Bell – I Am The Cosmos (2017, CD) - Discogs
     
  5. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    From 1968-'87 QLD = Joh-King!
     
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  6. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Personally, I think Radio City improves on #1 Record, and Third is my favorite. “Ballad of El Goodo” is another fan favorite and stand out on the first album.

    My favorite Alex Chilton is still with The Box Tops. I love those albums and his vocals.

    Alex also went on to make a wild and sloppy rock n roll record called “Like Flies on Sherbert” and also produced The Cramps first LP. A man of many talents.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2022
  7. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I liked ‘Ballad of El Goodo’, too. But it’s not a head-turning, mouth agape, sort of tune. My main puzzlement is of why someone decided to champion this band after the fact…unless the third album is truly stunning.

    In real-time, that’s a different story. Then it’s just pitted against current releases.

    But I’ll listen in full to ‘Third’ at some point.
     
  8. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Oui they made Australian TV in the 70's with Jacques Cousteau!
     
  9. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    She wasn't on Australian tv but later did figure in my Grand Prix.
     
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  10. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    I didn’t hear the first album until 1992, 20 years after it was first released.
    How could I champion it in real time in 1972 at 3 going on 4 years old?

    I was 2 months old when The Beatles and The Village Green Preservation Society were released in Nov 1968 but I champion those too even though I never heard those until 1978 and 1988 respectively. :D
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2022
  11. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Well…I didn’t mean you!
     
  12. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    They got a big push in the 80s from bands like REM and The Replacements citing them as an influence. Then they got further acclaim in the 90s with bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Lemonheads, and Elliot Smith all eventually doing covers. So many bands did a cover of "Thirteen". I think the main thing is they sounded a bit ahead of their time. You can put on those records and it's hard to tell what decade it is from.

    Third isn't an album for everyone and it's been released with a few different track listings. It can take a while to warm up to Big Star. Alex had such a soulful voice in the Box Tops that I find it interesting that he completely shifted gears. I went to see him live in the 90s and really only knew him from the Box Tops albums I loved. I thought I walked into the wrong concert. I couldn't believe this was the vocalist who sang on those 60s albums. I have a long list of favorite Box Tops songs outside of the big hits. He toured a few years later under the Box Tops name and I went again hoping to hear that soulful voice. He did not deliver. I felt embarrassed for him. It was like a bad cruise ship karaoke act. He sang the Box Tops songs with none of the soul or rasp. I still love him and he is a part of a few of my favorite songs ever.

    I have never been into anything much past Like Flies On Sherbert, but every time I see one of his records I want to buy it.

    An interesting character. He was only 16 when he recorded "The Letter"! Add this to the fact that Chris Bell died tragically at the age of 27, and that Big Star influenced so many in such a short amount of time.
     
  13. Brian x

    Brian x the beautiful ones are not yet born

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    share, please.
     
  14. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I would love to! I'll go in order of the albums. The first two are likely the best overall. Many songs written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. These songs are the Tops of my Box.


    The Letter/Neon Rainbow (1967)
    Everything I Am
    I Pray For Rain
    Happy Times
    A Whiter Shade Of Pale
    Neon Rainbow
    She Knows How

    Cry Like A Baby (1968)
    Deep In Kentucky
    Everytime
    The Door You Closed To Me
    I'm The One For You
    Fields Of Clover
    Weeping Analeah

    Non Stop (1968)
    Sandman
    People Gonna Talk
    I Can Dig It

    Dimensions (1969)
    Soul Deep
    I Shall Be Released
    I Must Be the Devil
    The Happy Song
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2022
  15. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    GIVE THE PEOPLE....again real easy to see in retrospect why Klassic Kinks fans might find this overly brash brawny surfacy obvious "arena rock" bordering on embarrassing....what can I say, it was the third Kinks lp i was exposed to in real time by big bro after BUDGET and ROAD and to me it was more of this weird, dynamic, lively, smart, sensitive, funny band I was already falling in love with in my late preteen/early teen years.

    This record still has all the things that kid wanted out of rock: edginess of theme and language ("look out ma there goes a piece of the president's brain!"--that was HEAVY but also light in the sense of obvious dark sarcasm), headbanging handpunching riffage, groove, a lyrical mind that covered a lot of peculiar range (trying to understand killers, bored edge of their rope married couples, creeps in the park, the paranoid, abusers, uh, DJs.....), treated rock music as something Big and Important while also maintaining a punkish pushing back against the Way Things Were and just an exploratory freshness in sound, power, and concept that did not read "really old band."

    Now those are all the opinions of a young kid who knew ONLY Arista era Kinks. And I grew and matured and VILLAGE GREEN became my sense of best Kinks lp and I grew to realize there was a sense of lightness and beauty and delicacy and even sophistication and wit that maybe were being barrelled over on this LP. BUT....this old man just played the whole thing again for first time in years and i still love all the things I loved about it then. Not a song on it doesn't sound like Ray MEANS IT MAN or means something---its smart but populist and it crunches and bubbles and kicks. It still feels like great rock music to me from an interesting and observant mind.
     
  16. pablo fanques

    pablo fanques Somebody's Bad Handwroter In Memoriam

    Location:
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    I've seen Colin several times. Puts on a helluva show with the music and intriguing stories behind it. Not a far stretch from what Ray was bringing to the table when still on the circuit
     
  17. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    All serious fans might already know this by heart but stumbled upon it for first time tonight on YouTube---a full concert from this era 1982 blistering hot and fun to my ears....and a devilishly handsome bearded Ray and an incredibly lively and punchy "Come On Now"....and SEVEN tracks from GIVE THE PEOPLE....

     
    Last edited: May 12, 2022
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  18. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I confess I don't know much about Jacques Dutronc. I inherited from my cultural environment a positive vision of him as a singer but I hardly know 4 or 5 songs by him. His first hit was Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi, and it's part of the French folklore now, the tag line "J'y pense et puis j'oublie" (I think about it and then I forget it) has become part of the common conversation. Interesting landmark, the Chinese people are mentionned as being 700 million in number. They are twice as many today. I didn't check for the other peoples mentionned.

    He also wrote a song about Cacti that made every young boy and girl chuckle, and that according to wikipedia was quoted at the time by Prime minister Georges Pompidou, but I don't remember the circumstances. These songs were supposed to emulate Antoine's success with Les Elucubrations. On the same market, somehow, in this same year 1966, Nino Ferrer sang Mirza, about someone looking for his dog. There was a streak of such hits that mingled English/American sounds with French absurd or deliberately ridiculous lyrics.

    Il est 5 Heures, Paris S'éveille is a very pretty song, that was a bit oversold to me, so we didn't have the best of starts together, but it's really very nice. I believe the contrast between the previous comical hits and the more refined sensations expressed in Il Est 5 Heures did a lot to enhance the latter's quality. The next year, Julien Clerc released another early morning song that I much prefer, entitled "4 heures Du Matin". I never made the connection until today.



    I'm not familiar with any of Dutronc's later output (that is, aftger 1968), except the trash hit "Merde In France" in 1984 that my father found so vulgar (and my teen self so funny, though not really memorable). I should mention, for those unaware, that Jacques Dutronc and Françoise Hardy have long been one of our main candidates for a royal couple, even if I believe they're not together anymore, but I wouldn't swear, my tabloid culture is tragically deficient and my wife is still asleep. They have a son, Thomas, who's in the music business too. I think I used to have an opinion about him but I'm not sure in what direction it went. I tend to get lost between the different "son-ofs" that get in the limelight these days.

    Still, Jacques Dutronc, the French Ray Davies of the sixties ? Well, basically, no, since Dutronc never wrote his lyrics at the time, writer Jacques Lanzmann did. And the music he composed seem quite minimally constructed to me, but once more, I only know a few hits. Maybe the pair Dutronc-Lanzmann could be credited to writing non-girl-I-love-you songs, like Ray, which was significant at the time. Mainly I believe the "Dandy" image is at stake here. Jacques Dutronc is the prototype French Dandy from the 60s. I don't believe Ray is a prototype dandy, but from a limited French journalist perspective he might have looked the part at the time.

    And there goes my early morning working session...
     
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  19. pablo fanques

    pablo fanques Somebody's Bad Handwroter In Memoriam

    Location:
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    And of course "Reception" from Wings' Back to the Egg two years prior has a 'bootleg' version that more than doubles it's length as well but does nothing in the controversy department
     
  20. pablo fanques

    pablo fanques Somebody's Bad Handwroter In Memoriam

    Location:
    Poughkeepsie, NY
    You can never go on too long about Big Star. Brilliant band. Glad they've gotten acclaim in this century and of course Jody is a peach and deserves every ounce of love and praise he gets
     
  21. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    It seems like a UK only compilation of #1 Record/Radio City was released in the 1978. I think "Third" was first released around this time also. Alex Chilton's profile was slightly higher around this period anyway thanks to his punk era releases and gigs.. He played in London (at least, he might have played elsewhere) in 1980, backed by the Soft Boys!
     
  22. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    I think it was a mix of Soft Boys and Vibrators (Knox). We really have gone off the rails a bit but I am also a huge Big Star aficionado, the kind who likes Third best, then Radio City, then #1, but like them all. Alex is one of my favorite singers, in all his guises. I am amazed to hear Ray sing “The Letter.” Thanks for that one.

    As for our current album, the title track is still too much of a one note chant for me, though it’s kind of a catchy note, while I really don’t know what to make of “Killer’s Eyes.” It’s a decent melody, and the idea behind it is more than defensible, but it just doesn’t seem like Ray’s forte to me. I do think Ray has very good range in his writing and performing, but I sort of don’t know why I’m listening to him do this song,
     
  23. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    I would give Miss Faithfull the edge in looks but not voice.
     
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  24. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    So I wonder, in France did they generally refer to Ray Davies as the English Jacques Dutronc, should i be guessing not?
     
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    "Predictable"

    [​IMG]
    Single by The Kinks
    from the album Give the People What They Want
    B-side

    • "Back to Front" (UK)
    • "Art Lover" (Netherlands)
    Released 30 October 1981
    Recorded May 1979 – June 1981 at Konk Studios, London
    Length 3:31
    Label Arista ARIST 426 (UK)
    Songwriter(s) Ray Davies
    Producer(s) Ray Davies

    stereo mix, recorded Apr 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    Don't know why I'm even bothering.
    (Predictable)
    Yeah, that's the mood I'm in.
    Go out for a walk then I come back in.
    (Predictable)
    Yeah, the mood that I'm in.
    (Predictable)
    Every day of my life
    Can't even communicate with my wife
    (Predictable)
    That's the word of the year
    (Predictable)
    All I see, all I hear.

    Go to my office, sit at my desk,
    Predictably just like all of the rest.
    I sit and I dream about far away places,
    Away from the people with frowns on their faces.
    All of my life is monotony
    I'd go out for a walk but I know it would be
    (Predictable)
    Sure as the nose on my face
    (Predictable)
    Same for the whole human race

    Once we (once we) had so many options
    Once we (once we) had dignity and grace
    Now we (now we) have got nothing but our own time to waste.

    (Predictable)
    Yeah, that's the word of the year
    (Predictable)
    All I see, all I hear
    Why can't it be like never before?
    (Predictable)
    Yeah, ain't life a bore
    (Predictable)
    Life gets more and more...
    Just like I've heard it all somewhere before.
    (Predictable)
    Sure as the nose on my face
    (Predictable)
    Same for the whole human race

    One day (one day) it's gonna get better some way (some way)
    I wish it would get worse any way (any way)
    What can I lose, it might turn into something better.

    It gets harder and harder the harder I try
    (Predictable)
    Feels like a good time to die
    I kiss you hello then I kiss you good-bye
    (Predictable)
    Just like the stain on my tie
    (Predictable)
    Just like the jacket I wear
    (Predictable)
    The way that I'm combing my hair
    Turn on the TV, just sit and stare
    (Predictable)
    There's nothing happening there

    Yeah, that's the word of the year
    (Predictable)
    All I see, all I hear.

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

    I imagine this song is going to get a wide variety of reactions....

    This song says exactly what it is....

    We have a sort of "fed up with it all" kind of song, lyric, and delivery here.... it is almost like this song is interesting in the fact that it is comparatively uninteresting ... if that makes sense.
    ...
    Here we have someone who has been alive for a while... You don't have to be alive for too long before you have seen and heard it all, and done it twice....

    We have a problem on earth... if we go back to the good old bad days .. life expectancy is about ... 1850 - about 39 ... 1890 - about 40 ... 1920 - about 53 ... 1950 - about 68 ... 1980 - about 73 ...
    Before the industrial revolution life was hard, but nobody had time to moan about it. Just after the Industrial revolution life was hard, but nobody had time to moan about it..... Aside from wars and other human stupidities, in the last 150 years the lower classes have had a comparatively fab time of it. Even the poorest people are considerably better off than they would have been 150 years ago ...

    Now we have a different issue.... We have lives in a corporate structure ... a matrix if you like... and there is a certain predictability to life. Even if you escape one zone and move to another, that wonderful anesthetic of comfort will take the wheel.
    We can fantasize about how splendid it was back in ages past, but the fact of the matter is, most of us wouldn't have survived....

    Ray here, is having a bit of a dig at the Middle Class, and the comfort and predictability of their lives, but the reality is that nearly everyone in the "western world" no matter what class they may be slotted into, has a variation of this theme going on.

    Anyway, there are another million things that this song makes me think, but it will start moving deeply into the political and socio-political, and that's not going to get us anywhere :)

    I'm not really sure where to go with this, that wouldn't be ..... predictable, and I probably already was....

    What I really see with this song is dissatisfaction based on unrealistic expectations.
    If we have it all and are set, we will be dissatisfied with the lack of aims in life.
    If we have nothing and seem to fail, we will be dissatisfied with where we are in life.
    If we are in the middle, we will be dissatisfied that we feel trapped aiming for a pie in the sky, and feeling we won't get there.

    We spend a lot of time trying to achieve happiness, but happiness is a fleeting emotion.
    We need to achieve a certain contentment ....


    Sheeeeeet I don't know, I got nothing.
    This is not the best song on the album, but it serves its purpose. It has some nifty guitar lines in between the ... predictable ...

    ....

    ....
    I like this song for exactly what it is. It is a statement of what society has generally become for most of the working and middle classes... I can't speak to the upper and elite classes, because although I have interacted with them, I have never been close to being one of them, so I have no worthwhile perspective, and only speculation.
    Ray uses this song almost in a way of explaining the drama we frequently set up around ourselves, in order to try and escape the ..... predictable, and in that context it is extremely effective.....I could go on with some random ponderings, but ...

    I suppose for me that would be ....

    you guessed it.......

     

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