Wondering where the "demon cat" came from - doesn't appear at all on the UK cover, appears on the Spanish LP cover then becomes the main focus of the US cassette!
Just recalling that I once had a used cassette of this but the felt pad fell off and I kid you not that the squeaking when played was louder than the music! I saw it on vinyl last year (sealed) in a shop which probably still has it. It was $100 and has Did Ya on it but I only remember that as it was the final track and a short title. The only cuts iam familiar with are Scattered and Still Searching from my Songs Of Ray Davies CD and I really like both especially the latter. Was Hattred a 7" Single? Can't recall the song but we'll know it related to our brothers grim! Edit: Oh yeah I knew the press and critics dissed it and I have never seen it on CD.
Japan 2 cd re-issue 2007 1-1 Opening 0:38 1-2 Wall Of Fire 4:59 1-3 Drift Away 5:02 1-4 Still Searching 4:52 1-5 Phobia 5:16 1-6 Only A Dream 5:04 1-7 Don't 4:36 1-8 Babies 4:47 1-9 Over The Edge 4:20 1-10 Surviving 6:00 1-11 It's Alright (Don't Think About It) 3:31 1-12 The Informer 4:01 1-13 Hatred (A Duet) 6:06 1-14 Somebody Stole My Car 4:04 1-15 Close To The Wire 4:01 1-16 Scattered 4:12 EP [Did Ya] (Bonus Disc) 2-1 Did Ya 4:33 2-2 Gotta Move (Live) 3:12 2-3 Days 3:25 2-4 New World 3:21 2-5 Look Through Any Doorway 3:51
I loved Phobia when it came out. Thought it was a real return to form after Think Visual and UK Jive. Scattered is fantastic.
I was driving somewhere in the USA during the summer of 1993 when I heard "Hatred (A Duet)" on the radio and it blew my mind. I loved it then and my appreciation for that song has only increased over the years. In my mind, "Hatred" is one of the best songs Ray ever wrote and one of the hardest rocking recordings the Kinks ever made. It motivated me to find a Kinks show and go - turned out to be in Easton PA - and I was glad to see such an iconic band in a pretty small venue. Of course, they did not play "Hatred" at that show (as was the case for most 1993 Kinks shows) but they did perform three songs from Phobia including "Still Searching" which I grew to really like. In my book, Phobia is a pretty good late period Kinks record - a cut above, for example, every Stones studio album after Tattoo You. Yes it is long compared to most other Kinks albums due to the CD format but it holds enough highlights to make me think of it as a very worthy record in the katalogue.
I always thought Ray uncharacteristically resembled Michael Hutchence on the cover photo, which I suspect is the reason the image was selected!
I never really thought about it before, but I have to say that I like the cover, and the seemingly many variations
Phobia, phobia, phobia. Let me think. I’ve never liked the artwork, this is a record I’ve only ever owned on CD, and the cover is too small to be arresting, you just get the tabloid satire, something deliberately “unbeautiful”. On a closer look (and if I ever come across it in vinyl), it’s an eye grabbing image, the two Davies brothers as fugitives or tracked celebrities in an end of the world scenario, think Rats in a State of confusion. I like it. This leads me to the fact that the main (= only) issue I have with this record is that it’s a CD. Too long for a single album, too short (4 songs a side) for a proper double, it meanders by nature, and creates moments of frustration, in which the listener feels trapped in limbo or something. But then, there’s always a good/great song to get you back in, up until the very end, of course. It’s the only Kinks album I bought on release. I had only four years of Kinks fandom behind me to prepare for it and ingest the whole discography, so it was completely natural, I just bought it and enjoyed it (tremendously!) without questioning its place as a come-back, even less so as a send-off. I remember getting it and listening to it in my first little studio apartment, after leaving my parent’s home. Some records, you remember where/when you bought them, the actual store you put your hands on them. But some records give you images of where/when you listened to them. Phobia’s the only Kinks record that does that for me, probably because I didn’t go back to it too often after that. It’s a kapsule in time for me. Was it only a dream?
The headline on the newspaper that Dave is holding: "MAXWELL'S [something] BAIL SCRAMBLE". I thought this would have been a reference to Robert Maxwell, but I don't think he was ever actually arrested before his death in 1991, and wouldn't have needed bailing out? Any other ideas?
Maybe Dave received the paper from time travelling aliens and the ‘bail Maxwell’ headline concerned Roberts daughter 30 years hence?
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 - Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 Nov 1970 - Jun 1976 Feb 1977 - Dec 1983 Starstruck promo video/ Days video/ Sunny Afternoon TOTP Artificial Light or. mix Morphing docu of Hotelroom sessions + interview Ray + live KinKs in Vienna 1978. One For The Road - the lost videos 1981 A Woman In Love (chorus girls) Oh Tokyo live in 1982 - lyrics Album flow chart Live In Frankfurt in 1984 Nov 1984 Word Of Mouth Do It Again - video - live 84 - live 87 - SNL - interview Word Of Mouth - SNL - live 84 Good Day - live 84 - 12" Living On A Thin Line - live 84 - Dave 2001 - Sopranos Sold Me Out Massive Reductions Guilty - live 89 Too Hot - single Missing Persons Summer's Gone - Full length Going Solo - original album edit The Dave songs up to this point Kompilations part 4 - 1984 The Arista Years Kompilations Part 5 - 1985 extras - 69, 73, 77 Supersonic Rocketship alt mix Celluloid Heroes mono Moving Pictures alt mix Interview Magazines - 2 - 3 - 4 Jul 1985 Return To Waterloo - documentary - Fan Soundtrack - Movie Intro Return To Waterloo - alternate - info - promo video Ladder Of Success - the late mix Going Solo Missing Persons Sold Me Out - original lp mix Lonely Hearts - album version The Good Times Are Gone/Not Far Away Expectations Return To Waterloo/Voices In The Dark - alt mix The Great Lost Kinks Movie -Village Voice 1985 April 1986 Absolute Beginners/Quiet Life June 1986 Come Dancing With The Kinks Kompilations pt 6 - 1986 Ray promoting Think Visual Musician Magazine Interview record EC Rocker Magazine Ray 86 Interview People Magazine Ray guest VJ Nov 1986 Think Visual Working At The Factory Lost And Found - video - live 87 - excerpt and questions Repetition Welcome to Sleazy Town - live 89 - Ray Interview with Sue Video Shop Rock And Roll Cities - Video - MTV How Are You? - video - tv 86 - video Think Visual - live - live 87 Natural Gift Killing Time When You Were A Child Ray and Howard Stern 1987 Kompiles - Hit Singles - The Kinks Are Well Respected Men Chicago 1987 Pete Quaife interview Jan 1988 The Road - Setlists The Road - video - Ray on Letterman 88 - single edit Destroyer Apeman Come Dancing Art Lover Cliches Of The World - video Think Visual Living On A Thin Line - video Lost And Found It (I Want It) - video Around The Dial Give The People What They Want You Really Got Me Apr 1988 Massey Hall Apr 1988 Milwaukee 1988 80 Days (complete album) Around The World In Eighty Days 80 Days the play - bootleg audio - review - L.A. Times 80 Days demos Let It Be Written The Empire Song Well Bred Englishman Against The Tide Ladies Of The Night On The Map It Could Have Been Him/Mongolia/No Surprises Welcome To India Just Passing Through Who DoYou Think You Are? 80 Days Members Of The Club Conspiracy Tell Her/Tell Him Be Rational ----------------- Who Is This Man? Here A Place In Your Heart The Play and Songs 1988 Kompilations 1989 Kompilations Oct 1989 UK Jive - Ray interview Musician magazine 1990 Aggravation - live 1990 - live 1989 - lyrics update - ext version - Edit How Do I Get Close? - Ray live - video UK Jive - live 1990 - Ready Steady Go - alt mix / int post Now And Then - alt mix What Are We Doing? Entertainment War Is Over - Ray Down All The Days - video Loony Balloon Dear Margaret Bright Lights Perfect Strangers Million Pound Semi Detached UK Jive era tours Offenbach 1989 1990 Rock Hall Of Fame 1990 Kompilations - Lost and Found 1991 Kompilations 1991 Did Ya ep Did Ya - Ray and Ned I Gotta Move Days New World Look Through Any Doorway - lyrics - live at the bottom line 97 Sept 12th 1992 Live at Parc de La Courneuve 1992 Kompilations 1992 Weird Nightmare - Mingus doc 1993 Kompilations 89-93 Club Vegas - chat Mar 1993 Phobia Kinks live TOTP 1994 Dec 94 Stuttgart Ray Storytellers live 1996 2001 Dave Davies Fragile Violet Dreams No More Mysteries Wait Bright Lights Give Something Back Hope Long Lonely Road Open Up Your Heart Dave Creeping Jean live 2004 2005 Thanksgiving Day Ray live on Conan Obrien 2006 Ray gets top honour at BMI awards 2006 Dave - Too Much On My Mind 2010 Come Dancing play Oct 2018 Dave Davies - Decade - interview If You Are Leaving (71) Cradle To The Grace (73) Midnight Sun (73) Mystic Woman (73) The Journey (73) Shadows (73) Web Of Time (75) Mr Moon (75) - Why Islands (78) Give You All My Love (78) Within Each Day (78) Same Old Blues (78) This Precious Time (78) 2019 Kast Off Kinks with Ray 2022 Muswell/ Showbiz box 2022 Celluloid Heroes Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues Creem articles - Mar 70 - Mar 71 - Feb 72 - Aug 73 - Apr 74 - Jul 74 - Aug 75 - Feb 76 - Aug 77 - Apr 78 - Aug 78 - Oct 78 - Jan 81 - May 85 - Apr 85 - Apr 87 - May 87 - Jun 87 - Jun 88 Rob Kopp has made his 1999 Kinks discography 'Down All The days Till 1992' US Chart Stats The Music Industry Machine Mick Avory Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street Rasa Didzpetris Davies John Dalton John Gosling Jim Rodford Ian Gibbons Andy Pyle Gordon Edwards Clive Davis Bob Henrit Mark Haley - info
Obviously, terms like "not any good" or "all bad" won't apply to any Kinks album - there's always something to grab onto. But when I eventually bought this album a few years after its release (in one of those ever-present CD dollar bins that were legion by the mid-90s), I thought it was overall a bad album. To put in context how far I had drifted from the band by this point, like many others here, I was well aware of "Scattered" - had seen the video and heard it on the radio. One for the ages. That alone should have been impetus to pick up the album for old times' sake. Not this time. Starting with the uneasy feeling I had with Think Visual and progressing more on each album, I had no urge to buy new Kinks product by this point in the 90s. Ray just seemed to be losing the thread with each passing album: showing flashes of his brilliance all along the way, but constructing albums that had way too much filler. I think "turgid" was the word that came to mind. It just didn't feel right. Still doesn't. I haven't listened to the album in years and am curious to hear it now. I've incorporated four of the tracks into my playlist, which isn't a bad take. But it felt like there were no fence-sitters in the remaining tracks!
‘Phobia’ Preliminary Thoughts I hereby (tentatively) declare this the best Kinks album since ‘Misfits.’ After having discussed two albums, back-to-back, from which I haven’t selected a single track to grace my Phase III playlist (‘…Semi-Detached’ made it but it isn’t an album track. Oh, ‘Loony Balloon’ would have made it if it was on Apple Music so that’s one track) my expectations weren’t very high. And then all of a sudden I’m introduced to this wonderful cornucopia of (mostly) delights. I get to actually sharpen my pencil, look thoughtful and carefully consider multiple options to add to my list. There’s a few duds (due to trying to fill up the cd space) but, overall, a really good album. And the 5-song end run ? Wow! I’m looking forward to the discussion of this gem.
Gawd, the Kinks „Phobia“…what an album. Essentially it’s the Kinks album to end all Kinks albums. My impression is that this time Ray tried to consolidate all experience that he accumulated since 1979’s „Low Budget“ to deliver the ultimate latter day Kinks album. There’s your arena rockers, the elegant noir ballads and a couple of sunny moments. To top it off though, this time he decided to make it an extended album like Michael Jackson’s „Dangerous“ with way too many, way too long tracks. Why are there so many songs? - Because there’s plenty of room on a CD that could carry 74 (or 80) minutes. Why are the songs so long? - That’s the real big problem. They’re all a couple of choruses longer than usual. Mostly around 4 minutes in Ray decides to let his brother play a guitar solo. But then apparently you can’t end a song on a solo, so to drive the song home there's yet another couple of choruses, and all of a sudden you end up with lots of songs that verge on the 6 minute mark. All that said, „Phobia“ has a special place in my heart. A Kinks album from 1993 seems pretty surreal to me. I was 15 and very awake as far as releases go, but I never noticed that album at the time. I remember being very excited about Paul McCartney’s „Off The Ground“ (who was most unfashionable in 1993) and I try to imagine I had bought „Phobia“ at the same time, I just can’t. I got hold of „Phobia“ in 2000 from the local library. It’s just the kind of album a library would carry. I had read some pretty cruel reviews from the internet (which was in its infancy). Most notably the review from George Starostin had me curious. A worst album ever? From The Kinks? From 1993? Gotta hear that! I remember expecting the worst music ever, but my initial impression was: What’s the problem? Those are still high quality melodies that other songwriters would kill for. Also as ever I tend to champion those underdog (in this case almost underground) albums that can’t defend themselves. The cover gives us a taste this is going to be all doom & gloom, leaving behind a sort of a dark legacy. It also looks to me like a punk rock demo with the cut & paste logos. And then there’s that strange Davies brothers photo on top, Ray guarding himself from that grim scene with a newspaper, while Dave is posing like a cool rocker.
I've been thinking about this a fair bit... I actually think the songs are very good to excellent across the board.... but there is an issue with it as an album in some ways. This is a long album, and I have no particular issue with long albums, but what I noticed when I went to look at possible alternate tracklistings and such, I think I noticed what may be the problem. We have a stack of very good songs, but they are predominantly moderate tempo, ballad type songs, and 16 of them back to back (generalising a little) isn't the most flattering presentation
