Lol I don't know... there seems to be a tentative attitude to the last three albums I'm still getting acquainted with them myself... I'm not sure I ever even heard about them til much much later.. then I held off... and I finally bought them just before I decided to do this
Speaking of which, wasn’t there a recent exhibition about The Rolling Stones where one of the exhibits was a recreation of the apartment where most of them first lived in London and it’s squalid conditions? Also, I watched the copy of Kid Galahad that I picked up at my local Dollar Tree Store for $1.25 tonight. It may not be Raging Bull, but I got my money’s worth and more.
Going Solo: Like the flip side of Missing Persons, instead of feeling scared in the moment, the narrator is now upset that the child has left the nest. I like this one too, I can understand how some parents may feel abandoned as their kid flies free. I do think often for a child to break away and enter adulthood, they may feel the need to reject their parents’ guidance and advice long enough to get out on their own. Personally, I was always helping my kid fly and be free so I don’t feel I had this experience. The result seems to have been that as she made her way into adulthood, she didn’t feel like she had to cut ties and disappear. It was a gradual growth with lots of support and love. I found right from the beginning, and still to this day, that she seeks my counsel when she has tough situations to deal with. I am so happy that I gave her lots of leash early on and the result was instead of cutting me off, she managed to grow while still keeping me close. Even though I can’t feel Ray’s hurt (being expressed as anger and annoyance) first hand, I still like the song. It makes the playlist, but unlike Missing Persons, a longer wait will likely be required to get that deep into my playlist to hear it.
Word of Mouth (the album-revisited): Great stuff here. Better than State of Confusion, a little less harsh on the ears, a little less annoyed Ray and instead a more emotionally well round Ray. SoC may have had more in the way of Klassic Kinks in some people’s mind, certainly Heart of Gold is a true treasure. Is their a Better Things or a Heart of Gold on WoM? No, I don’t think so, but there are a few songs that get within spitting distance in Do It Again, Living on a Thin Line and (IMHO, although many here may disagree) Sold Me Out. ...and maybe even Summers Gone. I do find this to be a thoroughly enjoyable listen, every song is good enough to make the cut. Even the weaker songs, like Massive Reductions or Word of Mouth, still pop and rock. I still don’t see the true drop off so many of us have dreaded or insisted was coming. Sure, the days of brilliant song after song on albums like Face to Face, TKATVGPS and Lola vs… are gone, but c’mon, this is still great stuff. If Missing Persons or Thin Line had been on Lola vs… everyone would have been raving about them. I feel sad for the hardcore early fans that have dropped off the thread. Sure, the eighties sound is hard for some to accept (I grew up with it, so I am largely unperturbed by it) but 20+ years in, these are still great songs from a great songwriter. When you are penning songs like Superman, Around the Dial, Heart of Gold, Jukebox Music, Do It Again, Sleepwalker and Better Things, there can be no arguing that Ray’s pen has not dried up. Sure, it was only 3 original Kinks during the Arista era, and now with this album, down to 2 original members, but so what? I am often a purist for the “original" band. Sometimes I can handle the change even if it’s a key member: AC/DC losing Bon Scott should have been the end, but Brian Johnson made enough impact with Back in Black and FTATRWSY to transcend the loss of such a legendary singer. Here though, even though the bass and key work of the original members like Quaife and then Dalton and Hopkins then Gosling respectively was (were?) fantastic and was missed, the band carried on without them and it sure still sounds like the Kinks to me. Losing Mick Avory is another story, I hear that absence, as others have noted, he was a bit Keith Mooney in his drumming so it really stood out. Henriett is certainly competent, he doesn't let anyone down, but he also doesn't stand out. Regardless, I am still on board because to me, if you have Ray and Dave, you still have the Kinks. I see no real drop in quality in this Arista period. …and having begun looking ahead (for a few weeks now) at Think Visual and even starting now to dip my toe in UK Jive, I am still excited for what is to come!
Going Solo is a disappointing closer, but I like Word of Mouth more than the previous two albums. Overall it's lighthearted and fun with a few great tracks.
I certainly like Word of Mouth better than I expected. It's not a record I have to own but if I find it at a Goodwill for a reasonable price, I'll snag it. I've really enjoyed the ins and outs of how Word of Mouth came about and the Return To Waterloo project was news to me. As for the Arista Years, Low Budget is my tops. I have a sense of diminishing returns on the subsequent records but they are all still good and have some wonderful songs - a few that rank as Kinks Klassics. Speaking of Goodwills, I ordered a used copy of Dire Straits', Alchemy from a Goodwill in Seattle. They only sent disc 1 and it turns out they don't have disc 2. They were quite nice about it and now I'm back to looking for the complete set. I can say that disc 1 is fantastic (one of the best sounding live albums I've heard) and my man Terry Williams flat tears it up on drums! I'm looking forward to listening to Think Visual and the rest. All will be new to me, I reckon. As we move on I've got a question for my fellow Avids: Has Ray Davies done a late career masterpiece like some other artists of his stature? Good Sunday all!
Other than Phobia, the rest of The Kinks' catalogue will also be new to me - should be interesting! As for Ray solo, I really enjoy Working Mans Cafe. Perhaps not quite masterpiece level, but very solid with some great songs.
Avid Rockford & Roll, I actually saw a copy of Alchemy (both CD discs) last week at my local Savers. If I knew you were looking for it, I would have picked it up. It’s probably long gone, but I’ll look again. Also check Discogs for someone who may sell disc 2 only. That has happened to me in the past. Also, Ray’s “real” first solo album, Other People’s Lives, is probably his late career masterpiece, followed by his second, Working Man’s Cafe.
I just want to remind my fellow Avids that the remainder of the Kinks kataloge includes the following: The Road (live album between the 2 MCA studio albums) Lost and Found (MCA best of, really nothing new) Did Ya EP (Columbia release before Phobia) To The Bone (both UK & US versions, as they have different track selections, as well as the Waterloo Sunset 94 EP which has bonus tracks) Add the MCA and Columbia albums and we still have plenty to talk about. I haven’t included Ray and Dave’s solo albums or The Kinks At The BBC, which exists in two versions.
+1 for that opinion. Both were incredibly pleasant surprises when they came out. Plenty of strong tracks. The two Americana albums have their moments but are uneven.
And the 80 Days demos!! Don't forget them, @mark winstanley, 16 Ray songs from 1988, arguably better than UK Jive, all on YT for us to enjoy and discuss! The Arista years are really two eras in one for me, three 70's records and three 80's ones, before and after One for the Road. Perhaps Low Budget navigates between being seventies or eighties, like so many 1979 records… My 25 favorite kuts would be : Life on the Road (live acoustic on KFWD)/ Sleepwalker/ Juke Box Music/ Stormy Sky (sorry @Zeki)/On the Outside/Father Christmas/Misfits/Out of a Wardrobe/Pressure/National Health/Moving Pictures/Duke/Around the Dial/Add It Up/Art Lover/Better Things/Come Dancing/Property/Don't Forget to Dance/Heart of Gold/Long Distance/Do It Again/Good Day/Living on a Thin Line/Summer's Gone It's an excellent question. The fact is Ray never fully developed as a solo recording artist. Losing the Kinks as his vehicle, there was always something missing, making the solo records appear as side projects or something. It's like he himself treated them that way, in-between Kinks reunions that ultimately never happened. Working Man's Cafe is still excellent. Other People's Lives has some great songs too. The one project that could qualify as a late career masterpiece in my opinion is Americana, but it's such a weird thing : written as a book years before being made as a record, the songs' were envisioned as the "soundtrack" to the book (the lyrics are all reproduced in the book, as a "taster" and illustration). It has that Ray multimedia/various angles approach : the book + the record + a second record (+ a box set with a third record, long rumored/announced but never released – or even finished ?). It has a number of extraordinary tracks but I'll argue it never found its ideal form or perfect presentation (too much narration in the second LP, to compensate the fact that most listeners wouldn't've read the book in the first place). It probably doesn't have the "gravity" associated with that "late masterpiece" idea, you know, death and everything. It's a very smooth pair of records, funny, tender, witty, reflexive, self-aware, but never heavy or ostensibly "deep", like some late Dylan/Cohen, Cash, Blackstar Bowie or Chaos Paul. Still, if you take it as a whole, it's arguably the most ambitious Ray ever was. When we get there on the thread, we will no doubt marvel at how it all works as a reflective musical journey inside Ray & the Kinks' story and "œuvre". Note : Funny how this "late career masterpiece" question got three answers, but three different ones. And all of Ray post-Kinks solo records were heralded as contenders… I think it proves we still have a lot of great music ahead of us!
Avid Fortuleo, I haven’t forgotten the 80 Days demos, but they weren’t officially released. I have my bootleg CD copy that a good friend did a great job in packaging, but how can other Avids access the material? Is it someplace in the Web?
I haven't had a chance to check it out, but yes, it's in the mix. As a reminder for everyone of what's coming up This is what we have listed so far, and I'll get to to post 2000 albums soon enough, but this seems like plenty to go on with for now. Ray Davies Return To Waterloo - Jul 85 Ray Davies Quiet Life - Apr 86 Come Dancing With The Kinks - Jun 86 Think Visual - Nov 86 The Kinks Are Well Respected Men - Sep 87 The Road - Jan 88 Ray Davies 80 Days - 1988 Greatest Hits - 1989 Ultimate Collection - 1989 UK Jive - Oct 89 Lost And Found (86-89) - 1991 Did Ya (single and EP) - Oct 91 The Definitive Collection - 1993 A Portrait Of The Kinks - 1993 Phobia - Mar 93 To The Bone - Oct 94 Waterloo Sunset 94 EP - Oct 94 The Definitive Collection - 1996 You Really Got Me The Very Best Of The Kinks - 1997 The Singles Collection - 1997 Ray Davies Storyteller - 1998 Obviously most of those compiles will be in the compilation posts I've been doing.
Kinks Kompilations - Part 5 - 1985. This first one also came out as a part one and part two set, being a double album split in half A1 You Really Got Me A2 Sunny Afternoon A3 Tired Of Waiting For You A4 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion A5 Set Me Free A6 Everybody's Gonna Be Happy A7 All Day And All Of The Night B1 Lola B2 Dead End Street B3 Waterloo Sunset B4 Autumn Almanac B5 See My Friends B6 Till The End Of The Day B7 Apeman C1 Supersonic Rocket Ship C2 Celluloid Heroes C3 Moving Pictures C4 Better Things C5 20th Century Man C6 Where Have All The Good Times Gone C7 Don't Forget To Dance D1 Come Dancing D2 State Of Confusion D3 Good Day D4 Pressure D5 Predictable D6 Do It Again D7 A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy This one probably bears a special mention, as it is career spanning, except for the almost absent RCA years, with just a couple of tracks included. It could be better I guess, but I think it is a pretty good introductory album to the band for someone.
The Story Of The Kinks. You Really Got Me Till The End Of The Day Everybody's Gonna Be Happy Set Me Free See My Friends All Day And All Of The Night Tired Of Waiting Dedicated Follower Of Fashion David Watts Victoria Susannah's Still Alive Mr. Pleasant Sunny Afternoon Dead End Street Stop Your Sobbin' Death Of A Clown Well Respected Man Waterloo Sunset Lola Ape Man Wonderboy Plastic Man Autumn Almanac Days The Contenders Strangers Denmark Street Get Back In Line Lola Top Of The Pops The Moneygoround This Time Tomorrow A Long Way From Home Rats Ape Man Powerman Got To Be Free A pretty comprehensive Pye collection, in a three album set. With less songs per side than most compiles, if anyone has this, it would be interesting to know if the sound quality is particularly good? The Kinks Collection. Things Are Getting Better Apeman Dedicated Follower Of Fashion Autumn Almanac Lola All Day And All Of The Night You Really Got Me Set Me Free Dancing In The Street Bald Headed Woman Long Tall Sally Cadillac Louie Louie Creepin' Jean Wonder Boy Act Nice & Gentle Sittin' On My Sofa Too Much Monkey Business Beautiful Delilah Tin Soldier Man Victoria Death Of A Clown Wicked Annabella Village Green Preservation Society
The twofer of Soap Opera and Schoolboys In Disgrace A1 Everybody Is A Star A2 Ordinary People A3 Rush Hour Blues A4 Nine To Five A5 When Work Is Over A6 Have Another Drink B1 Underneath The Neon Sign B2 Holiday Romance B3 You Make It All Worthwhile B4 Ducks On The Wall B5 A Face In The Crowd B6 You Can't Stop The Music C1 Schooldays C2 Jack The Idiot Dunce C3 Education C4 The First Time We Fall In Love D1 I'm In Disgrace D2 Headmaster D3 The Hard Way D4 The Last Assembly D5 No More Looking Back D6 Finale
It was also notable for having the famous alternate Supersonic Rocket Ship, which was hard to find in the pre-reissue years!
For a Sunday Flashback type thing, here are a few compilations that (I think) I missed, as I wasn't clever enough to start this method until much too late in the thread... 1969 Now Then and Inbetween. Early Chunky Medley 3:21 A1a Louie Louie A1b You Really Got Me A1c I Need You A1d Till The End Of The Day - A2 A Well Respected Man 2:38 A3 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 2:59 A4 Dandy 2:08 A5 Sunny Afternoon 3:33 B1 David Watts 1:52 B2 End Of The Season 2:05 B3 Sitting By The Riverside 1:31 B4 Death Of A Clown 2:25 B5 The Village Green Preservation Society 2:45 B6 Last Of The Steam-Powered Trains 1:22 B7 Big Sky 2:12 B8 Berkeley Mews 2:34 B9 Days 2:50 B10 Waterloo Sunset 3:15 1973 All The Good Times. Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One A1 The Contenders 2:43 A2 Strangers 3:17 A3 Denmark Street 2:00 A4 Get Back In Line 3:01 A5 Lola 3:56 A6 Top Of The Pops 3:38 A7 The Moneygoround 1:43 B1 This Time Tomorrow 3:20 B2 A Long Way From Home 2:25 B3 Rats 2:36 B4 Apeman 3:51 B5 Powerman 4:15 B6 Got To Be Free 2:57 Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire C1 Victoria C2 Yes Sir, No Sir C3 Some Mother's Son C4 Drivin' C5 Brainwashed C6 Australia D1 Shangri-La D2 Mr. Churchill Says D3 She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina D4 Young And Innocent Days D5 Nothing To Say D6 Arthur The Kinks E1 You Really Got Me E2 Long Tall Shorty E3 All Day And All Of The Night E4 Beautiful Delilah E5 Tired Of Waiting For You E6 I'm A Lover Not A Fighter F1 A Well Respected Man F2 Till The End Of The Day F3 See My Friends F4 Don't You Fret F5 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion F6 Sunny Afternoon G1 Dead End Street G2 Death Of A Clown G3 Two Sisters G4 Big Black Smoke G5 Susannah's Still Alive G6 Autumn Almanac H1 Waterloo Sunset H2 The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains H3 Wonderboy H4 Do You Remember Walter H5 Dandy H6 Animal Farm H7 Days This in particular is a really interesting set, with two full albums, and then a double compilation from the rest of the earlier material.
1977 The File Series. This was one cover the album had and this one is what was released in Australia, and going back to the very first post of the thread, this is the album that came close to being my very first Kinks album A1 Long Tall Sally A2 You Still Want Me A3 You Really Got Me A4 All Day And All Of The Night A5 I've Got That Feeling A6 I Gotta Go Now A7 Things Are Getting Better A8 Tired Of Waiting For You B1 Everybody's Gonna Be Happy B2 Set Me Free B3 See My Friends B4 A Well Respected Man B5 Till The End Of The Day B6 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion B7 Sunny Afternoon B8 Dead End Street C1 Mr. Pleasant C2 Waterloo Sunset C3 Death Of A Clown C4 Autumn Almanac C5 Susannah's Still Alive C6 Wonderboy C7 Lincoln County D1 Days D2 Hold My Hand D3 Plastic Man D4 Drivin' D5 Shangri-la D6 Victoria D7 Lola D8 Apeman
Record 3 is the "Lola Vs Powerman" album in full, how strange. I hope the Lola and Apeman on record 2 are single mixes.