The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm even worse, the only reference I have for any of them is Bare Naked Ladies
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2022
  2. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
  3. sharedon

    sharedon Forum Zonophone

    Location:
    Boomer OK
  4. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Does anyone really think a Kinks reunion would be good thing at this point? I think they missed that window at least 10 years ago. Ray is nearly 80 years old and not in the best vocal shape of his career. I had seen some footage of him from a few years ago, and I can't imagine that he would have the energy to do a reunion tour of any kind. I would love for them to open up the vaults and put out some unreleased music. I don't care if it's from a few years ago, or from 40 years ago. Any new Kinks release would be great, but I highly doubt there will ever be any sort of reunion. The last Kinks album has already been nearly 30 years ago! Dave is selling a book. Of course he has to be optimistic and answer The Kinks reunion question with some enthusiasm and hope.

    Here is, what I believe, the closest we are going to get. Ray looks great and I love him, but he doesn't appear to have the vocal chops to pull off a reunion anymore (and this is three years ago). He kind of reminds me of old Groucho.

     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2022
  5. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    No. At least I don’t.
     
  6. donstemple

    donstemple Member of the Club

    Location:
    Maplewood, NJ
    No, definitely would not be live performances or tours. It would be very interesting though just for a final EP of a few new songs/collaboration to be released under the Kinks name. But they certainly don't owe us anything. As long as they are getting along and sharing a pint every so often, that is really all we can hope for.
     
  7. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    All I want from Ray and Dave at this point is one final Kinks album, nothing more
     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I think it could and likely would be extremely poignant for Ray and Dave to record something together again.... perhaps a collaborative song, if they can work together, about their lives, their band, possibly even tying it into the world and England and how everything has changed.... if Ray still has the drive and motivation, I have no doubt he could sign off on the Kinks catalog with a song so poignant you could butter your bread with it.....

    A tour.... I'm not sure I could see that.
    As you say Ray is an elderly gentleman now, and I don't see the motivation for it, unless he just really wanted one last hurrah....
    Then there's Dave, who has pretty shaky health as well....

    I'd never say they shouldn't because it's not my place to say, but it doesn't seem like a good idea.

    One last great song... album perhaps, as the Kinks, or as Ray and Dave, or however they wanted to label it.... I'd really love that.
     
  9. Paul Mazz

    Paul Mazz Senior Member

    Bright Lights

    This one perked up my ears. Nice happy sounding song. Musically Dave doesn't sound too broken up about the breakup, lol. I think this would have fit in just fine on Think Visual. I haven't heard UK Jive yet, so I can't say if it fits in better there, or if the Kinks version is better than Dave's demo. BTW @donstemple beat me to pointing out the best line in the song - "My future is late. Guess I'll find it next week". That made me smile.

    Give Something Back

    I don't care for this one. I agree that the pinched nasal vocals make it a tough listen. Nice sentiment in the song lyrics, but musically kind of boring. Possibly could have been turned into something with more work. I just realized that I'm kind of just repeating some of @mark winstanley 's thoughts in very abbreviated form:)

    Back to work, and then, for the first time since Covid started, going to see some live music. It's just a Billy Joel cover band called Big Shot, but they really are very good, and it's free. I'm usually not a fan of cover bands that play mainly one artists repertoire, but we heard them by accident for the first time years ago, and loved them. One of our daughters high school friends were playing as the opening act for Big Shot, so we brought the kids to see them, and were about to leave after the opener, but ended up staying and being really impressed with Big Shot. Evidently Billy Joel was impressed enough that he hired the lead singer, Mike DelGuidice for his band. Big Shot has continued to put on free (of course paid for by us the taxpayers) shows in the Town of Oyster Bay for years.
     
  10. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Although I'm not really a Billy Joel fan, I have to say that I enjoyed seeing him at the 1995 Newport R&B Festival. He was on his boat and just happened to be in the area when he noticed the festival. He came on and played a song or two. The rest of the festival was also pretty cool:

    Before rock 'n' roll was a twinkle in anyone's... - UPI Archives
     
  11. Paul Mazz

    Paul Mazz Senior Member

    Sounds like a cool show. I just listened to some Irma Thomas for the the first time during my recent road trip, and was wondering why I never listened before. I’m not a huge Billy Joel fan either. I did see him when he and Elton John toured together maybe in the mid nineties, at Madison Square Garden, not my favorite venue. I almost liked this cover band’s performances better, :hide:. You have to give Joel credit as a songwriter, I knew virtually every song in at least a 90 minute show from having heard it on the radio. I just checked and Joel had 33 top forty hits, so I guess that makes sense.
     
  12. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Rock 'n' Roll Cities
    I remember hearing this song back in the day. It must have been on the radio. And then when I began my current deep dive on the Kinks a few years ago, I remember consistently reading that this is like the worst Kinks song. An embarrassment. I guess I read it enough that maybe I started to believe it.

    But in listening to it now, I think it's pretty ok. It's no Klassic. But it's good. I can see the humor in it. Ray is usually the one who writes the humorous, wry tunes, but I think Dave did a respectable job here.

    Dave's vocals are spot on. I love how he sings "look out here we come". He's right in his vocal sweet spot.
     
  13. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    :laugh: I thought similarly!
     
  14. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    No More Mysteries
    Headmaster says this song feels comfortable. I'd say it certainly has that familiar-and-easy-to-slide-in-to vibe. It definitely reminds me of something, but I can't recall exactly what, yet I do feel it was a song/album/style I didn't really care for, which makes it a little difficult for me to appreciate this song.

    Wait
    Lyrics less interesting than the predecessor, and all those synths should turn me off, but musically I kinda' like it.
     
  15. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Bright Lights
    Surprisingly solid 80s power pop. I like it.

    Give Something Back
    Nice idea, but relatively uninspired execution.
     
  16. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    In that case i have to question, is his Mulsanne Straight?
     
    DISKOJOE, mark winstanley and Zeki like this.
  17. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Is my Mulsanne Straight? I guess so :laugh:

    Anyway, I did like Le Mans. I liked the way that the subplots weren’t as intrusive or soapy as in Grand Prix. I also liked the fact that most of the movie was race footage, almost like a documentary. Also, Michael Legrand’s score was good.
     
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Hope .

    Sitting here, wondering what it's all about
    Thoughts moving on, gonna give it a shout
    Oh, people are so strange, and I don't know why
    There must be a way
    But it brings a tear
    But a fine group of teachers we've got gathered here
    We're lost in a world in this, the mechanized age
    We must turn it around

    Hope, life is nothing without
    Dream, means nothing without a plan
    Hope, means nothing without a chance
    Hope, it means nothing without love
    Hope, means nothing without a dream
    Dream, it means nothing without a chance
    Hope, means nothing without love

    Comic strip characters fill my eyes
    From the tramp in the gutter to the politician's smile
    There's war in the east, confusion in the west
    There must, must be a way
    The message is clear, that everybody's right and nobody's wrong
    We all live together in a very small boat
    We all have got to change

    We need hope, life is nothing with out a dream
    Dream, means nothing without a plan
    Hope, it means nothing without a chance
    Hope, oohh
    Life, it means nothing without hope
    Hope, means nothing without a chance
    Chance, means nothing without love
    Hope, means nothing without life
    Oooh

    Means nothing, nothing without life
    Oooh
    Hope, means nothing, nothing without life
    Life, means nothing, nothing

    Written by: Dave Davies
    Published by: Dabe Music

    We open with a nice peaceful synth wash, and my hopes are raised for one of Dave's more interesting explorations.....

    Then at about 39 seconds we get some very abrasive industrial type drum machine sounding percussion.... and the oasis is nuked.....

    I completely appreciate what Dave was going for here, and probably in a produced arrangement it could well have worked, but for me at least, in this demo form it sounds really difficult to find an entry point.

    There's that, and the opening verse sounds like the melody from Sweet's Lies In Your Eyes, but without the punch.

    Lyrically this is somewhat a hippy commune dream of sorts, not that there's anything wrong with that.... hopes and dreams are important, I believe at least, but the way it is framed seems like there is no hope, so don't dream.
    Perhaps the industrial drums signify the clash being sung of, with the acoustic guitar fighting to be heard under the clatter of the drums and the synth pads...

    I do like the We all live together in a very small boat thing, but he doesn't capitalise on the good lines here, and gets lost in unfocused idealism, that points fingers, rather than pointing to solutions... even if they aren't the right solutions, give us something other than we're all too messed up to live

    The sentiment here is certainly heartfelt, but it doesn't capture my heart ... you get away with calling me a comic book character if you have some basis for it.... but not doing the way you do them probably isn't going to alter that, particularly when it sounds like this...

    This theme has potential, and even the abrasive music has potential, but unfortunately here, like this, there is no reaching of that potential, just a slim hope that a re-write may arise, and something more coherent and valid would come out of it.

     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Long Lonely Road.

    This is essentially a different mix ... and perhaps recording? of this track we looked at on decade
    The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

    I quite like it, but at least from the youtube link, the decade version sounds better.

    You are here, no place to go
    Lost in a world that's got no soul
    Mocking faces all around you
    Shifting about in ever restless irony

    We give you all our love
    And hope your heart can change your mind
    Yet I see you and me
    As we wander endlessly
    On this long lonely road

    Who are you, who have the right to say
    You lead us on and then you steal away
    With the gifts that were offered
    Time again and again

    We give you all our love
    And hope your heart can change your mind
    Yet I see you and me as we wander endlessly
    On this long lonely road

    Instrumental

    Could we but see
    The unrest that surrounds you and me
    Will produce a good that will far outweigh the evil of this world
    Seek within your soul and earn the right to know
    I cannot speak
    These words just drag me down

    Yes I see you and me
    As we wander endlessly
    On this long lonely road

    Written by: Dave Davies
    Published by: Dabe Music

    Listening today, it almost sounds like Dave was going for a sort of Procol Harum meets KC and the Sunshine Band, with Henry Mancini bringing Peter's Gunns... it is interesting.

     
  20. All Down The Line

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

    Location:
    Australia
    Talking Billy Joel i will keep kontents komments kinky with Dave's lament on losing his uptown top tier fashion model.
    When he found himself sans that one special girl he need have looked no further than Joel as at the same time he was dating wife to be Christie Brinkley he was also seeing and about to dump (The Body) Elle Macpherson!
    If only Dave could have picked up the crumbs.
     
  21. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    "Hope"

    When that drum machine comes in it sounds like we're going to launch into "When Doves Cry", but the song itself is something of an anticlimax. It has a functional verse and a functional chorus but neither moves forward with any great momentum. Sounds a bit like a leftover from Chosen People. The lyrics are the usual unfocused ranting, but bonus points for the mention of "The Tramp" - perhaps Ray would have been more amenable to including this one on a Kinks album?
     
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    That is the end of this section of Dave songs from the Fragile release. Another series of demo tracks that Dave released in 2001.

    Over the next six days, this is what things will look like

    Thursday - The Kinks - The Road
    Friday - The Road
    Saturday - Destroyer, Apeman, Come Dancing, Art Lover

    Monday - 1st August - Cliches Of The World, Think Visual, Living On A Thin Line, Lost And Found
    Tuesday - It (I Want It)
    Wednesday - Around The Dial, Give The People What They Want, You Really Got Me

    Then on the following Thursday we will start a very interesting journey through the pretty much unreleased 80 Days demos.

    I haven't posted any complete albums up front on the thread so far, but in this instance it is an album that is somewhat more difficult to access.

    So in order to hopefully give folks a chance to give this a listen up front and get a chance to absorb what it has to offer, here is the 80 Days album in full....

    Please still wait for us to move into the album and the regular song by song section before getting too carried away with it, but at least if we get this up here now, folks can have a chance to become familiar with the album and its songs before we do that.



    For anyone that has been looking there is currently a cd-r available on discogs for just over $20 (shipped to the US from the US) on Discogs... It is from the same seller that I got my copy from, so I assume they burn off a new copy each time one sells. So if a few people want this, it may be a case of "watch this space"
    Ray Davies - 80 Days - A New Musical - The 80 Days Demo Songs (CDr, Netherlands, 2006) For Sale | Discogs
     
  23. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    If No More Mysteries was Dave’s audition song for the Travelling Wilburys, Hope’s perhaps his attempt to join Tears for Fears for their second LP (the Shout one). It has another good chorus which is becoming a nice habit. I particularly like the chord change and how the melody manages to prolong it, in a way. It's a very little trick, By the way, where’s @Luckless Pedestrian ?? We miss you, Sir!

    Long Lonely Road, I actively dislike, I hear some bad southern rock disco mesh/mess (messh), with the return of the (aw)full throttle voice that I was well off thinking I would never have to hear again. I’ve managed to listen twice all the way through, so heard the expert guitar solo that does nothing for me and the semi-redeeming Hear Me Lord middle part, but overall, it was a struggle, and I didn't feel I'd won anything in the end.
    (little nod to @Vangro: heard the Raincoats' version of Lola yesterday on my way to the Calgary airport, still sounded rather fresh)
     
  24. pyrrhicvictory

    pyrrhicvictory Forum Resident

    Location:
    Manhattan
    Hope

    Like the chorus, but dislike the verses. I’m not usually one for overt inspirational songs. I steer clear of self-help sections and corporate New-Ageisms. I really do like Dave’s home-cooked brand which is genuine and up-lifting. This song is in that category for me, the chorus doing what the right chant or mantra will do, help you to transcend. Rewrite the verses (or remove them altogether) and I’ll dig out my Yoga mat.

    Long Lonely Road

    What is this cacophony, Smithers?
    That’s coming from Davies, sir, Sector 7G.

    Glad this didn’t make it onto AFL1-3603 as it’s one of the least listenable DD songs to these ears.

     
  25. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    ‘Hope’: this is the closest Dave’s been to mirroring Ray’s vocal, especially on “Comic strip characters fill my eyes
    From the tramp in the gutter to the politician's smile
    There's war in the east, confusion in the west.”

    With the lyrics, this takes me back to the Preservation albums…though I have no idea how the singer arrives at the conclusion, “The message is clear, that everybody's right and nobody's wrong.” The message certainly isn’t clear to me!

    The drumming ….I don’t wish to talk about!
     

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