A quick disruption to say that The Journey, Pt. 1 is out now and…. Alas Dead End Street is in mono (on the streaming version, at least).
And, to his kredit, Ray never fails to remind his (solo) audience of that fact. That's the whole point of the monologue routine about You Really Got Me from a couple days ago (and Storyteller): Dave bringing them into rock'n roll History. Dave, not anyone else, not even Ray himself did that. I think Ray knows it better than anybody else. He knows what Dave brings to the table as a musician, as a rock'n roll force, by being a perfect second at times and a master tormentor at others, enabling him one day, frustrating him the next, empowering him but always challenging him, being a first lieutenant constantly on the verge of mutiny. It fascinates me no end.
Nicely put. And now that you define it that way, it has me thinking how I applaud how Ray constantly credits Dave, acknowledges his brother. He has the self esteem/self-confidence to know that to recognize someone else doesn’t diminish his own accomplishments. (Unlike …well…unlike someone else that I’m a fan of.)
Belly Up, Part 2: Even Bellier Imaginations Real This is one of those songs that I haven't committed to my memory yet, in that I can't just think of the song. But whenever I do hear it, it comes back to me and it's pretty solid. Perfect use of Dave's voice for this song, not too strained. Wicked Annabella Dave has always owned this song, ever since he did the studio vocal in 1968. So here we have Dave singing his song, but it's actually Ray's. This is pretty heavy version, and has all the essence of the original too. What a treat it would've been to hear this one live. Dave's vocal is great, especially on the bridge (just before the bass run). Has Ray ever sung one of Dave's songs live solo? Strangers Opening line vocal issue aside, a very nice rendition of a stunning, Klassic song. Not sure what was in the air the day that this song came to him, but I would love a hit of that someday. Too Much On My Mind Dave picks the right Ray songs to almost make folks think this could have been a Dave song this whole time. Really well done. Dave sang this when I saw him (it was 2018, not 2019 like I said the other day). It was great then, and great here too. The song must mean a lot to him. There were certainly some things going on in Dave's mind in the mid-60s...
Perhaps I reading too much into this, but the official Kinks pages describe this as: "an exciting new 2CD, 2LP and digital anthology compiled by The Kinks" Not, "by Ray Davies, Dave Davies, and Mick Avory." But, "by the Kinks"
Truth be told my "Doo doo do do!" was quoting the end of line parts of She's Got Everything though it did occur to me that it might be thought of as Heartbreaker despite being short one doo to make the 5th syllable. I see what you are saying with the Ray-Dave to Mick-Keith analogy and whilst I don't think it's a great comparison when broken down to explicit reasoning/s there is more than a kernel of truth as a generalisation.
Yes i get you as i nearly wrote a post chronicling Dave's set enmeshed with @Brian x's miraculous presence at said show from a parallel time universe. For a start Ray would be sitting on his sofa!
Recently @DISKOJOE brought up the subject of bizarre things happening at sporting events and I experienced one tonight in person at an AFL match at the Gabba in Brisbane. This Morning i was surprised to be asked by a SHF member to attend a match tonight between Brisbane & Melbourne. Below is my pre game fireworks shot however the more spectacular lighting effect occurred part way through the 3rd quarter there was a flash and a bang as all the floodlights went out. The players left the ground for an uncertain amount of time and a ground official told me he had only seen this happen once in the 15 years he had worked here. Once the crowd sing-along of Country Roads & Sweet Caroline got going I couldn't tolerate waiting for the resumption which did eventually come some 20 odd minutes later.
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) has such incredible and unpredictable drum patterns; I always fail trying to drum along on my dashboard.
You must of had a wild time last night. Is singing “Sweet Caroline” a thing for Aussie Rule fans as it is for Boston Red Sox Fans?
Still listening, still loving it! Imaginations Real: Cool solo Dave! I like this version even better than the studio version. Wicked Annabella: Doesn’t beat the recorded version, but it’s not bad, but it just never really quite ignites for me . The crowd sounds pretty happy to be hearing this song though, maybe if I’d been there . Strangers: ignites! Too Much on My Mind: Fabulous song, fabulous version.
"Belly Up" continues at fever pitch - it's not the most technically accomplished gig in the world and it's ragged in places, but the end result outweighs any shortcomings. "Too Much On My Mind" does full justice to the song, "Strangers" finds Dave's voice seemingly unchanged from 1970 in places.
I sincerely hope not! I discovered that Country Roads was the theme song for one player so perhaps Sweet Caroline was for another and that is why the stadium played it over the PA. They would pause it so the crowd could scream and physically bang out each Bah Bah Bah which was my cue to exit the stadium.
Despite the rough sound of this recording, being an official bootleg after all, the intensity and passion these guys are giving it puts all that sound quality snobbery aside. They’re giving it all they’ve got. Glad Dave pulled out a song (Imaginations Real) from his 3 album solo side projects from the early 80s. He also did In You I Believe a few times during these shows which I would love to hear from one of these shows being a big fan of that song’s chord progression with the add9 payoff chord in that. I notice during the guitar solo section at the end of Imaginations Real and Wicked Annabella amongst today’s songs and other songs performed on this release and the other live albums, Dave gets into his zone with some great in-the-moment soloing that I wish would keep going for much longer (guitarists here will understand what I'm talking about), but he keeps them short and concise, just like when he had solo spotlights in The Kinks. Keep them wanting more, eh? Well, I do! Too Much On My Mind here has an outstanding vocal from Dave. Love it. Being the lead singer in addition to being the lead guitar player is a totally different dimension that Dave has adapted to very quickly, no doubt being such an experienced performer by this stage. I would suggest he may not have been able to pull this off earlier in his career if the Kinks had broken up around 1980 let's say for argument's sake. Opinions? (I know some of you here have been in this role in your respective bands and can maybe elaborate on that a little more. As the drummer I was never the lead singer, but I had a lead vocal here or there in several bands. One band we did The Beatles Don't Let Me Down with me singing lead while playing the usual drums. Thankfully no tapes exist of this that I know of. Sometimes I wish Iphones and social media existed back in those days. Other times I am extremely grateful.) I’ll also give another shout out to powerhouse drummer Jim Laspesa here. He is an example of a drummer who really drives a band. I want to point out something in Susannah’s Still Alive from yesterday that grabs my drum dude ears. Listen to the verses and notice how he is pounding out eighth notes on the bass drum (enhancing and enforcing the piano part of this section) while doing only quarter notes on the accompanying ride cymbal (snare on the usual 2 and 4 backbeat). This is not difficult, but it is very unusual and goes against a drummer’s usual ingrained instinctive playing. It’s not a pattern that you would normally do and you have to actually plan and think about this pattern beforehand and while you’re doing it as it is not a natural pattern that you would revert to out of nowhere. 99% of the time it’s the other way around. Eighth notes on the ride and syncopated halves, quarters, and a few eighth notes in various combinations on the bass drum. Again, not hard at all but I love these little unusual drum things that are probably only noticed by drummers. Very cool to my ears anyway. He’s plays a left-handed kit too which, as a right hander, always fascinates me visually watching in a symmetrical sense if that makes any sense. Two of my all-time favorites are lefties playing left-handed kits, Phil Collins and Ian Paice. Finally, I noticed this release has a greater ratio of Dave versus Ray written Kinks songs than any other live release from Dave to date: 8 Ray, 6 Dave. This is discounting Dave solo compositions and incidental titles (like The Kiss) and counts Ray songs as Ray songs whether Dave or Ray sang the original version. Every one of these live albums released leaves out several songs performed at each show or series of shows the album is covering. For example, this album opens with She's Got Everything, but it's likely this was the third song performed after I Need You and Beautiful Delilah as most, if not all, shows from this year opened with. This was still 1997 when he was relying on past material as opposed to including new material of his own. It's interesting that when we get to the live albums after Bug, the new songs he included in the shows from this album replaced Kinks songs written by him, but he kept around the same number of Ray written Kinks songs in the set, again regardless of whether he or Ray sang the original.
Bell(y) Boy Its not my imagination but real that Dave's live sets are starting to strike me as truly wicked (and not just as I seem to listen at perpetual midnight) and no longer feel like a stranger with too much on his mind has grabbed Ray's mic!
Belly Up (part two) I am trying to listen to Belly Up the way the audience heard it back in 1997 who hadn't heard several live albums by Dave already. After all, this show from April that year was one of the first gigs Dave did as a solo artist. So far, it is such a great show. Both Dave and his band have such energy and commitment to each song and the set list is full of great surprises. "Imaginations Real" is a fabulous song, it really deserves to be discovered by more listeners and it would have deserved to be a big hit back when it was new. If I had been at the gig and realised that "Wicked Annabella" was the next song I would have been really happy. It is such a eerie, mysterious and fascinating song and Dave's singing gives it so much character. "Strangers" is one of his best Kinks songs, again a song that deserved to be a hit and this live performance also showcases the more reflective side of Dave's songwriting. "Too Much On My Mind" would have been another surprise at this 1997 gig. Given the vast number of songs in the Kinks catalogue, I wouldn't have expected that this song would be included in the set list at this show. I really like that Dave has seemingly picked songs that he particularly likes rather than just going the easier route of doing more of a greatest hits kind of show. (And speaking of surprises, I find it interesting that neither "Death of a Clown" or "Living on a Thin Line" are on the Belly Up CD) What a superb Dave gig this is!
Interesting question.... and it's a hard call .... I certainly don't think he would have been confident enough in the seventies.... He may well have been confident enough in the mid to late 80's, but probably not in the early 80's.
Belly Up pt3. Dead End Street. Certainly a Kinks classic, and Dave clearly enjoys this track, as does the crowd. Milk Cow Blues. Interestingly the opening riff makes me think of Vietnam Cowboys, which we ran through just the other day in real time. This is a solid version, and we get a bit of jamming and rock fun from the guys.... I'm Not Like Everybody Else. Dave hammers the opening chords, and then we move into the song proper and we get a really nice melodic lead. When Dave gets around to singing he stops playing the guitar to add some dynamic variation, and the organ holds fort beautifully, then we burst into the chorus. Dave pushes the vocal a bit, and we have some good results and some not as good. Living On A Thin Line. This opens with a searching feel, and then drops into the beat. This is a measured and thoughtful version of this song, Certainly it doesn't beat the studio version, but this is a solid live version of the song. 29:33 Dead End Street 32:15 Milk Cow Blues 36:18 I'm Not Like Everybody Else 41:45 Living On A Thin Line
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Starstruck promo video/ Days video/ Sunny Afternoon TOTP Barry Fantoni - Little Man In a Little Box Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 The Long Distance Piano Player Nov 1970 - Jun 1976 Feb 1977 - Dec 1983 Dave - Guitar Player 1977 The Kinks Punk Christmas Artificial Light or. mix Life Goes On OGWT 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 Jan 1984 - Dec 1993 Ray - Musician mag - Q questions Dave - Guitar 1990 1994 - 2006. Mojo 1994 Mojo 1995 Dave - Guitar Player 2002 Musician May 97 Guitar World 97 Quaife Holland 2004 1998 Ray Davies Flatlands live - Visions Of England edit - VOE complete Kompilations 2005 Kompilations 2005 Americana (Hey Big Fat Cowboy) - live Jane Street Otis Riffs Filter 2003 The Gap - pt2 - Yo La Tengo - Jane Street Feb 2006 Ray Davies - Other People's Lives - album Things Are Gonna Change (the Morning After) - Alt After The Fall - Leno Next Door Neighbour All She Wrote Creatures Of Little Faith Run Away From Time The Tourist - ac live - ACL Is There Life After Breakfast The Getaway (Lonesome Train) Other People's Lives Stand Up Comic Over My Head Thanksgiving Day - alt mix - VH1 - Conan Kompilations 2006 Ray - The World From My Window Austin City Limits After The Fall Next Door Neighbour Run Away From Time ACL - Pt1 Pt2 Pt3 Long Way From Home 1970 - Lola SDE mix Q interview Mojo Entertainment Weekly Word Mag Sold On Song - live Sold On Song Pt1 Sold On Song Pt2 S.O.S. pt3 Ray live in Berlin 2006 Barrymore Theater 2006 Mar 2006 Dave Davies - Kinked God In My Brain 2006 Ray gets top honour at BMI awards 2006 GQ magazine 2006 Dave - Too Much On My Mind Kompilations 2007 Jan 2007 Dave - Fractured Mindz This Is the Time - edit/remix Free Me All About Me Come To the River Giving Remember Who You Are The Waiting Hours Rock Siva The Blessing Fractured Mindz Oct 2007 Ray Davies Workingman's Cafe - EPK Vietnam Cowboys - Demo You're Asking Me Workingman's Cafe - live Morphine Song - live In A Moment - live - Letterman Peace In Our Time No One Listen Imaginary Man - live One More Time The Voodoo Walk - Demo Hymn For The New Age The Real World Angola I, The Victim Americana: A Work In Progress Ray Davies Live At the Roundhouse/Electric Prom Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 2007 Word mags interviews with Ray Sunday Times Culture Mojo Uncut 2008 Rolling Stone 2008 Stop Smiling magazine - pt2 Performing Songwriter 2008 Aug 2008 Dave Davies Belly Up - Interview - Pt 2 Part 2 Part 3 2009 Fretboard Journal 2010 Ray on Alex Chilton 2010 Come Dancing play Spin 2010 Uncut Dec 2010 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 Travelling Montage Travelling With My Band - I'm Going Home - You Can't Stop The Music 2022 remixes pt 1 - part 2 - part 3 2022 Dave - Something Else - Josh Meyers Podcast 2022 Dave Davies - 21st Century Creem articles - Mar 70 - Mar 71 - Feb 72 - Nov 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 Rare Silent Video Dave Interview 2022? newspaper Rob Kopp has made his 1999 Kinks discography 'Down All The days Till 1992' US Chart Stats The Music Industry Machine Album flow chart Album poll graph Mick Avory - Shut Up Frank -Lola - We Gotta Get Outta This Place 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 Jakko Jaksyk
I like how All Day and All of the Night starts on the Thin Line outro… but that’ll be for Monday discussion. Everybody Else is fantastic, Milk Cow Blues fast and furious. And no psych-trance alien music or blues rock interludes this time around! This all sounds like what it is : a “tavern” show by a rather splendid little rock’n roll outfit, lead by a rather splendid rock’n roll legend.
Dave's Belly Stance P.t.3 As ever this dead end street isn't and crosses to the other side though personally i'd have the blues waking to milk cow but always love the next number like everybody else and that's no thin lie!
