The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    100% my experience and reaction, too. The Kelvin Hall version buries the studio version.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2021
  2. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    That never occurred to me, but that may be exactly the intent. It is a detail that always surprised me. It's so loud and in your face. I was puzzled by it because it is not on the Kelvin Hall version, but what you say here might indeed be what Ray is trying to convey.
     
  3. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    For what you get I think it's well worth it. You get 5 full cds, 2 records, 2 singles, great books, pics, and packaging. Sure, losing the vinyl would make it a cheaper and more concise set, but it is what it is, which was a no-brainer purchase for me.
     
  4. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    "I Am Free"
    Good late-early Kinks track by Dave. I can see why Mark said it reminded him of Dylan. Definitely Dlyan-esque to an extant. Haven't listened to this one in awhile but, I'm happy to say, this is a very good Dave song.

    "The World Keeps Going Round"
    Decent Ray penned song. Very good for this stage of the band. I didn't remember this one either so I pulled the CD off my shelf and listened to both songs. This one reminded me of "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" but I think that was mainly from the guitar part. Another good late-early Kinks tune.
     
  5. Wordnat2

    Wordnat2 Square as hay, dull as cattle.

    Location:
    Boise
    I have a firm cutoff point for the Kinks:

    Everything from The Kinks up through Everybody’s in Show-Biz is fantastic, and everything post-Everybody's in Show-Biz is embarrassing nonsense.

    The quality gulf is a mile wide. Ray Davies lost his mind and his talent at exactly the same time.
     
  6. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Quite a few people have this cut off point, and I grew up being warned about those terrible post 72 records, but once I’d actually heard them I’ve never understood it. It seems completely arbitrary to me, and asks to to believe that goofy 1972 items like ‘Hot Potatoes’ and ‘Maximum Consumption’ are still touched by the hand of Ray’s tragically fleeting genius, whereas the formidably moving likes of ‘Sweet Lady Genevieve’ on the very next album is some dreadful travesty made by a lobotomised Pod Person Ray Davies clone. I can’t do it, sorry. I get how the Preservation albums are off puttingly esoteric conceptually and clearly not the output of a happy or balanced mind, (and hey, other artists are celebrated for such indulgences!) but.., taken track by track, the songwriting endures straight through till the mid 80s at least in my humble opinion.
     
  7. I'm On An Island - Ray flirts with his strictly non-pc Caribbean vocal persona for the first time. i enjoy this song. Witty.
    It's Too Late - yes, Hopkins' barrelhouse piano is the star of this basic yet thoroughly entertaining mid-paced groove.

    Good songs both.
     
  8. Safeway 2

    Safeway 2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manzanillo Mexico.
    I'm On An Island-This song predates “Apeman” but for some reason I always felt the two were cousins or something. They seemed to be related. A great track that sets a Caribbean and calypso feel into the mix. Truly one of Ray’s earliest brilliantly fun songs that was very original at the time. This song points a direct finger at their more music hall future. Hopkins delivers a sweet little piano solo.

    It’s Too Late-A mid-tempo old-school rocker that it's difficult to rate high because of the awesome competition of some of the other cuts. It just doesn’t have any emotional impact compared to the 5***** songs on the album. If it was a stand alone on one of their earlier albums I would rate it higher.
     
  9. Without being as blunt, this is sort of my view as well. Except I bail out somewhere around Percy and I wouldn't comment about Ray losing his mind. In terms of relevance and hipness, here in the UK, The Kinks are purely considered a 60s band and their work after that is looked on as somewhat irrelevant. One glance at their album covers from the early 70s onwards might be enough for some! I know they had a renaissance in the States later on but they sounded very different by then and that material has never appealed to me. But I'm going to stick around on the thread as I'm curious to hear what the posters here have to say about it. In the wider scheme of things this drop off isn't so different from many artists from the same period who lost their way as the decade turned.
     
  10. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    Sleepwalker isn't nonsense. Give "Full Moon" another listen, at the very least. And/or the outtake bonus track "On the Outside."
     
  11. I'm replying to my own comment, which is a first! I realise the above is just a point of view of course !!
     
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  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I can't even slightly agree with this
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    What's In Store For Me

    mono mix (2:04), recorded 23-30 Oct, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

    I wanna know what is to be
    To see what life's cut out for me
    I'm waiting for my fate
    'Cause I know I've done wrong
    I wanna know just what's in store for me

    I wish I had a crystal ball
    To see my rise and see my fall
    I've done a lot of right,
    But also done some wrong
    I wanna know just what's in store for me

    And so I'll wait a while
    And wait a little longer
    I'll just have to wait and see

    I think a lot but I'll stop trying
    I'll just get old before my time
    I'll live the life I've got
    But I don't sleep at night
    I wanna know just what's in store for me

    I'll live the life I've got
    But I don't sleep at night
    I wanna know just what's in store for me
    I wanna know just what's in store for me

    Written by: Ray Davies
    Published by: Davray/Carlin Music

    This is a jaunty little rock and roll track with Dave on the vocals.
    Ray ruminates on what the future holds, and where he is now. It is a pretty straight forward lyric, and isn't afraid to observe the simple truth that he hasn't always done the right thing, and no honest person can really say they have.
    This isn't at the top end of Ray's song or lyrics, but it is a pretty good album track, that I think is helped a fair bit by how bouncy and sort of up the music is.

    The bass has some nice wandering lines, and the rhythm guitar with its rhythmic stabs gets most of the attention in the mix.

    A pretty decent album track.

     
  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    You Can't Win

    mono mix (2:38), recorded 25-30 Oct, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London

    You'll try and you'll try again
    But you know you can't win
    You'll try and you'll try again
    But you know you can't win

    What more can I say now?
    What more can I do?
    No need to feel sad now
    'Cause times are pretty thin
    And you can't win
    You can't win
    You can't win

    Try and do what you can
    But you know you can't win
    You say you don't understand
    But you know you can't win

    What more can you say now?
    What more can you do?
    No need to feel sad now
    'Cause times are pretty thin
    And you can't win
    You can't win
    You can't win

    What more can I say now?
    What more can I do?
    No need to feel sad now
    'Cause times are pretty thin
    You can't win
    You can't win
    You can't win

    Written by: Ray Davies
    Published by: Davray/Carlin Music

    Here again get we get a slightly lesser Ray track. Lyrically it stays pretty much on its theme, without any big lyrical revelations.

    I really like the shared vocals on this, and again Nicky Hopkins gives us some nice piano.
    I think the fairly basic rock n' blues feel of the track is really good, and the track does everything it needs to do. I like the lead licks that Dave throws in.
    On the whole this is a pretty good track, but it doesn't really end the album with a bang, but we're on the cusp of the album era, without actually being fully in it.

     
  15. zipp

    zipp Forum Resident

    Yes I agree completely that the song is about isolation.

    The fact that the island can disappear as soon as his girl returns, points to it being figurative.

    I like your idea that if the island was real he would be able to swim or run, but because it's not real ... he obviously can't.
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    So on the whole I think that Kontroversy is a solid album. In some ways I think a rearrangement of tracks could actually lift the album a bit, with the strength of this album seemingly lying in the middle of the album.
    I understand the idea of opening with the cover song is making a little bit of a statement, and the contrast with track two is extreme and almost certainly intentional, but I think that we could have had some really effective movement through the album, rather than that big early contrast. I think I feel that way, because there isn't really any other huge contrasts like that in the rest of the album, so it kind of sticks out a little.

    Probably my favourite tracks on here are Milk Cow Blues, Gotta Get The First Plane Home, I Am Free, Till The End Of The Day, World Keeps Going Round, I'm On An Island, Where Have all The Good Times Gone and It's Too Late
     
  17. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    I suppose today's songs are “minor” in the grand scheme of Kinks things. Yes they look backwards rather than forward and sure enough, they’re not what anyone would single out whenever Kontroversy is mentioned in a conversation. But they still have a lot of pleasure to offer. Great singing (especially the brother’s enthusiastic duet on the chorus of You Can’t Win), great rehearsal/jam-like loose rock’n’roll playing by everyone (Nicky!), exciting screaming guitar soloing on both tracks (especially the closer, full of bent notes and high distortion). What’s in Store for Me is at the same time a basic early sixties beat song and a prototype for mid-90’s alt. country (americana), because of Dave’s boozy Faces-like attitude and the band’s bar room style. The Replacements, Golden Smog or Deer Tick could’ve come up with the exact same song without even knowing the Kinks had already done it. But the real… winner (sorry about that) is You Can’t Win, which sounds like a farewell to a whole Kinks and pop era. The last hurrah of the band as a R&B combo, with an irresistible slow groove, extremely enjoyable singalong qualities, screaming guitars and hair-raising hooks all over the place. Once again, Ray has a way of making the lyrics and music work together to create something special, in this case a triumphant hymn to defeat, that sounds like a cry of defiance and a call to arms. This would be even more effective if the sound was bigger (thin sound is an almost constant flaw on many early Kinks records).
    I understand we’ve got to resist constant hyperbole here, if we're willing to retain some credibility. But, hey, we were pretty hard on It’s Too Late yesterday, weren’t we? So maybe it’s allowed, then : I really love this track, I think it’s a fitting finale and a pretty great song in its own right.
     
  18. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    "What's In Store For Me"
    Good, average Kinks' song from this period. If I'd have heard this when it first came out I would've thought, "Oh these guys are a decent Rock 'N' Roll band" but definitely not "These guys are going to have a 30+ year career and end up one of the era's most celebrated bands, eventually"

    "You Can't Win"
    Another so-so track from the last Kknks' album that I don't at least really like, if not completely love. I'd call this one workman-like because it sounds like Ray needed another song for the album so he took a tea break and came up with this one. I'm not saying that's what happened, just saying it sounds like it was written to order instead of coming from any sort of inspiration. Still, it's the Kinks, playing old style Rock 'N' Roll, and it's definitely not bad.
     
  19. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    As above - neither of today's tracks would be ranked as classics, but both are still pretty good to me.

    "What's In Store For Me" has a nice bouncy beat, and I like the stop/start just before the chorus, and the crashing double snare hit that it comes back with. It's a crude garage sound, and possibly the last track which sounds like it could have been on Kinda Kinks, but overall Dave sells it well enough.

    "You Can't Win" is another relentless grinder, similar to "It's Too Late". The lyric offers little comfort, and maybe offers an insight into Ray's state of mind at this stage of his career in 1965. As on the opening track, the brothers share the vocals on the closer with Dave singing the "what more can I say now?" part in the second verse. The lead guitar lines drive it along nicely, but again it's Nicky Hopkins' piano that really elevates this track. I think it's a good closer - perhaps more appropriate to the dark mood of this album than "I'll Remember" would have been.
     
  20. Endicott

    Endicott Forum Resident

    What’s In Store For Me — An unusually mature and introspective subject for a rock and roll song in 1965, kind of similar to “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” but with the perspective directed inward. The tune is so infectious that you don’t realize how dark the song is — there will be a fall, it’s not a matter of if. Dave’s solo is one of the best on the album. This song always seems to ring in my head whenever I have a big decision to make.

    You Can’t Win — Ray’s pessimistic side gets the last word on the album. It’s fairly rote, but Hopkins delivers some more stellar piano work to lift the track to a good level. As a throwback to the Kinda Kinks sound (It’s only been a year and that album feels ancient), it works well for what it is.
     
  21. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I’ll have to give ‘You Can’t Win’ another shot if it comes with @Fortuleo ’s seal of approval. Elevated to “real winner” status? I’ll listen again.

    My own view is that these last two songs are lesser tracks and don’t hold my interest.

    My play-listers end up as: Milk Cow Blues, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, and It’s Too Late.
     
  22. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    he’s a session man!
     
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  23. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    What’s In Store For Me and You Can’t Win

    I’ve listened to my Kinks records so often over the years that every tiny sonic detail is etched in my memory. But both of today’s song’s are probably the two hardest Ray Davies penned 60’s-era Kinks recordings for me to recall without having to strain in the effort. In fact, these are two of about only five or six tracks in this entire thread so far that I’ve felt I needed to listen to again before I could say anything about them. I find them both that unremarkable. Together I consider them the Kink’s catalog equivalent to the Beatles “Tell Me What You See,” a song so forgettable in comparison to their body of work as a whole that even it’s author couldn’t recall it when asked about it years after the fact.

    What’s in Store for Me is a bouncy little thing. Before adding lyrics to it, it was possibly thought in terms of “giving the kids something they can dance to.” The guitar break is ok, but its an opportunity for Dave to really shred it and he choses not to. Had he, I might like this more. The middle eight is fairly bland and needed more effort. The track has a potential that was never realized, IMO.

    You Can’t Win is Ray’s curious lyrical ode to throwing in the towel. Either that, or he is taunting someone with the fact he can’t be beaten—but it doesn’t feel like that kind of song. Ray has spoken in interviews of writing songs “as a character.” Had this been used in such a context as, say, sung by the titular star of “Arthur” or Norman from “Starmaker” (aka “Soap Opera”) to emphasize a plot point, it may have worked better. But here he seems to be addressing his listeners in the universal, and as such it’s a pretty dour sentiment. Now, I have nothing against whining defeatism in music when it works (e.g. see: the Blues) but here it's just not connecting with me. And I’ll admit—that’s just me. I find it probably the single most underwhelming Ray-penned Kinks song of the 1960’s and a particularly disappointing way to close the album.
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    A top musi-she-an
     
  25. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Exactly. I can be pretty critical to the point it may read like I dislike some of these songs, but truth is I love 'em all and wouldn't want them out of my life.
     
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