I would say Winstanley is not uncommon. Also the title of an interesting film. Winstanley (film) - Wikipedia
Voices in the Dark A very nice 80s pop-synth style that the Kinks were started exploring in the early 80s, as we’ve seen. The lyrics are VERY Dave-ish. Overall, RtW is a nice album but I will probably not listen to it much again, as it’s only on YouTube at this point! Some great songs though that show that Ray can still churn them out.
Quiet Life Wow wow wow! I hear 1967-1972 Ray here! I hear echos of End of the Season, with that sort of intro/outro vocal section that is distinct from the main part of the song. I hear echos of Till Death us Do Part. Yummy! This is one of the best little couplets that Ray has written in years: Confidentially, between these walls, I'm on top of it all. I just love how that line is delivered. This song could have been sung by the Tramp.
‘Voices In The Dark’; I’m a day late (apologies) but my only real thought is that this is the fluffiest (!) of the film’s soundtrack, overwhelmed by the repetitive drums. The upside? The horns. Further comment on album cover: Horrible. I can see having Ray as the busker in the foreground…but to showcase the punks instead of The Traveler? I don’t get it. I do know I would never have picked this up in real time if all I had to go on was Ray Davies name and this album cover.
Usually when I fantasize about fellow commuters, I'm murdering them. Of course, I've never acted on this. You develop a lot of patience when riding subway trains as you realize you're all in this together, and it makes sense to get from Point A to Point B with as little stress as possible. The scene where the traveler fantasizes about killing the punks? I've routinely traveled among folks who make the punks look like birthday-party clowns. Usually kids and head cases you'll see every so often on the national news. And when that happens, you just ride it out ... the thousand-yard stare we all know so well. Headphones help! But also understand, this was pre-internet/smartphone age and people had better imaginations then. When you're doing this daily for years, and not on a lark, your focus shifts inwards. But I'm sure Ray was like a kid in the candy store wondering about everyone's private lives back then. Maybe he should have been concentrating more on his own!
Quiet Life I went to see this the day of it’s US release, in Paramus, NJ. Sixteen, with a day to myself but no available car, I called a cab. Sat in the dark of the matinee, with approximately ten others, I managed to get through this uneven spectacles many highs and lows. Ray once claimed, on the night of the UK premier, he hid in a pub somewhere. He also claimed Princess Anne, who actually attended the premiere, thought he was the best thing in it. I fully back the Princess here. I must admit, it’s the excellent David Bowie title track that really colored my life then, and to this day. His ‘Absolute Beginners’ was the soundtrack to my first real attempt at romance, a love untold, a first glimmer of light (if you’ll allow the Westerbergism’s), and one where I never pulled the trigger. (can that euphemism still be employed today?) Her name was Sandra, petite, fashion forward, with a disarming laugh and quick wit. Oh, and cheekbones, if not like geometry, than at least basic calculus. We worked together as clerks at PathMark. I remember us walking out of work, her to the car she just learned to drive at 17, me to walk home. We were greeted by a sudden downpour, and she motioned to me to run with her to her car. We talked and joked while rain lashed the roof like applause. When the skies finally cleared, my window closed and I walked the three blocks home knowing I had the perfect, organic moment to ask and had blown it. A few months later she found a new job and left PathMark. ‘Absolute Beginners’ never fails to put me back in the passenger seat of Sandra’s old Ford. She probably has no recollection of me or that brief encounter. It resounds with me only because it was such a charged atmosphere (on my side of the fence). And if she does remember and felt similarly, well, I don’t want to think about that. In order to not end on a maudlin note, the Absolute Beginners album has the distinction of being in the lead-off position in my vinyl collection.
I might not be as old as Ray but I was riding the trains in Tokyo in the mid-80s! Not as a lark. Rush hour trains. You learn how to fold a newspaper and, other than the odd occasion when you might want to feed a blood lust, you block out your surroundings. But…I’m not Ray and I’m delighted that Ray’s short 30 minute commute, where it appears having a seat was the norm, led to such a creative endeavor. (30 minutes? Seated? That ain’t anything to even bat an eye over. Well, I take that back. I’d be gushing about how blissful it was. )
I don't know the London transit system, but it looked to me that it's similar to the NYC system: more upscale/slightly more clean/expensive suburban trains coming into the city (Metro North, NJ Transit, Long Island Railroad), and once there, depending on NYC's vast subway system to get around the city itself. The subway trains: no frills, no arranged seats, pre-pandemic, many SRO trains during rush hour (albeit nothing like what I've seen depicted of Tokyo ... the trains are a bit more spacious these days with people working from home more). That was another minor thing I caught with RTW ... the guy's getting off a rush-hour suburban train, morning rush hour, and following a woman into the heart of London's subway system ... that appears nearly abandoned past a certain point? You would never see that during rush hour anywhere on an NYC subway station, particularly in midtown. But I realize depicting it that way better served the story line. (You'll have to forgive me. Seeing The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 at an impressionable age left me fascinated with subway trains -- never quite knowing that I'd one day be riding them!)
Just to continue off topic for a minute - @Fortuleo I watched the Jerry Lewis film clip that you posted. Unfortunately I’m not a Jerry Lewis fan, but the use of color reminded me of the two Jacques Demy movies I’ve seen. I wonder if the Lewis movie influenced him.
Thought I’d mention this for anyone who might be interested here in the NY metro area. Since The Smithereens have come up a few times on this thread - they are going to do a free show in Nassau county on July 23rd, evidently with Marshall Crenshaw singing. I’d check it out but won’t be around that day.
Not sure I'd have much to add to the excellent analysis already here, dear @DISKOJOE , but at any rate I'm off on a jaunt (?) to Idaho, so the thread will have moved on before I get a chance to watch RtW. Might drop some thoughts though on a free-form Sunday later in the month. Today's song is right up my particular Kinks obsession alley so again I'll note what a pleasant and unexpected surprise it is to hear RD slip back into this mode so effortlessly and to such good effect.
Voices In The Dark A fantastic track to close the album. Great use of synths to create a soundscape totally 'of its time'. Should have had a single release.
"The Quiet Life" The surprises keep on coming! How have I never even heard of this film? Now I have two films to watch. Seriously! Ray has been holding out on us! This song brings us back 10-20 years. I could hear this on albums like Soap Opera or Something Else. I much prefer this Ray over the 80s rocker. Ray could have been a character in a Woody Allen movie. This song and film clip reminds me of Woody's musical Everyone Says I Love You, which did feature Tim Roth! I also find it interesting that Absolute Beginners features Edward-Tudor-Pole. I pulled out my copy of The Great Rock N Roll Swindle this week and was just reading about him. He sings the delightfully wacky song "Who Killed Bambi?" on that album.
Quiet Life I recall Ray in an interview saying he recorded his clip in the 'dolls house' to help Julien hawk the film around to get it made. It's a good song, and has the great line 'confidentially between these walls, I'm on top of it all'. That said, it does seem rather 'tagged on' in the film with a clip which seemingly has no relation to the rest of the film. I understand that the 'father role' is much more important in the book (which I've not read). I don't mind the film. Seen worse. And 'Absolute Beginners' is one of Bowie's best songs of the period.
I bought this German Quiet Life 12” at Zed Records (run by a lovely English woman and her son who primarily handled imports) in Long Beach, CA the day it first became available in ’86. It would thus appear the 12” single was issued in places beyond the U.K. and Spain, but what do I know? There is a discrepancy on this particular release between what the cover claimed was featured on the flip versus what actually was issued. The Absolute Beginners feature, itself, was somehow even worse than Return to Waterloo… and that’s saying something. We all thought Ray came so close to a return to form with Quiet Life… but felt the unhappy decision to utilize a cheesy synthesizer (yet again) spoiled the thing (for us). I’ll show myself out… ~Huck
I, for one, always appreciate seeing your detailed discography information! 1986 was a long time ago… I’m seldom surprised when authors or mere mortals on the Internet miss an ancient release or ten. On the sleeve in question, the two tracks on the flip are listed as being Voices in the Dark and Va Va Voom but, in reality, Va Va Voom followed by Napoli is what the fine folks at Virgin Germany had pressed on this particular little slab of polyvinyl chloride. ~Huck
Quiet Life: I had not paid much attention to this song at all until this morning. It had played along with the Return to Waterloo tracks a number of times in the background, but it had not really caught my attention. All it took was one close listen this morning to change that. Excellent song and one that I will be excited to add into my playlist for this era. I particularly like the lyrics of this song. I have found that the best way for me to get along with my family, my fiancé and to work with my often annoying clients is to avoid any type of arguments. I just agree or walk away. As Ray said, he who avoids the battle lives to fight another day. I’ll follow his advice and live the Quiet Life. I’m sure many on here are excited to hear Ray return to his older dancehall/theatrical style with this song because I know many of you are not into the harder style of rock, which is what this version of the kinks has been peddling for a while now. For my part, I too am happy to hear Ray do a throwback style (just as he did on RtW with the doo-wop style of Dear Lonely Hearts). I am happy to hear it EVEN THOUGH I am still highly enjoying the kinks and Dave in rip-snorting guitar mode. We’ll see if that changes as we get into UK jive and phobia (neither of which I have yet heard) but I will say I’m totally enjoying Think Visual which certainly still contains some of that Dave hard rocking influence.
Just checked and my copy is the UK version with Voices and Va Va Voom. Haven’t commented on the RtW film or music. Was away for a bit in rural Quebec at a very nice cottage. While it did have the interwebs there were also cranky oldsters who didn’t tolerate « noise » they weren’t making, so I couldn’t watch/listen. I will say in sum that the record is really good; it stands up. I like pretty much all of it. The film? I have to admit that I did watch it a couple weeks back and really didn’t get it. I think I get it a bit better now thanks to the commentary here, but don’t think I’ll go back and watch again to see.
Not much time to write these days (thanks again for the wallet-related sympathy, it's all fine now. More like a distraction on a week full of complicated familial and work stuff. I can't wait for the holiday that I still hope to have in August). I like Mark's idea of a double album. I may try this. For the moment I have put together this mock RtW album : A side Intro Return to Waterloo Good Day Living on a Thin Line Lonely Hearts Sold Me Out B side Guilty Ladder of Success Too Hot Missing Persons Going Solo Voices In The Dark I tried it out, some adjustments may be necessary, but I like it. And instead of using my very tiny spare time to work for the common good, I wasted it making a voice-overless edit of the one song no one cares about, Ladder of Success.
One of my favorites! It’s a shame it’s not on the soundtrack album. I really enjoy the old-style choreography to this song in the film, the businessmen dancing together on the train platform, then they all enter the train with the doors opening and shutting in unison; the train pulls away and the conductor and a woman slowly wave farewell to it, side by side. Just a clever and fun little moment.
Great song. The movie itself got a bit of unfair rap but it was disappointing considering what an iconic book it was adapted from. It’s colorful and sometimes fun. Julien and Ray always did make a good team on film. It would have been brilliant if Keith Richards had actually recorded the song Ray wrote for the Max Milleresque character. My dad was great friends with Goldcrest co-founder Sandy Lieberson, not so much with Sandy’s partner David Puttnam, who came to Hollywood to run Columbia Pictures in the eighties and made few allies. Patsy Kensit married Dan Donovan, who was the keyboard player in my friend Mick’s band Big Audio Dynamite, and is the son of famed sixties photographer Terence Donovan (Dan’s brother Terry Jr. struck it rich with his company Rockstar Games, which gave us Grand Theft Auto). Marrying Dan was perhaps not a great indicator as to Patsy’s personal life, as Dan was quite the, let’s say, “partier”, but they did soon divorce.
Dave's (signed!) bio is wingin' it's way to me. I last saw it was in Connecticut. Weeeee! It's getting closer. A dear friend of mine was at Dave's event for his new book last night. Sounds like it was a good night, other than afterwards, autograph hounds were really bothering poor Dave. I see all 'round the web the hopes that Ray and Dave will do some live stuff together at some point. It's a lovely thought, but it's just not going to happen, so let's move on. I haven't heard any negative or positive of Pete's Veritas "book". So I wonder.
Since I had not heard Ladder Of Success in a couple of decades due to it not appearing on the album, it felt like a new song for me. As usually happens with “new” songs with me, it stuck in my head last Saturday as I toiled in the yard for a couple of hours doing yard work. Nice work on the song here @The late man ! I’m more convinced now this should have been on the album which was too short as it stood. After a few years away (and somewhat influenced by Alan White’s death a few weeks ago), I’ve been going back through the Yes catalog over the last few weeks in chronological order and by sheer coincidence I’m up to the point where tonight’s listening schedule just happens to include their 1999 album The Ladder. We covered this tidbit back when we covered The Village Green Preservation Society album so old news for many, but for those who weren't around then or are not aware, the start of the Yes song "Lightning Strikes" from The Ladder uses the exact same mellotron sample intro as "Phenomenal Cat".
With the talk of Dave’s second biography, there will apparently be an accompanying album. Track list yet to be announced. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B63NHVMW/?tag=imwan-20 He’d be the first to admit he’s led multiple lives and/or personalities so why not a second biography. Seriously, his stroke and recovery will be interesting to read about as this occurred after the first book. Plus The Kinks still existed to some extent at that first book’s release. Maybe he will shed more light on the end of the band. Hopefully the accompanying album will have something previously unreleased on it for us completists.
