I almost feel the opposite from how I felt about the songs yesterday. I may have preferred the live versions of the OPL songs to their studio versions yesterday. I also felt that Ray was more invested in performing the new songs, than the Kinks songs. Today, I prefer the slower more atmospheric studio versions of the two OPL songs over their live versions. This time Ray is clearly invested in his performance of 20th Century Man. It’s certainly not just a perfunctory performance of a Kinks fan favorite. The unexpected dramatic pauses and other changes make the song, surprisingly fresh. I’m sure I would have been thrilled to see this show live.
20th Century Man: I think I've mentioned my triangulation theory before, when hearing a song out of its normal context can reveal qualities that previously had remained hidden, so that one can finally locate the essence of its virtue and evaluate it properly. Early on in my Kinks exploration I came across this live version of 20th Century Man and it helped cement the song's excellence in my mind - I love the genuine and infectious rebellion in the performance, and that the director generously allows us guitarists a few seconds to observe close up how Ray executes that fantastic riff on the fret board before once again locking in on his face. Edit: I also got a kick out of how Ray starts explaining what Over My Head is about and then just gives up ... as we know from our discussion, there's a lot going on in that song!
I look at that guitar player and wonder if he's thinking “oh god, I’m taking the place of Dave ****ing Davies, what am I doing ?” He's good, no doubt. But those are big musical (as well as mythological and symbolic) shoes to fill…
I was going through the Austin City Limits videos this morning to catch up and the main thing about them was that it jogged my memory about when I saw him in Boston that year. Most, if not all, the songs were also played there: Ray Davies Setlist at Orpheum Theatre, Boston I think that generally, it’s a good mix of OPL material and Kinks classics, well performed by the backing band, who seem to be at least 30 yrs. younger than Ray, and sung quite well by Ray. Avid Pyrrhicvictory, welcome back. I noticed you lurking around for some time and I was going to PM you, but I didn’t want to bother you, thinking that you’ll come back in good time. Your observations and opinions are welcome here anytime.Don’t worry about coming back too late, just bring more pizza and beer .
Hopefully not catering to @The late man ’s taste. “My favorite beers are those that beer amateurs despise, that is all the insipid beers from hot countries, the Greek Mythos, Bier Lao, Indian King Fisher or Chinese Tsingtao, that qualify as cat's piss, as we say in France, for real amateurs.”
Never leave any compromising written testimony, my lawyer said! I should have listened! Welcome back to intermittency @pyrrhicvictory !
Ha ha. I gotta know these things in case we have the big thread party. I’ll have a cooler ready just for you.
I agree. Yesterday's songs improved or equalled the studio versions, but I didn't care for any of these live renditions. The backing singer was unnecessary and the songs come across as very mediocre. I love "20th Century Man" on Muswell Hillbillies. I think it's one of Ray's great songs, but I don't seem to like any of the live versions over the years. They got it perfect in the studio.
Over My Head Run Away From Time 20th Century Man I've listened to these without the visual, and it tends to show up weaknesses more than with the distractions of the visual. As a concert performance they are great, but in particular, 'Over My Head' is better in its studio incarnation. Much more going on. That's not to say the new songs don't work live, they do, and interestingly (for me) these are two which were not performed on the UK tours, at all to my memory. A highlight is the chat from Ray between songs. I certainly appreciate the fact that we have roughly half of 'Other People's Lives' available in live audio/visual performances here. That's something to be celebrated. I still want that missing 'Things Are Gonna Change (The Morning After)' though.
Agreed that these renditions don't add much to my appreciation of the songs. And I couldn't appreciate 20th Century Man much more than I already do anyway.
Austin City Limits I am going to embarrass myself because until this week, I had only seen a few clips of this performance, and I thought he was performing in Washington, DC . Kudos to that set designer! Fooled me at quick glance. I am really enjoying seeing these OPL songs performed live. The two Kinks openers were different sounding enough, as to not try to recreate the sound of the Kinks, but rather play a song from the Kinks. I think they worked well. After the Fall was fantastic live, but I think I preferred the studio versions of Next Door Neighbor and Over My Head. Ray’s voice is strong on Run Away From Time and he’s really enjoying performing that one and it works really well. 20th Century Man, the studio version is the ultimate for me (the first version I ever heard). But the song is so good, as it builds, that I love it here too. Ray’s shouty vocal on some of those “I’m a 20th century man” lines before the pauses… his voice breaks just a bit, and sounds the same as it did 36 years prior. Quite incredible. I’m thinking about his “Yeah, really” comment at the start, as if he figures many in the crowd can’t believe that he would name the album with a Muswell Hill / Hillbillies pun. That strummed riff after the opening bridge… shows that Ray hasn’t lost his guitar chops. This performance of 20th Century Man is great, and I would have loved to see Ray perform this live like this, but it won’t replace the studio version for me.
Sorry for the late reply, but I knew there had to be an exception to that but couldn't bring it to mind, and it only just hit me.. Soap Opera!
The Tourist. The band starts the track, and while the band grooves, ray announces that while they groove he is going to change his shirt. This is a solid live version, to some degree you can hear that Ray has lost a certain amount of his voice... nothing major, but that is one of those things about aging... Having said that though Ray adds a nice little interlude where he gets to ham it up, and add a dramatic dynamic change up to take us into the revved up outro.
A Long Way From Home. Here we have Ray revisiting the classic Lola vs Powerman track, that I believe we assumed was an ode to Dave in some ways, during those days where Dave was somewhat lost and wandering. Our female backing singer comes back out to join Ray, and they sound good together. It's short and it is sweet.
The Getaway (Lonesome Train). For me this comes across really well in this setting, and the lead guitar augmentation works really well... and still makes me think of Dire Straits, Water Of Love to some degree, though very different songs. We get a nice little lead break section. I really like this version... I like the studio version too, but this live version breathes a little and adds to the atmosphere really well.
Today’s star should be A Long Way From Home, dedicated to Dave, one of the best “deep cuts” of the katalogue, as @donstemple made plain clear a number of times. This version's nice, but the sweetened backing vocals are… too sweet. I dearly miss the passionate high-in-the-mix Dave voice. So I guess, the two slow-burn Other People’s Lives are the winners of the day. Tourist is great, with the instrumental break gaining new power in its live form. But my personal favorite is The Getaway. You can see Ray loves the song and feels it. The opening guitar lick is fantastic, and the guy nails it in terms of feel, mood and tone. For all our Australian friends, his name’s Mark Johns, and he’s played with everyone, from Lou Reed and Jeff Beck… to Withney Houston and Enrique Iglesias.
"The Tourist" / "A Long Way From Home" / "The Getaway" Three new songs from Ray's current project (edit - two plus a klassic -still waking up). On "The Tourist" I like Ray's "chummy chum chums" and the spoken segment that follows before the band comes in with some real power. The ballad "A Long Way From Home" is performed beautifully with some nice vocal accompaniment. "The Getaway" is also gently performed (I get a real Hunky Dory feel from this performance). Once again, the backing vocals provide a nice touch (definitely different from Dave). I also give Ray credit for not leaning too heavily on his Kinks past and getting out and promoting his current record (quite convincingly).
The Tourist - great. A Long Way From Home - brilliant. The Getaway (Lonesome Train) - amazing. My critical side is giving way to cautious hyperbole, if those two words can be paired. Ray and his band are tight and well-rehearsed but they also seem to be enjoying themselves, which makes a big difference in an audience's appreciation of a live performance. I've only seen a few Austin City Limits shows - Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Plant and now Ray Davies - and they have all been terrific.
"The Tourist" A very good version, with Ray clearly having a new shirt very much to hand for a quick change! With its rising and falling dynamics this song was always going to work well in a live setting, and it doesn't disappoint here. "The Getaway" This is the pick of today's crop - Ray may have struggled with some of the higher notes in "The Tourist", but he's just about note-perfect here. The guitarist nails the mood exactly, and the bassline holds the track down just as effectively as it does on the studio version. This one is as good as, if not better than the album track. "Long Way From Home" No, it doesn't have the power of the 1970 original, but to be able to pull out a gem of a deep cut like this shows the depth of the katalog. No need to abridge this one as it's done within three minutes. One of those songs that you could probably only have dreamt about hearing in a live setting in 2006.
“Ragged and inspirational…the spirit of the Kinks lives on.” ‘The Tourist’: “drinking with my chummy chum-chums!” ‘A Long Way From Home’: beautiful. Right in the alt-country sweet spot. Note on Austin City Limits audiences: I don’t know what is in the water down there but the audiences are great. Respectful.
‘The Getaway (Lonesome Train)’: Beautiful. Ray’s vocals, guitar…the tinkling piano, organ. This is a terrific band. The bassist…and the drummist (for Mark and his buddy!). Listen to that audience! Quiet. No obnoxious assholes. Just a bit of in-rhythm clapping near the end.
A Long Way From Home (Live) Have I made it that obvious too many times how much I adore this song? I'm sorry, I can't help it! This was my golden discovery nearly 25 years ago. This little gem of an album track. This version is nice, but nowhere near the original for me. The thing that makes that song for me is Dave's high and at times imperfect harmonies, and how the brothers voices just blend together so well. This version is re-imagined a bit to fit the sound of his alt-country style (that seems to be the term floating around here by my fellow avid @Zeki, so I will go with that!) around this time, and seems like the "and you think..." chorus (?) is brought down an octave (?). But it's missing Dave. A lot. I wonder what inspired Ray to pull this one out of the deep cut (sorry, kut) vault... I am still glad he did though. Those audience members were darn lucky to hear this. Not sure how often they played it live, but the only one I can find on YouTube is from November 13, 1970 at the Fillmore West, San Francisco: The Tourist / The Getaway (Live) Oddly, Ray seems to have some vocal issues on the higher notes on The Tourist, but sounds great on The Getaway. Perhaps just for the lack of higher notes? Out of these two, The Getaway with winner today. The guitar sounds great, both on the kind of open chords in the background, and then in the lead solo part. He's not trying to replace any of Dave's parts here, so I think he has a bit more freedom? The groove of the song is perfect for a live setting, because the band can extend this as needed to give Ray a bit of a break (to change his shirt, for example, or just dabble on the the guitar a bit near the end). Oh to see this era of live Ray...
“The Tourist”/“Long Way From Home”/“The Getaway”: More live goodness from the Austin City Limits session. That instrumental beginning of The Tourist reminds me a bit of “Philly Dog” by the Mar-Keys and Ray’s voice is slightly ragged, but it’s a good live version nonetheless. To hear “Long Way From Home” is such a treat, Dave or no Dave and The Getaway is another good live song. The two OPL songs were also done live in the Boston concert that I saw.
