I had a bit of a look ahead in the video last night - I wasn't sure whether what I watched was one song with two parts or two separate songs - appears it was the latter. It feels a lot like we are back in Preservation territory here (which isn't particularly a bad thing!) with the operatic songs sung by the characters. I did wonder whether the first part would be on the album since Ray doesn't sing any of it, but I haven't yet listened to the album version of "Not Far Away". Again it seems like imagination at work again as the kids terrorise the carriage and take a hostage, but at the end of the song the traveller is back in his seat as before.
I’ve always enjoyed ‘the major’ commenting on how ‘young people today are a positive shower.’ As for ‘Not Far Away,’ as @stewedandkeefed notes, one can envision the Clash chiming in on the ‘fed you and bred you’ parts. Another strong song that 99.9% of the world doesn’t know exists.
Not Far Away: As Avid …Keefed noted, a lot of clash sounds going on in this one (and so what, the kinks are just reappropriating their sound back from the clash anyway). …and, as Avid Fortuleo noted, where is Dave? We need Dave! As with yesterday’s song, this song would have been a fine Kinks song, and I think it would’ve been elevated (especially on a rocker like this) if Dave had been there to add his fills and leads. It’s a good song, maybe even great, I wouldn’t kick it out of bed. I am sure Ray’s solo stuff is going to be great, and I am definitely along for the ride, I would just still rather hear it under the Kinks banner (and that’s the last time I will mention that). edit: Thank goodness for the edit function! I just go back five minutes after I posted, and I can see all the silly typos I made. Why can’t I catch them the first time?
“Good Times Are Gone/Not Far Away”: As Avid S&K pointed out, the first song sung by the oldsters has the title reminiscent of a 60s Kinks Klassic and 20 years later the answer is yes, the Good Times are Gone for good. The punk kids respond w/“Not Far Away, a punky, angry song that could have been on Word of Mouth. Both songs deal w/anger towards the Establishment by both groups, as both have been disappointed by it. Both songs also remind me of Arthur. As for their presentation on video, the whole fight on the train sequence is absurd and somewhat scary, depending on what mood you’re in when you watch it.
To be honest, it's not my favorite part of the movie. I think the filming is not as inspired as it is in some other scenes, especially when it becomes more obscure, paranoid and crazy, a bit Jacob’s Ladder-like (a film that would get made 5 or 6 years later). The white pupils and the lady slashing are really awkward, bordering on bad… But musically, of all the “punk” things Ray tried in the late 70’s early 80’s, I agree Not Far Away’s amongst the very best, one of the most authentic and genuinely “angry” song he did in those years. And disturbing, too. What’s important, once again, is how the film gives us perspective by establishing the song’s point of view. Ray always writes from a point of view. From the outside or from the inside. Everybody does it, but the fact that he so often wrote for tv plays or theater musicals or films makes it a more crucial part of what he’s doing than other rock’n rollers. And Return to Waterloo provides us with the only occasion where we can actually see how a lot of his most ambitious pieces were first envisioned. In this song's case, like @DISKOJOE hinted at, we’re back in the Brainwashed situation, from Arthur, in which the main character was insulted by his son in a pub. Here, it’s a bit more layered: whatever the “punks” sing (especially Tim Roth, who’s great) is also what the traveler puts in their mouth, the angry truth of a guy who vomits his frustration, unleashing his own repressed feelings about himself. They let it out, because he won’t, or can’t. The device is perfectly executed. Excellent observation. The medley/battle of sorts between the old geezers and the youngsters works great, the two songs combine brilliantly. The best thing about it is that, all being said and sung, the old and the young agree that "the good times are gone" and that the end is "not far away". As a matter of fact, they could reverse the titles : the young would be outraged that they won't know the "good times" of older generations, and the old would dread the near end of everything they used to know… They hate and fight each other but they agree that the system has run its course and that disaster's around the corner. Maybe that's the definition of a real social/societal crisis : when all generations coming from very different perspectives arrive at the same hopeless conclusion.
‘Not Far Away’: Very nice album version. I like this one a lot, especially the piano with guitar section. A beautiful interlude. I watched the MTV 30 minute film…and that ruined my daily segment routine. Ray offers an explanation and there goes my 5 minutes of rampant speculation. I did notice something that probably has been mentioned (but I wasn’t paying attention). It’s the two school authorities (perhaps teachers? school administrators?) that were holding the starting line rope for the foot race (for the children’s field day) that are sitting across from The Traveler on the train. I had been thinking they were businessmen but they aren’t.
Not Far Away Haha - we are on the same train here. The doco did take the steam out of my budding film critique career but it was good to hear Ray's thought process. This movie covers many themes that Ray had written about in songs over the Kinks' career, which explains why a song like this had to be in it. This is a very good song (I love that 'Pump It Up' beat). I agree it's a shame Dave isn't on it because that would have made it even better.
Well I finally watched the MTV doco lol I think for the most part, it somewhat confirms my thoughts about the movie.... which essentially would suggest Ray did a very good job of getting his story across, in his typically ambiguous way. Some interesting bits and pieces in there for folks that haven't seen it. and I guess if Martin Scorsese says you made good movie, then you probably did
The Scorsese appearance in the MTV doc was a surprise, even if it did feel a bit like he’d been shown the film and immediately asked to comment on it, rather than being hugely enthusiastic about it. Still, the fact he even appeared surely shows he was a fan of Rays work in general: which begs the question: when he he gonna do his ‘Living In The Material World’ style Kinks mega-documentary?
As I said earlier on the thread, he waxed lyrical about Magical Mystery Tour in the documentary about its making - so I don't exactly trust Marty's opinions on films made by musicians he's a fan of. He probably thinks Renaldo & Clara is the greatest film ever made.
I don't have the time to search for Scorcese's expressed opinion on MMT in depth, but what I found was this : “The freedom of the picture was something that was very, very important, the sense of breaking all the form,’’ says Scorsese. “Whether it fully succeeded or not was really beside the point.’’ Which cannot be considered a full endorsement, I guess. Kind of what one would say if the rule was "you can't lie but you can't say it's rubbish".
Didn't he state it was better than good plus @Vangro say he was a groupie who with rock stars films would likely Scoreasy!
This reminds me of a friend of mine’s very amusing quip re: Scorsese’s reuse of ‘Gimme Shelter’ in several of his films, to wit: ‘Martin Scorsese? More like Martin Scorelazy!’
Listening to the album version of "Not Far Away", I'm struck by how much it reminds me of "State of Confusion" - the slashing guitars in the intro and the double-time beat. It's a good song, though, and would have been preferable over "Sold Me Out" for a slot on Word of Mouth for me. I'd have liked to hear it recorded as a full Kinks track. Ray is using his full range of vocal styles on these tracks, switching effortlessly from gentle to shouty (although there isn't that much of the latter).
I wish that Scorsese used the Rascals in his movies instead of the Stones, since I think they were more appropriate being from NY and very popular in the 60s.
Yeah, that’s the closest we have to that kind of thing, although I also still live in hope that one day Ray chooses to leak the full 1968 ‘Days’ clip (What we do have can be seen below).
This is great! I noticed that Dave and Mick are separated when seated. Good. But then later have moments when they’re side by side. I kept expecting one or the other to stick a leg out and send their nemesis flying.
