Apologies if this has been posted before but I don’t think it has. Video with Westwood One radio broadcast audio from a couple of early 1988 dates, Apr 8 Milwaukee, WI and Apr 14 St. Louis, MO with similar sets to the Toronto show posted earlier. I have not given this a listen yet but will tomorrow. This video just randomly popped up tonight out of nowhere while looking for something else by The Kinks, but not anything from Something Else By The Kinks.
The Road Aside from the opening non-live track, the only track I really commented on, I probably won’t listen to this album much in the future. I’ve been playing catch-up at work after getting back from vacation, and didn’t really have time to think too much, in a song by song fashion, about this album. Destroyer was not a favorite of mine in its studio incarnation, but the live one is an improvement for me. For a few songs, Apeman, Come Dancing, and Around the Dial come to mind, the studio versions are much more entertaining for me. I don’t reach for live albums too often. I have a few, but of the ones I have, probably the only essential one would be Van Morrison’s It’s Too Late To Stop Now. Speaking of Van, I felt like I noticed a little Moondance like vibe underneath some of the track It. I still don’t get what the Reagan Gorbachev bit in the beginning had to do with anything, but watching the video of the song with the dancers turned it into more of a performance art piece and made it more enjoyable. As a song, lyrically, @pyrrhicvictory stole my thunder - I’d much rather listen to Tom Waits’ Step Right Up. “The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away,” and a dozen other lines always made me smile. I had the good fortune of seeing the Kinks six times that I can think of, and loved them all, but the most memorable was still the first one - the Preservation tour, which had the best of both worlds - an opening set of hits and a great multimedia, stage show. I didn’t get to see them this late in their career, the last time being their 1980 New Years Eve show, which was made a little less memorable by my having imbibed a little too much demon alcohol. Always fun watching Ray balance a beer on his head.
The insurance investigations reasoning was all Greek to me and i can most definitely assure you that if I had gone to the insurance companies office it would not have been punny at all! Wishing a sincere thanks to @DISKOJOE and all the other Avids for their support shown throughout this most stressful time at the All Down The Line house that until recently was left in Exile from logic and far from Happy!
You should blame the movers if the 1st of a 3 disc best of Taj Mahal was taken as it would surely have included the song Leaving Trunk!
Thanks @Smiler , there's too much on my mind as first i need to find someone able to organise and install some much needed drainage and to pay for that pre construction.
I don't know if you are taking the high road, the low road or the road to nowhere but come the next live album i will have no bones to pick with anyone that likes it as there's still time to change the road you're on!
Are You referring to an adult nappies potential usage down the track Mark? Edit: Silly me speed reading to catch up and thinking our Wonderboy @mark winstanley (some mother's son) had posted this!
The Road (album wrap-up): I come out of The Road feeling exactly the way I felt going into it. There are some good solid live versions on here if one wants to cherry pick. Destroyer, GTPWTW, Around the Dial all will make my live playlist as well as Apeman and YRGM. That said, I do see this as a lost opportunity. We have seen some of the set lists from the concerts these songs were drawn from, and a great double live album could have been easily compiled that would have given OftR a run for its money. I will happily take all of these good live versions mentioned above as well as the new song The Road and incorporate them into my playlists, but I would not put rush to this album on to play it straight through (like I would with OftR).
Around the World In Eighty Days. I suppose it would pay to look at what 80 Days is based on, and I also suppose that to some degree people are fully aware of the Jules Verne classic... Jules Verne . 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905 A French Novelist, Poet and Playwright In 1862 Jules got together with Pierre-Jules Hetzel who was a publisher. Among other things, it came to pass that Hetzel announced that Verne would be writing works that would form a novel sequence called the Voyages Extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages or Extraordinary Journeys), and that Verne's aim was "to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format that is his own, the history of the universe" Which in itself is quite a bold undertaking. These Voyages ended up being 54 stories/novels published during the course of Verne's lifetime. Some of the most famous of these - Journey to The Centre Of The Earth 1867 - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1869-1870 - Around the World In 80 Days 1873 All of which have been made into movies, music albums and various other forms. Around The World In 80 Days. Phileas Fogg is a wealthy English gentleman living a solitary life in London. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives modestly and carries out his habits with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club, where he spends the best part of his days. Having dismissed his valet for bringing him shaving water at a temperature slightly lower than expected, Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement. On the evening of 2 October 1872, while at the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000, half of his fortune, from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this period. With Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 p.m. that evening; to win the wager, he must return to the club by this same time on 21 December, 80 days later. They take the remaining £20,000 of Fogg's fortune with them to cover expenses during the journey. The itinerary (as originally planned) - London to Suez, Egypt Rail to Brindisi, Italy, via Turin and steamer (the Mongolia) across the Mediterranean Sea 7 days - Suez to Bombay, India Steamer (the Mongolia) across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean 13 days - Bombay to Calcutta, India Rail 3 days - Calcutta to Victoria, Hong Kong with a stopover in Singapore Steamer (the Rangoon) across the South China Sea 13 days - Hong Kong to Yokohama, Japan Steamer (the Carnatic) across the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean 6 days - Yokohama to San Francisco, United States Steamer (the General Grant) across the Pacific Ocean 22 days - San Francisco to New York City, United States Rail 7 days - New York to London, United Kingdom Steamer (the China) across the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool and rail 9 days Total 80 days To throw some sand in the grease, Fogg and Passepartout are seen disembarking in Egypt by Detective Fix of Scotland Yard, who himself is chasing a bank robber. Fogg fits the very vague description that Fix has been given, and so Fix ends up following the two of them, becoming acquainted with Passepartout on the journey to India. When they arrive in India Fogg finds out that the article about the new train track in India was wrong and it actually hasn't been built yet. Their adventures really start to grow at this point. They rescue an Indian woman named Aouda. Fix arrests them, and they jump bail. All along the journey they make gains and losses in time, as time is their biggest enemy in this challenge. After all of the challenges they end up making it back to England, Fix Arrests them when they arrive on British soil, but eventually it is sorted out, and they are released. Fogg gets to the Reform Club, but is five minutes late. Fogg is dejected and apologises to Aouda, saying he can't support her now that he has lost his fortune.... but she wants to marry him anyway. Then they realise that although they travelled for 80 days, they gained a day by crossing the international dateline, go to the club and everything is apples, and Fogg and Aouda live happily ever after, and all that good stuff. Obviously there is a stack more to the book than that, but that's the nutshell version for anyone unfamiliar, or just needing a memory jog....... Of course this novel is the basis for Ray's music we are going to look at for the play 80 Days
The Play in detail. To further try and nail down what this was actually all about, I have copied this from the kindakinks.net website. It is a write-up by Thomas Bartoldus, and all the relevant extra information of the who, when, how and where of this play. 80 Days - A New Musical (1988) Ray Davies and his alter ego Jules Verne vs. Broadway and mediocrity by Thomas Bartoldus "When you're doing ›Around the World‹ and entering the world of Jules Verne, there's no choice but to be big and spectacular." Broadway director and dramaturge Des McAnuff does not have any doubts about the extraordinary nature of a musical, which critics called one of the most lavish and expensive stage productions the West Coast has ever seen. Six years of intensive preparation had preceded the world premiere of ›80 Days. A New Musical‹ on August 23, 1988, at the Mandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego. Together with playwright Snoo Wilson (script) and English songwriter Ray Davies (music and lyrics), Tony-Award winner McAnuff created during this period a musical of 2 ½ hours length. Modern stage design with movable intermediate stages, along with extravagant properties and lavish costumes, formed a kaleidoscopic framework for not less than 40 changes of scenery and 400 changes of costumes. 173 Commedia-dell'Arte-style masks gave the 24 actors the opportunity to perform up to 200 characters of different origin. The baroque equipment supported a story full of allusions which follows the plot of Verne's novel on the outside, but is on the inside only 'inspired' by its literary model and the biography of the author who as a literary figure takes the role of the French servant Passepartout. The content: The writer Verne is in the midst of a creative and social crisis: he has to provide nourishment for his family, and publishers force him to deliver a new best-seller within 80 days. In order to overcome his writer's block, Verne decides to travel around the world in 80 days as a servant to the English gentleman Phileas Fogg - a journey which takes place only in his fantasy. Being creator and creature of his literary imagination at the same time, Verne tries, against the opposition of the fictitious cast, to present the events following the bet in London's Reform Club in an attractive manner. In the meantime, he is constantly being persecuted by a gigantic typewriter, which serves as a reminder of the peremptory deadline and the expectations of his publishers. Verne's concept is considerably shaken not only by Fogg's emotional coldness and his arrogance, but also by an uninvited travelling companion, namely the Victorian matron Mrs Fix, the mother of the detective, as well as by the haughty Indian princess Aouda, who refuses to play the part of the damsel in distress and the paramour. Along the way from London via Paris, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Yokohama to San Francisco by ship, train, elephant, and - against Verne's will - by aerostat, the travellers encounter not only characters from earlier novels (e.g. Captain Nemo), but also historical characters such as Queen Victoria, prime minister Gladstone, and the American journalist and feminist Nellie Bly. Having reached the end of the journey and the novel, Fogg, Aouda and her child finally come together in a marriage blessed by Queen Victoria, whereas Verne has to face new literary challenges. The way time is presented - not to say over-represented - as a central theme in "80 Days" hints at the apocalyptic dimension of this piece of world theatre with an imperialistic tone: Verne, Fogg, Fix, Mrs Fix, and Aouda together form a miniature portrait of the Empire, whose time finally has come. The end of the musical, which differs from its source, is an ironic swansong for the Victorian Age, trying hard to suggest that ethnic prejudices have been overcome: having received Queen Victoria's blessing, the freshly-married couple walks into the sunset, although not alone. They are accompanied by Aouda's child, symbolizing the next generation. At the end of the Empire, where the sungoes never down ("Empire Song"), there waits the agony of the 20th century. The musical combines textual and/or dialogue passages of different length with musical parts of varied character; they are used to increase the action, to interpret and to comment. The music is the motor of "80 Days". Ray Davies relates his music to Verne's narrative variety and the satiric potential of Wilson's script. Quite early he became, although an Englishman, fascinated by American musicals such as "Oklahoma!" or "Calamity Jane". His contribution to "80 Days" combines different styles of music such as military marches, ragtime, can-can, vaudeville, bebop, and raga that add up to something like the soundtrack of a journey around the world. At first, Davies was not fascinated at all when McAnuff approached him with the idea of making a musical based on Verne's novel in 1984. "I didn't like the novel. It was a bit of a travelogue." The closer he studied the French writer, however, the better he was able to recognize similarities in nature between the two of them. Davies was even responsible for the idea of making Verne himself the protagonist of the play: "I wanted it to be about Verne rather than the sort of travelogue like the Mike Todd movie. And I also wanted it to be about the Empire, about imperialism. I've always had a passion for that." The musical received mixed responses from the critics, provided these nuances were recognized at all. Ray Davies's multi-faceted music, McAnuff's directing, and the acting (Stephen Bogardus, among others), however, were well received. On the whole, it was acknowledged that McAnuff, Wilson and Davies went to the limit of what is possible on stage, but at the same time many critics viewed the play as being too cluttered to ever reach Broadway. While taking a closer look, it becomes evident that advantages and disadvantages of the production are mutually responsible for each other and hint at the sore point of any conversion of a novel into a drama: The limited space of narrative time indigenous to a musical or a drama is always in contrast to the sheer vastness of literary content. Despite good attendance figures and awards, the musical was performed for the last time on October 9, 1988, in San Diego, without making it to Broadway. Nevertheless (or perhaps just because of that), "80 Days" rises above the previous stage adaptations of ›Around the World in 80 Days‹ in terms of creative interpretation and artistic reproduction. "80 Days" - Names, facts, songs Production: La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego (USA) Music and lyrics: Ray Davies Written by: Snoo Wilson Directed by: Des McAnuff (Foto) Conception: Ray Davies, Des McAnuff und Snoo Wilson Inspired by Jules Vernes Roman ›Reise um die Welt in 80 Tagen‹ Choreographer: Dianne McIntyre Stage design: Douglas W. Schmidt Costumes: Susan Hilferty Masks: Christina Haatainen Cast: Stephen Bogardus (Verne), Timothy Landfield (Fogg), Yamil Borges (Aouda, Foto), Brooks Almy (Mrs. Fix), Don Amendolia (Fix) u.a. Performed from August 23 to October 9, 1988, at Mandell Weiss Theatre, San Diego Received awards for "Best Musical" (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle) and production, direction, acting (Brooks Almy and Timothy Landfield), scenery and costumes (Drama-Logue) First Act (Frankreich - London - Europa - Indien) "Let It Be Written" - Verne, family and publishers "The Empire Song" - Preacher, Mrs Fix, Gladstone, archbishop, astronomer, Fix "Well-Bred Englishman" - Fogg and Reform Club "Against The Tide" - Fogg and Verne "Ladies Of The Night" - Ladies, Fogg and Madame "It Could Have Been Him" - Mrs. Fix "Mongolia Song/No Suprises" - Verne, Fogg, Fix, Mrs. Fix, Cumberland "It Could Have Been Him (Reprise)" - Queen Victoria "Welcome To India" - Gouverneur and soldiers "Just Passing Through" - Fogg and Verne "On The Map (Reprise)" - Reform Club, Queen Victoria "Members Of The Club" - Gladstone and Reform Club "80 Days" - Verne, Fogg, Fix, Aouda, Mrs. Fix Second Act (Asien - USA - England) "Tell Him, Tell Her" - Fogg, Aouda, Verne, Mrs. Fix "Let It Be Written (Reprise)" - Verne, family and publishers "Who Is This Man" - Aouda "Here!" - Nellie Bly "On The Map (Reprise)" - Reform Club "A Place In Your Heart" - Mudge, Mrs. Mudge, Aouda, Fogg, Fix, Mrs. Fix "Be Rational" - Fogg and Verne "80 Days (Reprise)" - Aouda, Bly, Mrs. Fix, Fogg, Nemo, Verne "Finale" Songs which were not performed "Who Do You Think You Are" - Aouda "Conspiracy" - Fix Further Reading Thomas Bartoldus - Ralf Junkerjürgen: Une adaptation musicale du Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, in: Bulletin de la Société Jules Verne. No. 147. 3éme trimestre 2003. S. 51-53. Doug Hinman: All Day And All Of The Night. Day-by-day concerts, recordings and broadcasts, 1961-1996. London 2004. The author likes to thank Doug Hinman for press material and support, Jessica Padilla (La Jolla Playhouse) for the photos and Steve Gouveia (La Jolla Playhouse). All photos are used with permission of the La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego. translation: Oliver Bürenkemper editor: Helge Buttkereit
The Play. A boot tape of the actual play. I thought it may be nice to post this as it may give some context, or in fact entertainment for those interested in this play. It is slightly different to the Ray demos, mainly due to the actors singing the parts, and of course the dialogue, and just the fact that this is how the play ended up coming together completely, not just Ray's demo's, which of themselves are a great musical journey. 00:00:00 01 80 Days Intro / Let It Be Written 00:05:16 02 Empire Song / Our World 00:09:49 03 Well Bred Englishmen 00:13:37 04 Against The Tide 00:17:09 05 Ladies Of The Night 00:22:29 06 On The Map 00:27:20 07 It Could Have Been Him 00:29:44 08 Mongolia / No Surprises / It Could Have Been Him 00:34:01 09 Welcome To India 00:36:36 10 Just Passing Through 00:41:01 11 On The Map / Members Of The Club 00:45:34 12 80 Days 00:49:49 13 Tell Him / Tell Her 00:55:03 14 Let It Be Written 00:56:49 15 Who Is This Man 01:00:19 16 Here! 01:04:27 17 On The Map / A Place In Your Heart 01:07:57 18 Be Rational 01:10:49 19 Against The Tide / A Woman In Love 01:14:28 20 It Could Have Been Him 01:16:36 80 Days / Finale
I find it amusing to consider that at pretty much exactly the same time Ray and co were slaving over '80 Days', I was sitting at home after school hanging on every instalment of this kid friendly Spanish/Japanese adaptation of the same source, which will be familiar to most British kids of my generation. I have high hopes for first contact with the 80 Days material in the days ahead, but I'll be very surprised if there's anything on it able to top the near 40 years ingrained Proustian rush that this toe tapping theme conjures up for me:
Yes, it's an odd co-incidence, unless there's something I'm missing*.. 115th anniversary of the 1873 book? Seems unlikely. *I just checked, and while the original Spanish/Japanese 'Around The World With Willy Fog' was made and broadcast in those territories in 1983/4, the English dub did indeed debut on UK screens in 1988, which matches up with my memory perfectly: "Around the World with Willy Fog" Last Train to London (TV Episode 1983) - Release Info - IMDb
Here is the complete album again for a chance to get more familiar with it/have a listen/whatever turns your crank.
Thanks to the wonderful @Steve62, I now have a cdr of this and hope to listen to it tomorrow. It's very exciting to have some new (to me) Ray to listen to!
Currently having a listen to this live performance. I've long had a boot copy of the demos on CD, and would be delighted one day to see a cleaned up version officially released. Hoping the 'cleaned up' versions we're going to go through over the next fortnight are better than my copy, which although serviceable, could be better! I've just received in the post from the US of a CD boot of Ray's 'Come Dancing' Musical. On early listening, the performance version of '80 Days' is far superior. Ray must have so much stuff in his attic that he chooses not to release - which is of course his prerogative, but I wish he'd be a bit more free with things like this, and concert performances.
Interesting: are there many exclusive songs still on it, outwith the hits that were included and the 3 new songs that were included somewhat tenuously on the Arthur boxset?
This Jules Verne novel is an interesting beast. 1988 seems to have been the biggest year but every decade or so, someone tries to turn it into a play, a movie or a TV series, and it never fails to fail. Apart for the 1956 Michael Henderson classic starring David Niven, that is. We don't have Broadway in France, nor the West End theater tradition. We do have musicals but they're not part of the cultural fabric in the same way as in the english speaking world, with few exceptions, the most important ones coming from french speaking Quebec. We also have a hard time enjoying musicals in english, so even some of the biggest Broadway hits failed to become anything in France, or had to wait for decades before being done here successfully. You'll find exceptions too, but not too many. The weirdest part of it all for us are the "original cast recordings". I would buy Ray's 80 Days demos in a flash (indeed I have, in bootleg form, years ago). I love them, crappy sound, cheap synth et all, but it's a struggle for me to go through the youtube "play" with the singers. Same with other rock/Broadway crossovers. Some 25 years ago (was it really 25 years ago ? Nah, just 24, phew, it got me worried about time flying me by…), I travelled to New York to see Paul Simon's the Capeman. It was a great experience (my only Broadway show turned out to be one of the most legendary flops ever!), though I remember struggling like crazy because of the language and the heavy jet lag. I still love the album, probably my favorite post-Graceland Paul Simon record, but I could never listen to the original cast bootleg all the way through (despite it featuring some stellar singers and unreleased songs). I expect it to be the same when It's A Wonderful Life will happen. I'm dying to hear the demos. The play itself ? Not so much. With Ray, it's even more like that since we've had years of practice making do with some of his "incomplete" works (Arthur, Preservation 1 & 2, Soap Opera for the longest time). We know how to enjoy the music without the actual picture or performance. You can't stop the music, as the man himself said.
I don't think you're alone in that... I tried to listen to the play, and posted it because it seems like someone would want to check it out..... I couldn't stick it. I could probably watch it in the crowd at the theater, but I don't want to just hear the actors singing the songs lol
I just wanted to note that the version of 80 Days that I have has 16 songs and is just under 60 minutes long. I don’t know why there are two versions. Here is a cut-and-paste from Discogs of the track list of the abridged version: 1 Let It Be Written 2 Our World (Empire Song) 3 Well Bred Englishmen 4 Against The Tide 5 Ladies Of The Night 6 On The Map 7 It Could Have Been Him 8 Mongolia/No Surprises 9 Welcome To India 10 Just Passing Through 11 Who Is This Man? 12 Eighty Days 13 Members Of The Club 14 Conspiracy 15 Tell Him, Tell Her 16 Be Rational Edit: I think this version is all Ray Davies - no cast.
There are 16 songs, but 7 It Could Have Been Him 8 Mongolia/No Surprises are actually joined together as one 9 minute song
