I line up with this... I hope more that Ray fiddles around in the archives and pulls out some hidden/buried treasure... it seems there is still a fair bit there, particularly video/film
It's obviously not the real thing, but this EP from 1978 looks a nice way to get the first two singles on a 7" into the collection. I'm on the lookout for one but it seems most copies were exported to the US. The Kinks - Yesteryear Series
Rehoto 2 with the beer. All whilst simultaneously doing a Marty Feldman interpretation which may have been lost on the Germans?
You could be right. He seems to have aged very rapidly the last few years. That last video I posted where he reminded me of old Groucho, there was also something about Ray that reminded me of Ozzy. It could have been the shakiness and his overall frail demeanor. Ozzy recently revealed that he has Parkinson's, but it was noticeable for many years. I hope Ray is doing well! It's getting to the point where we are soon going to lose so many brilliant music and film icons. Let's be happy that so many of them lived this long.
I'm so lucky (in retrospect) that I sort of went on tour with The Kinks that year. I managed to get to 8 or 9 of those final concerts on that tour, and they were all pretty much fantastic, including a few other faded seaside towns such as Rhyl, New Brighton and Southport. Southport being their final GB concert. There were three more on the island of Ireland, for which I, on a last minute decision went to Dublin, for my final Kinks concert at The Point Depot. Obviously there was no clue that this would be the last time, but I'm so lucky that work and time conspired to allow me to be there. I don't want to see an on stage reunion at this stage. I don't think it would be good for them, but what do I know. I just hope they are happy. A new album might be doable, but there has been a vocal decline too. I think Ray knows this when he has teased about a new album being made up from archive material and embellished for release. And I'd be happy with that.
It was their last UK tour: after an Xmas 1994 show in Germany (mentioned by Mark a little upthread) the only 1995 dates were in Japan and the US, and then there were those two Scandinavian festival dates in June 1996 and that's all she wrote. I'm still utterly dumbfounded as to why they played just those two festival shows as the group in 1996: seems such a weird, unceremonious last stand. I'd love to know the story behind those bookings. Their last UK date in Dec 1994 was in London, a homecoming show. Then their last US date was at the Cleveland R'N'R Hall of Fame in September 1995: both of them would make much more sense as 'tie a bow on it' final shows. But it wouldn't be The Kinks if it wasn't unfathomable in some way...
I'm so UNlucky as I got into them at age 15 in April 1996.. mere weeks before they played their final shows . As I mentioned ages ago on this thread, I can't help but take as a personal slight that my first and favourite band have steadfastly refused to reform throughout my entire adult life since, while so many other 'hell freezes over' hold outs have cracked, and not only that have teased a reunion SO MANY, MANY DAMN TIMES! I know that this is ludicrously self centred, but sometimes it feels like some kind of cosmic joke the Davies bros are playing on me... two Lucy Van Pelts sitting atop Hampstead Heath, pulling the ball away from me time and again in some Sisyphean recursive dream.. Leaving this personal grievance of mine aside and trying to see things more objectively, at this stage I agree with your final paragraph regarding prospects for future Kinks activity. I'm more happy that the Davies bros seem to be genuinely getting along (maybe more than they ever have before) than anything else.. though I admit I'd LOVE a final album, and I can't help but suspect that they'd regret not doing one .. but if it turned out not to be worth the strife then so be it. I'm grateful to still be able to follow their story whatever happens while they're still around. Btw I would love to hear more about that final UK /Eire tour you saw so much of if you have the time to share it.. set lists, atmosphere, audiences, on stage relations between the Davies bros.. regarding the Southport show being their final GB date, I hate to be all 'well actually' considering I wasn't actually there but according to setlist.fm and Hinman there was one final London show on Dec 6th 1994, after the Irish dates: The Kinks Concert Setlists (page 3)
I've said this before: Why on earth would Ray name-check Led Zeppelin in The Road when he is on the record as not being a fan of Jimmy Page? Surely he could have found another three-syllabled group to go with Hendrix, the Who, and Free.
Don't feel to bad @ajsmith, iam about 12 years older than you and also never had an opportunity to see the Kinks either as was only 13 when they last played Australia in early 1982. N.b. Ray may have done a solo show here since that I was unaware of though iam unsure if so he played Brisbane?
I remember someone on this thread or perhaps elsewhere lamenting that there were planned Australian dates in 1995 that ended up being cancelled, and that they even had the tickets for the unfulfilled shows.. was that you?
I guess LZ's legendary-ness outweighed any personal grievances? I also think it's notable that at the time the song was written all 4 of those acts were defunct: I'm not sure the mentions are entirely acclamatory in that I suspect there's perhaps bit of 'these guys all checked out but we're the survivors still going strong' competitiveness going on. Little did Ray know that The Who would make a return to the live arena shortly after with those late 80s Tommy shows, before ironically going on to become a (still) ongoing concern at around the same time The Kinks ground to a halt from the late 90s onwards.
Cliches Of The World. live, stereo mix, recorded 1 Jul, 1987 at Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania This is a solid live track, and all the nice little intricacies from the album are here, with the edge of a live track. Nice dynamics, and a nice vocal delivery from Ray. I reckon this is a good live track, and the dynamics help with that. The snare seems a little loud listening to it at the moment, mainly in the more quiet sections. On the whole though, I think this works well in a live setting.
Think Visual. live, stereo mix, recorded 1 Jul, 1987 at Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The opening of this track is great. I don't know if it is the live sound, but this sounds a lot better to me. It is still quite erratic, but it seems to work better for me.... perhaps it is that it is shorter?
Living On A Thin Line live, stereo mix, recorded 1 Jul, 1987 at Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania This is slightly disappointing... it seems to be lacking in punch. I'm not sure if they rearranged it a little, but the studio version is pretty punchy, and this just sort of floats along. When we start getting near the end of the song it beefs up a bit, but overall, it falls a little flat for me
Lost And Found live, stereo mix, recorded 29 Jun & 1 Jul, 1987 (spliced together) at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland & Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania For any criticisms folks may have for this album, whatever they may end up being, the band are tight and the songs come over well. I really like this song, but I'm not altogether sure if it works as a live track..... It is sort of caught between being a ballad that mellows things out for a while, and bouncing along not quite hard enough to be a rock song..... which doesn't bother me too much, but I could see this being a track that folks may wander out during. Personally I think the song works well, and the guys do a very good job of it.
No it was not. Sadly I also missed seeing Jack Bruce a few decades back as a tour was apparently well into the planning stages but cancelled and the word was that it was due to a projected lack of ticket sales.
Sadly I never got to see the Kinks.... I have seen a heap of great concerts over the years (certainly not as many as some of our SHF members... it's still bewildering to me how many concerts some folks have seen over the years, most of the time I had to choose between bands, if they even came to Perth, I always seemed to be on a Low Budget lol) but I certainly missed even more than I have seen... I remember having to choose between Genesis and Jackson Browne once, and it was literally a coin toss, and I saw Genesis, no regrets, great show.
Cliches Of The World This is fine live but I think I prefer how the sections contrast with the doomsday, hooky riff in the studio version. Perhaps this could have featured in a B movie?
On these four songs, the drums start to creep me out. Now that @Michael Streett has broken them down for us, it’s even worst, I hear the loud snare, the likes of which have made my musical life so miserable, growing up in the eighties, all but destroying the sound and feel of most of my idols. Yep, I recognize it, it’s here, as obtrusive as ever. Now, apart from that, most of these versions are cool. Living on a Thin Line appears for what it is, a great song, but I’ll admit missing a lot of great production touches (the response vocals in particular) that made the studio cut so special. Lost and Found has Ray in excellent voice but… come on, no, that synth sax thing shouldn’t be reproduced live, really. The two best songs of the day are the other two, the ones we celebrated the less in their studio incarnation. Maybe it’s not a paradox, because they could be improved upon for their live renditions. Both Clichés and Think Visual are excellent, fast, compact, really exciting. I’m surprised by how, while retaining all their weird twists and turns, they sound much more straightforward, not as meandering and weirdly fractured/structured as on the originals. They're played straight, to the point, and they do come alive. Which is the whole idea, isn’t it ?
Think Visual This hits harder and retains the funk whilst losing the 80's studio production so in this case i got live if you want it!
The four songs we are commenting on today are not hugely popular Kinks songs in the general public's view. I appreciate that the Kinks did not load this album up with warhorses. Instead, they chose newer material for this album. I don't need a live album to double as a greatest hits album. Besides the middle section of a Kinks show tended to feature some newer material. I am glad they selected -Living On A Thin Line" to be included - a Dave song that I really like. The songs are decently performed and give this album a little bit of breadth in terms of how it presents the Kinks concert experience.
Living On A Thin Line Lacks a little grandiosity and pregnant tension from the studio cut though again slightly benefits in some ways without the studio production sheen but ultimately that was a pretty key part of the recording so you know where I stand.
