The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Sold Me Out
    Still behind on here, but this song just continues to grow on me. Its use in the film helps to fill out the context a bit. But I just love the sound as I probably said earlier in this thread when we covered it on the previous album.

    As with other Kinks songs, if I find myself singing it randomly to my cat or simply while driving, you know it's a good one. Veering toward klassic for me.
     
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    No argument from me...
    This soundtrack has several in my opinion :)
     
  3. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Lonely Hearts

    This is the a good one, huh? Love the twangy guitar and the organ sound. Sometimes the synth sneaks in there, and it's just not a favorite thing for me. It could be removed and no one would be the wise. It's a lovely mellow and sad song and I'm diggin' it. I need to remember it going forward as it's not going to show up on "greatest hits" for the Kinks.
     
  4. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    The Good Times Are Gone
    Having only heard this song twice, it did stick with me. It works in the film and it feels very Arthur-ish. not much more to say.

    Not Far Away
    another good one. The very beginning of it, especially the Ray version, sounds like a Clash song. Again, typical Ray themes. Watch out what the system will do to you, the cog in the machine. It will consume you and spit you out. Preservation meets Schoolboys meets Arthur..I dunno. But it sure does sound like Ray is concerned about a lot of us 9 to 5ers...maybe with good reason.
     
  5. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Expectations
    Another one I really like! The fact that I can remember it so well after only hearing it two times, says something.

    I'm tired...but it sort of reminds me of a Who or Pete Townshend song. But can't get any closer to identifying how I think that. anyone else?
     
  6. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    I second this! Hope & Glory was a marvelous film I've watched many times. Haven't seen it in years, but would recommend it to anyone with an Anglophile streak or into WWII era films (that have nothing to do with a battlefield...tho poor London was a battlefield in a way).
     
  7. Paul Mazz

    Paul Mazz Senior Member

    Ya know - I had the same thought, but couldn’t really nail down exactly why either when the song first came up. I started to check the songs on Tommy, and stopped for some reason. It might be a little like Sally Simpson?
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Workin' For MCA and London Records.

    So it seems like the Kinks leaving Arista is a bit of an anomaly from what I can tell. I'm nor sure Arista were looking to get rid of them, but from all reports it seems like a misunderstanding of sorts.

    I have looked and I can't find anything specific as to what exactly happened, but we have had talks about it on here already, and it appears that the guys were talking with MCA and Clive or Arista got perturbed about it, and decided not to renew their contract or some such thing from what I can gather.

    I must say that I figured that the movie Return To Waterloo may have been a bridge too far for Clive Davis based on the apparent regulations enforced on Ray when they signed up with Arista, but it appears that wasn't seen as a problem.

    So we're left with a change of labels, with no apparent direct reason for it, but a misunderstanding, or just Arista being annoyed that the Kinks were looking around, and Arista just saying "well go look then.

    So in light of me having little of value to say about the matter here, it's time for all you experts to step in and flesh this out for us
     
  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Think Visual

    [​IMG]
    Studio album by
    the Kinks
    Released
    17 November 1986
    Recorded January 1986 and June–August 1986
    Studio Konk Studios, London
    Genre Rock
    Length 44:22
    Language English
    Label US: MCA[1]
    UK: London
    Germany: Metronome
    Producer Ray Davies

    Produced by: Ray Davies
    Release date: 17 Nov, 1986
    Record label & catalog #: London LONLP 27
    Country: UK
    Format: 12" vinyl LP (album), 33 1/3 RPM
    Release type: Regular release

    Tracks:
    Side 1
    1. Working At The Factory stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    2. Lost And Found stereo mix, album edit (5:19), recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    3. Repetition stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    4. Welcome To Sleazy Town stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    5. The Video Shop stereo mix, recorded Jan 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    Side 2
    1. Rock 'N' Roll Cities stereo mix, recorded Aug 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    2. How Are You stereo mix, album edit (4:27), recorded Jan 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    3. Think Visual stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    4. Natural Gift stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    5. Killing Time stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
    6. When You Were A Child stereo mix, recorded Jun-Jul 1986 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London

    Liner Notes:
    Produced by Ray Davies at Konk Studios, London
    "Rock 'N' Roll Cities" and "When You Were A Child" produced by Dave Davies
    CAST
    Ray Davies Vocals, guitar and incidental keyboards
    Dave Davies Lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on Rock 'n' Roll Cities
    Ian Gibbons Keyboards and back up vocals
    Bob Henrit Drums and percussion on all tracks except Rock 'n' Roll Cities
    Jim Rodford Bass guitar and back up vocals
    Mick Avory Drums on Rock 'n' Roll Cities

    Kim Goody Backing vocals on Think Visual

    Engineers: Ben Fenner, Dave Powell, David Baker and Damien Korner

    Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Master Disk, New York

    Design and photography by Icon

    For the rest... so many and so few... thank you
    In the meantime... Think Visual

    This is somewhat of a surprise to me.
    Initially I was taken aback when I first played this album, and the last two albums, because I couldn't find anything that stood out to me... it seemed like I had finally found my Kinks limit.

    I'm very pleased to say that after giving this album a good amount of spins it has slowly won me over. One of the blessings of running a thread like this is that it gives me no choice but to really dig in... I can't really get away with bluffing it, and cruising along, because there are way too many cluey people on here that would be able to pick it. I could just get on here and say "yea, the Kinks finally bottom out here" after one listen and fart our some nonsense about the songs, but that completely defeats the purpose of doing this in the first place, and it would be unrealistic after hearing the band was done every album or so along the journey, and finding that it may not be "all net", but for me at least they are still getting it in the basket, even if the backboard give the occasional assistance.

    The majority of this album pleases me, and I think as I go through the songs I am going to find that there are certainly going to be songs for my imaginary playlist.

    I actually think that side one is great, yes even the Madness-like Video Shop.
    There are couple of songs on side two that are yet to sink their teeth into me, but for the most part I have no reservations with this album... I actually like it quite a lot.

    I will say that anyone expecting the band to boldly stretch into new realms or blow anyone's mind, are going to be disappointed, but if you are looking for quality songs, solid writing and arrangement, then this album may surprise some of the doubters also.

    I already have some favourites, and that may end up being a fairly across the board thing although, like I say there are two tracks on side two that aren't really filling my boots at the moment.... but most of it is really very solid.
    I suppose to some degree it may be slightly more in the middle of the road than we are used to from the guys, but that is probably going to depend on what you felt in that regard over the last few albums. Certainly not for me, but I know that is the feeling for some.

    Anyway, we have our first full album with Bob Henritt on the kit, and he is solid.

    I just think we have some very good songs here. It isn't the Pye Kinks, it isn't the RCA years and it isn't really even the Arista years... though it is somewhat closer to the Arista Kinks that either of the others.
    The focus is on lyrics and melody as far as I can tell at this stage, but I guess all that will come together as we go through the songs...

    So I went from frowning to smiling over the course of about 5 or 6 listens I reckon, but how about yourself.

    When did you first hear this?
    What did you think at the time?
    Have you had a chance, or will, to revisit it? and what did you think?

    Let us know all the stuff that comes to mind regarding the album in general and we'll hit the songs and see where we end up at the end.
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    [​IMG][​IMG]
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    I don't particularly like or dislike this cover, it's just a bit odd.
    The Klassic black background always works well. The way the words are laid out is fine.... The picture is a little odd. Somewhat based on the Thinker sculpture, with a somewhat androgynous subject.
    The back cover has that goofy picture of Ray pointing to the songs, and Ray and the songlist make up the I in think.
     
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  12. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Wondergirl and Zeki like this.
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  17. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Woah, I like this wacky sleeve, even if it's not aesthetically 'better' than the real cover art (and that's a low bar) it's nice to see a group shot on a later album and I dig those kindergarten bright letters. This (German?) cassette version from must date from a few years after the album actually came out as the group photo features Mark Haley, who was the keyboardist from 1989-93.
     
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It says it was released in 1986, but of course we know the internet can be very wrong too frequently
    Label: Karussell – 828 199-4
    Format:
    Cassette
    Country: Germany
    Released: 1986
    Genre: Rock
     
  19. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Think Visual

    1987. I'd spent the last couple of years exploring The Kinks, loving the 60s stuff, hating the 70s stuff but finding the couple of Arista albums I'd heard so far quite promising. Then I found this album in HMV - it must have been really cheap, like £1 or something. I didn't know the concept of the "cutout bin" at the time, but this was what it was - the US pressing with a cutout in the sleeve which had made its way across the ocean to HMV in Newcastle. I thought I'd give it a go. And I liked it.

    Bear in mind that this was a year after the album was released, and I never read any reviews of it. It came out after the Jon Savage book so there was no mention of it in there. This was years before the internet of course. I knew nothing of the circumstances of the making of this album or its reception. So I was entirely free to form my own opinion of this record without any preconceptions or outside influence. And my opinion was that it was a really good album. Of course, I've found out in recent years that apparently it's rubbish and it's one of The Kinks' worst albums etc - well maybe I should have been sent that memo in 1987.

    It wasn't until two years later that I bought any of the Arista albums, and I bought those over a six year period. There wasn't one occasion when I listened to an Arista album and thought "hmmm, maybe I overrated Think Visual a bit because this one is better". It survived the challenge of all of those albums, indeed it just grew stronger and went up even more in my estimation.

    There have been times over the last 30+ years where I've gone for quite some time without listening to the 60s albums, and the Arista albums have been in and out of favour many times. But Think Visual has always been a regular listen - it's never gone out of favour and I've certainly never gone through a year without playing it at least a couple of times. It's almost certainly the Kinks album that I've played the most. And it never disappoints. Is it my favourite Kinks album? I can't really compare it to the Pye albums as it's too different to those. Most of the RCA stuff has only been in my life for the last year so I can't really compare it to that either. The only real comparison I can make is to the post-1976 stuff, and yes it's certainly my favourite of those nine albums. It's one of my favourite albums by anybody.

    So why is it so great?

    They're not trying to do edgy punk/new wave here, nor are they trying to do shouty hard rock/arena rock, nor are they trying to do obvious 60s throwbacks. But elements of each of these are woven together seamlessly to form a new, "mature" Kinks sound. This album sounds exactly like you might expect The Kinks to sound 20 years after their heyday. Solid, intelligent, tuneful guitar-driven contemporary rock-pop. Done to perfection. There's no mish-mash here - these tracks sound like they belong together on the same album*.

    Let's also point out that this was made in 1986. I think you will find that most albums released by "legacy" acts at this time will be full of mid-80s production tropes. Big gated drums, or Linn drums, Fairlights, Synclaviers, DX-7s, sequencers, sax solos, female backing vocalists. There's none of that on here. It manages to sound contemporary without sounding at all like the mid-80s. Yes, it's that word "timeless".

    The absence of the arena excesses also means that this album sounds a good deal more intimate than the previous few. The production is unassuming and unspectacular, and it sounds entirely organic and natural. To me this is the ultimate distillation of The Kinks being The Kinks in the 80s. And it contains a contender for the title of greatest ever Kinks track.

    * What I haven't addressed above is of course the Dave factor. We have two Dave songs on this album, and it sounds like Dave was making an entirely different album as neither of his songs really fit. But that has never bothered me, and their position as the bookends of Side Two is just about the ideal position for those tracks in terms of integrating them properly and preserving the flow. Yes, I would probably disregard "Rock & Roll Cities" if it was on UK Jive, but it's elevated by its stellar company on this album.
     
    Wondergirl, The MEZ, Brian x and 19 others like this.
  20. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    This might not be the ugliest Kinks album sleeve, but it has my vote for perhaps the most boringly mundane one. It looks like a bodyspray advertisement plastered on a bus shelter on a wet Wednesday. And that sloppy (intended as 'candid' I guess) OOF photo of Ray pointing at his head on the reverse. Is that all there is? It all seems so measly ESPECIALLY on an album entitled 'Think Visual'! I mean, COME ON! Is is that hard to find a graphic designer who takes some measure of pride in their work? Could we consider giving fans something more than a functional sleeve to house the album in? Sorry for the vitriol but this continual stream of rubbish album covers just wears me down.

    The music itself I always thought of as largely about as boring as the album cover suggests but I'm looking forward to (potentially) being schooled to the contrary by it's advocates on this thread. No one can tell me that that is good album art though!
     
  21. Zack

    Zack Senior Member

    Location:
    Easton, MD
    I vividly remember hearing this the first time in a fraternity house room my senior year of college. Started out great, started going downhill with the Video Shop. Soon after I heard a promo on DC-101 radio of Rock and Roll Cities, where Dave dubs in new lyrics: "Rock and roll cities -- Washington! -- something something on WWDC." Yikes, it was awful.
     
  22. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    Think Visual I had on cassette taped from vinyl for the longest time. I bought the CD used when I became a Kinks completist. Though the record does not have a big hit or memorable single on it, I always thought it was a pretty solid album. I always liked "Welcome To Sleazy Town" which showed up in the Kinks show when this came out. To me it is the equivalent of the Stones' Steel Wheels - not an A list album in the catalogue of the group but a finely crafted studio album nonetheless.
     
  23. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    A Look At "Think Visual" 1986
    An Interview With Dave Davies Of The Kinks

    I found this a few weeks ago in the wild and am reposting the 3 pictures uploaded at the time.
    N.b. Today I noticed one on eBay stateside with a low starting price for anyone interested.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Sadly I can't find it on youtube
     
  25. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Dave or Ray's interviews?
     

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