"Holiday in Waikiki", BTW, is one of the few songs on the album with a stereo mix that's not so bad. Kronikles seemed to pick the good ones: "Fancy" being the other. My recollection is that as elsewhere, the stereo sound fx in Holiday in Waikiki are wild-synched, probably not on the 3-channel multitrack itself, and are completely different from the mono mix. But they are fine. The overdub of the toms in the intro of the stereo version is much louder, threatening to drown out the rest of the band. In other spots, the overdub of the slide guitar threatens to drown out Ray's voice. But.... It's OK. It's still fun to listen to. Waves pan around the mix.
Enjoy both of these songs immensely. House In The Country just motors along, Ray's vocal drips with disdain and that solo by Dave takes everything into fifth gear. Perhaps the song I enjoy most on the album. The garagey Kinks sound is inspired here. Holiday In Wakiki is just as much fun, perhaps a hint of a Beach Boys parody? The first person, innocent abroad narrative, lets us see straight through the fake grass skirts. Both of these artful rockers have a great eye for detail that further establishes Ray Davies as a master social observer. Able to do the ethereal stuff then snipe at everything within his range as the mood takes him.
Yes, a track from the album wouldn't have been played then. Even with Lola, they kept the Coca-Cola lyric for the album track. Also, the stereo has a longer intro before the vocal starts.
I don't have a whole lot to say about this. If "Party Line" is the counterpart to "Connection," then I guess this is the album's counterpart to "Miss Amanda Jones." The main difference is that the subject matter is an upper class male instead of an upper class female. I think it's safe to say that this definitely got some melodic inspiration from "19th Nervous Breakdown," which was high on the charts when it was recorded. The brief guitar interlude at the two minute mark consists of the first measure of a well known marching melody, which I don't know the name of. Two-step rhythms of this nature have been making frequent appearances ever since Chuck Berry's 1955 hit "Maybelline," and probably before that as well.
Deep cuts off albums on the BBC would have come into play with the launch of Radio 1 in September 1967, where the more ‘underground’ orientated late night DJs on the new stations roster (the archetypal example being John Peel) were given free reign to play whatever they wanted. Before that I think more leeway may as you guessed have been allowed for The Beatles, but likely no one else. So, indeed being a 1966 release, the album cuts from Face To Face came too early to have much hope of being heard on the BBC (The Kinks also didn’t do ANY BBC radio sessions in 1966, a weird gaping hole in their otherwise regular attendance there), and tbh even after 1967, they weren’t exactly seen as a hip album act by those kinds of DJs anyway, so their album cuts didn’t get much/any rotation even post 67 when it was in theory possible. I get the impression it was a different story in the US, where esp from Arthur on, The Kinks seemed to pick up some decent album orientated airplay.
House in the Country This one is newer to my ears than today's 2nd selection. But I do like it a lot. It's got a nice 50s feel to it with a touch of Beatles thrown in. Love Ray's vocals, esp the "Oh yeah, oh yeah, well all right" and the music following it. Solid tune. Holiday in Waikiki Any song that starts with big drums and adds in a twangy guitar is always going to grab me. I think this is such a fun song. I think I tend to enjoy the Kinks "novelty" songs. Rock should be fun and silly as well as the opposite. this band knows how to cover the rock music gamut, huh? I love the story it tells even if it's only a few glimpses of his holiday/vacation. A favorite on this album for me.
Is “rawer” even a word? Seemed to make sense. Wonder if House in the Country was recorded late in the day after hours already in the studio.
I visited Clissold Arms a few years ago and had a couple pints. They had a big book that you could write in a message for Ray and Dave. I don't know if they ever read it, but it was very cool to be there across the street from where they grew up. It was a highlight of a trip to London. Lots of great Kinks memorabilia in the pub.
Your post reminds me of a pub crawl/Kinks self-guided tour of north London that I did with my niece once. We hit the Archway Tavern, The Flask, and others (one where a postie, his ex-wife and his friend who was with his ex-wife now kept buying us drinks and my niece wondered why we ever left there) and finally the Clissold Arms. By that time you can imagine what kind of state we were in. I remember a lady in the Clissold Arms regaling me with stories of how Ray and Dave would play there. Being three sheets to the wind I found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying, to my chagrin. Good times, anyway!
I have a quasi-plan that I'm heading to London a year from now and doing a Kinks Krawl. The Clissold Arms will definitely be a visit.
Can I just say again that the quality of writing analysis in this thread is jaw-droppingly good? What is it with Kinks fans? I wish the "official" rock critic writing on this stuff was nearly this good.
I'm certainly no English Grammar scholar, but I think "more raw" might be correct.... but I work on the principle that if I know what you mean, it works for me. I make words up all the time lol
Been to The Flask several times. Not sure about Archway. A good friend we stay with lives right by The Flask and that’s his favorite pub. I didn’t know it had any Kinks relation other than being close to where they lived. I think Ray still lives in that area? A beautiful part of London.
The Kinks did a photo shoot at The Flask. The Archway was completely renovated by the time I was there in 1996 or so and inside looks nothing like the Muswell Hillbillies cover. It is a beautiful part of London. We visited Highgate Cemetery but were too cheap to pay to see Karl Marx's grave. What is cool for me is that my parents lived in Highgate when I was born. They emigrated to Canada when I was four months old. In my reading about the Kinks, I found that 2 of the band (Dave and Pete?) shared a house one street over from where my parents used to live.
One gets the sense that the Stones and Kinks were in a bit of a dialogue, for sure....along with several others. This was one of the most amazing years for rock releases ever. What was the timing? Here's Beatles/Stones/Dylan/Kinks/Who/Pink Floyd/Yardbirds/Beach Boys. I could keep going but I'm stopping there. Release dates: August 30, 1965 "Highway 61 Revisited" September 7, 1965 "Positively 4th Street" (incl mispress with early "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?") Sept 17, 1965 "Kwyet Kinks" (w "Well Respected Man") Sept 25, 1965 ""Get Off Of My Cloud" October 1 1965 "Evil Hearted You" Oct 11, 1965 "I'm a Man" (Yardbirds) Oct 29 1965 "My Generation" (single) Nov 8 1965 "Beach Boys Party" Nov 15 1965 "Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds" November 22, 1965 "The Little Girl I Once Knew" November 26, 1965 "Kink Kontroversy" ("Till The End of the Day"/WHATGTG" released a week earlier) December 3, 1965 "Rubber Soul" + "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out" December 3 1965 "My Generation" (UK album) December 4, 1965 "December's Children (And Everybody's)" December 21, 1965 "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" February 4, 1966 "19th Nervous Breakdown" Feb 14 1966 ""One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" February 25, 1966 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" February 25, 1966 "Shapes of Things" March 4, 1966 "Substitute" March 21 1966 "Sloop John B" April 14, 1966 "Aftermath (UK)" April 1966 ""Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" May 7, 1966 "Paint It Black" May 16, 1966 "Pet Sounds" May 27, 1966 "Over Under Sideways Down" (single) May 30 1966 "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" June 3, 1966 "Sunny Afternoon" June 20 1966 "Blonde on Blonde" July 15, 1966 "Roger the Engineer" August 5 1966 "Revolver" (Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine released as single, same week) August 26, 1966 "I'm a Boy" Sept 23, 1966 "Have You seen Your Mother Baby"/"Who's Driving Your Plane?" October 1966 "Face to Face" released (completed June 1966) Oct 10, 1966 "Good Vibrations" Oct 21 1966 "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" November 18, 1966 "Dead End Street/Big Black Smoke" Nov 11 1966 "Ready Steady Who" December 3, 1966 "Happy Jack" (single) December 9, 1966 "A Quick One" Jan 13 1967 "Ruby Tuesday/Let's Spend the Night Together" Jan 20, 1967 "Between The Buttons" Feb 13 1967 "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" March 10, 1967 "Beck's Bolero" (recorded May 1966) March 10, 1967 "Arnold Layne" April 21, 1967 "Mr Pleasant/This Is Where I Belong"(w/ "Two Sisters" and "Village Green" added to a French EP within a couple weeks) April 22, 1967 "Pictures of Lily" May 5, 1967 "Waterloo Sunset" May 26, 1967 "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
This was in my personalized Spotify algorithm today… this thread has successfully defeated the algorithm!
House In The Country-Anger, or perhaps resentment, drives the uptempo cut. That makes “House In The Country”, social comment notwithstanding, almost a break in the tension with its rolling piano and Dave’s leads. Holiday in Wakiki-Denounces commercialism in the form of an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, where everything is staged and fake and costs money to do anything worthwhile. Great guitar work, sound effects and attention to production detail
