Avid Wondergirl, if you allege that your humor is “at the 12 year boy level”, then what’s your opinion of stalwarts of WSBK TV, Channel 38, The Three Stooges?
Art Lover is obviously an interesting one, more assured, less heavy on the accent, the melody more easy flowing compared to the studio version, the phrasing of the verse is very different. I find it wonderful musically, Dave’s acoustic supporting licks and Ray’s “hours and hours and hours” moment being great little additions. Now, I also find it telling that @Mark seems more disturbed by the lyrics here than he was during the GTPWTW discussion. Ray’s performance makes it even clearer in my mind that the twist (the lonely father reveal) doesn’t change the fact that it’s still about a troubled mind, finding excuses for his own guilty impulses. Writing can’t be separated from performing in this case (and in Ray’s case in general), and that’s the way he acts it out, reinforcing the dark pathetic nature of the song.
To some degree I suppose... As I said initially, I think he should have adjusted some of the lyrics... I think it is more that, while I was researching the song, the arguments of its actual apparent meaning won me over.... Yet having had some space between, and the arguments playing little to no part in listening to it here, it sort of fails to hold close enough to the initial intent of the song, ambiguity or not.... If that makes sense
Avid Pyrrhicvictory, if that’s a piccy of Mickey Mantle’s rookie card, then I have a better chance of finding a 1986 Red Sox World Championship T-shirt, since most of those cards actually ended up in the bottom of the ocean Oh, I enjoyed your latest missive as always. Your writings always evoke a Jean Shepherd vibe in me, especially your tales in living in Jersey.
"Destroyer"- Not a favorite of mine. I just got to the concert, and I'm already bored. I should have just stayed home and listened to Something Else. "Apeman"- I love hearing Dave and Ray sing this together. Many of these songs would not be on my list of songs I wish they played live. I guess they have to play some of the familiar hits, but I am just not interested in hearing the big hits live. "Come Dancing"- This is better than I expected. I like the faster pace and Ray's rhythm guitar. It's about as good as you could hope it to be. There isn't any live video from this concert? "Art Lover"- This might come off better than the studio version. None of these songs would make me want to go the concert, but the band sounds like they are in fine form. I guess I just don't get the point of many live albums. They are fun to hear once, but usually not something I would return to frequently. I'm mostly looking forward to the songs I have never heard live before. The next three songs should be interesting. As I get older, I wonder if I will ever go see live shows anymore. Maybe some smaller venue shows? I have never been a fan of large venues and stadium tours. I think I have already seen everyone that I would care to. Small local bands can still be fun, but not something I search out anymore. Ticket prices are insane now. I overheard someone say that nosebleed seats for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert were going for $200 each, and it was $50 for parking. It's outrageous now. I said at least the bass player will look like an actual flea. I have also heard about the $5,000 ticket controversy over the recent Bruce Springsteen tour.
I've been on the Road these last days. Well more on the preparation for the Road and the after effects of it, with a tiny bit of actual Road in the middle. Edit: this is not musical road, unfortunately, just moving kids from one place to another for their holiday while i'm still working. I hope Avid @All Down The Line 's problems are on the way out, and that Mrs @Smiler is better! Mr @Vangro has been taking some distance with the thread, as he had warned he would do when his perception of the songs would become too negative for constructive output, which I understand and respect, but one could fear our critic salad would miss some vinegar, which for a Kinks thread would be most unfortunate. Thankfully, the Vangro part seems to have found a new impersonation with Avid @Boom Operator - Huck, now speaking for the prosecution. Greetings to the new Devil's advocate! (Or lucid outside observer according to the point of view). This introduction is a way of making seem my opinion on The Road (the song) less blasphemous. I discovered it a few weeks ago, together with the album, that had been in the "why would I even bother to think about listening to this some day" zone for several decades. I love the opening, I like the general idea, but 3 things prevent me - for the time being - to really connect with this song: 1) the sound, that I find horrible. I suspect this was the first Kinks foray into 100% digital recording. It bears all the flaws of the amateur digital demo (ie, it sounds like my demos). There's something absurdly thin in the way it is equalized and mixed (if I could be more specific I would not be so lousy at recording stuff). And as it has been stated and as I stated before, the drums are just as absurdly over-mixed as they were under-mixed on Life on the Road. 2) The words: a bit too direct, too blatantly self-referential - the verse with all the song titles is, indeed, a bit embarrassing to me. 3) The music. It aims at epicness, but it relies a bit too heavily upon I-V-vi-IV (much like Life on the Road, but less subtly) to my taste. I sympathize with the endeavour, but I don't feel the execution is up to the artistic ambition. To me it sounds like a lesser re-make of Life On The Road: same kind of construction (slow intro then rocking composite part, slow again, etc), though longer; same kind of topic, but treated more directly and less evocatively; less energy. I may change my opinion in the future after repeated listenings, I guess the song deserves another chance. If only one of the aforementioned 3 flaws was absent, it would have made it instantly for me. But as it stands I find it difficult to relate to this song. I love the transition to the live part, though. And Destroyer is a great opening, full of promises that unfortunately were not entirely fulfilled in my opinion. It really makes me appreciate this song. And the "Is anyone on medication" followed by a huge cheer is one of the funniest and pythonesque moments I've heard on a live record. Exhilarating start. I for once believe it's best that they didn't include older hits, since I think the new songs, most of the time, fail to compare favourably to the old ones as far as compositional skills is concerned. The harmonic beams show more, if that means something to someone. Of course this is entirely subjective. What makes me think of this is that Apeman, who I deem to be one of the weakest hits from the 60s-70s era, almost shines in the middle of the other songs. Also, it's mercifully shortened and skillfully played, and this is by far my favorite version of it. I've never been a fan of Come Dancing in the first place either. This sped-up version, with Henrit in rythm box mode, does nothing to make me like it better. I don't think anything about the live version of Art Lover. To me it's musically borderline generic on the album, and this version is no better. I mean, this is the kind of song I like on some days, not on others.
When You Were A Child Dave sings normally, and once again, he's got a nice singing voice. He should've used it more! As others have said, it's very '80s, which I like, nice tune, which I like, relatable lyrics, which I like, no aliens, which I like. Suitable for human as well as dogs hearing range which is nice too. With all that said, it's one of my favourites on the album, and will always make my Dave Davies playlist. Maybe even should have been the first single choice for the album... Think Visual (album) Despite this being (I think) my second studio Kinks album, it has become neglected and has drifted slowly down in its Kinky rankings. This run through has likely cranked it up quite a few notches - in that I've currently got Think Visual and Word Of Mouth as my favourite Kinks '80s albums, though I'm not sure in which order. UK Jive has always previously held the top spot (twas my first love of course). Been away for a week on holiday, so some catching up to do!
No More Mysteries I have the Fragile CD, which has spent many years languishing on a shelf. Now I'm wondering why! This is a very nice little number from Dave, with perhaps a nod to Mr Harrison. Perhaps the chorus could do with a little development. Wait Well, this is rather good too! Not sure about the wailing bit in the middle. I wouldn't say no to Dave taking these demos, extracting the vocals to use with new, more developed backing from a full band.
Bright Lights Leaving this until UK Jive Give Something Back Another good track from Fragile. Perhaps a little long when he gets to the spoken section. The song is sung nicely, and there's a nice bridge to give a little variety, but as has been mentioned, it's perhaps a little repetitive. It's only a demo though, so well done again Dave, it's usually one which has made the playlist for me. Losing the synths for a more guitar based sound works nicely for me.
Hope I don't remember this one at all from the CD, so thanks to our glorious Headmaster for bringing it back to attention. I think its OK. Dave gets a bit strainy with the vocals. It could sit quite nicely though on a Dave follow-up album from Chosen People in about 1985. Maybe that was the plan... Is there a hidden ten track lost LP lurking amongst Dave's recordings for The Kinks and these demos...? Long Lonely Road I think it could be growing on me... Actually, I think it has grown on listening again. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd like Dave to take these demos from Fragile (and maybe find some more down the back of the sofa) and extract the vocals and place them with new band instrumentation to create a new album proper.
Live: The Road I bought this album very early on in my Kinks collecting. Possibly the week after buying UK Jive on its release day. It was on cassette and from upstairs at WH Smith in Macclesfield. It was incorrectly priced so was looking forward to a cheap album, but sadly the staff said 'someone must have put the wrong cassette case on here' and wouldn't sell at the cheap price on the label. So I paid full price. At this stage I didn't own One For The Road, or indeed anything from earlier than this release than the hits. I didn't know these songs apart from Come Dancing and Apeman. Always felt it was something of a snub to London Records/MCA to not give them more 'hits' on the live album. Over the years of course we've heard that Ray wanted a double album (and film), but the label said no - and I wouldn't be surprised if Ray instead of cutting the album to a live hits album, trimmed it to a live non-hits album. For an album I now own on LP, CD and Cassette, it never gets listened to... And it has the unique feat of being my only Kinks album on cassette. I could listen to it in the car - if I still had the car I had twenty five years ago. Maybe if and when it's re-issued, it'll be the full double album that Ray always wanted. The tracks must exist. Is there also a professionally filmed live visual concert I wonder. If so, it's getting rather late in the day to get some sales from a DVD / BluRay release...
Cher @Fortuleo, I'm touched that you noticed my absence, thanks for thinking of me. Normally I'm reticent to share personal info, but with such a tight-knit group I feel compelled to share - sadly my sister passed away unexpectedly last weekend - she was six years my senior and she was the inspiration for my life long love of art and music. When I was young I remember there was always music coming from her room, from bands with evocative names like the Clash, Talking Heads, and Bob Marley and the Wailers (which in my young head, I imagined to be a grizzly sea-captain on the deck of a ship in rough seas, with his harpoon-wielding mates holding steadfastly behind him ). The first 8-Track I owned was The Doors' Absolutely Live, which she gave to me, and still last year we were having fun texting each other passages from The Celebration of the Lizard . As a single mother she raised 3 amazing, kind and talented children; she was an attorney, a poet, a novelist, a musician, an illustrator; she wrote children's books, she loved literature, film, philosophy, nature, science and history; she was a gardener, a birder, a designer, a builder; we shared a passion for all of these things and more, she was my soulmate, she was always interested in what I had to say, she always encouraged me to write and create, she always made me feel loved, and I'm going to miss her terribly. And, regretfully, I never had a chance to talk to her about the Kinks! I'm still 10 pages behind you guys, and I'll be away most of next week for her services, but you can be sure I'll catch up when I return. In the meantime lets all rock on in her memory . RIP Laura June.
Big hugs to you from France, avid @Luckless Pedestrian , and long live the memory of Laura June in your hearts. My sister also introduced me to pop music, she's been gone for 27 years now.
My condolences to your and your loved ones, Avid Luckless Pedestrian, on the loss of your sister. Please don’t worry about catching up. Do what needs to be done and we’ll keep a place for you in our virtual table.
So sorry to hear about your loss @Luckless Pedestrian. My condolences as well. I know how tough it must be to lose someone you were so close to. She sounds like she was quite a woman.
So sorry to hear. Those were some lovely words about her that you shared with us. Much love to you and your family.
Sincere condolences @Luckless Pedestrian and i thank you for generously sharing some words of the richly lived life of Laura June, i trust it is of some comfort to reflect on all she gave.
Destroyer I am not an unreserved fan of the studio version but I do find this more enjoyable. It is humorous and still rocks so still hammy but in a better way as it's more organic to consume.
