Belly Up Part 3 I listened to Dead End Street yesterday thinking it was part of yesterday's session. It is a strong version of a Kink klassic in my book. "Milk Cow Blues" has bluesy grittiness and Dave's guitar is a real highlight. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" begins with some more guitar from Dave which reminds me of Neil Young. Dave's vocal is pretty good as he makes this song his own. Interesting that both Ray and Dave both chose this song as a solo vehicle. "Living On A Thin Line" is probably my favourite Kinks song with a Dave lead vocal. Here it has a nice brooding feel to it as it begins. Collectively, these four songs are all Kinks related and I am sure this segment would please any hardcore Kinks fan who attended a Dave show from this era.
Belly Up Segment III: I think Dave’s vocal on ‘Dead End Street’ is very Ray-ish. ‘I’m Not Like Everybody Else’: If I wasn’t staring at Dave’s belly and the ugly sofa I’d think the intro on this is Neil Young & Crazy Horse. ‘Living On A Thin Line’: nice! I don’t mind a bit of patter in between songs but, in a rocking set like Dave’s, the no-nonsense-let’s-move-right-along-into-the-next-song approach is the way to go. I’m enjoying this.
The official Kinks Youtube channel appears to be doing official uploads of more of the promo videos. Here's Dead End Street: a shame they haven't been able to find an upgrade/better source of the original film, but good to see it finally on the official channel:
'Do It Again' definitely looks better than previously widely available versions, less beige n' washed out:
I don’t know if Dave played France back in those days, I don’t think so. I sure hope he didn’t, because listening to this furious set, I’d kick myself if I was proven dumb (or clueless) enough to miss it!
Belly Up, Part 3 Dead End Street I do find it interesting that Dave chose this as likely the most-Ray of all Ray songs that Dave has often performed live. It wasn't among their biggest hits, but yes, it was a single, and a favorite of hardkore Kinks fans. It doesn't give any opportunity to shred a solo, or sing as beautifully as Too Much On My Mind. But, he does a nice job with it, and the band is serving him wonderfully with those "Dead end!" backing vocals. Milk Cow Blues I suppose this is Dave's favorite blues song the old band did? Seems to be showing up on multiple Dave live recordings. Perhaps it is a rather straight-forward blues shuffle for the band to play, and he knows he sounds good on the lead vocals here (just like he did on the original recording). I'm Not Like Everybody Else I was actually listening to the Journey: Part 1 compilation this morning (streaming), and this song came up as track 12, after So Long. These are the final two songs on CD1 (described as "Songs about becoming a man, the search for adventure, finding an identity and a girl"). This particular CD has a great flow to it, about getting that girl, some of the struggles of a relationship, and then the defiance of going off on his own (So Long) because after all, he's not like everybody else. It's such an anthem song, and both Ray and Dave know how this can connect to fans in a way that most other songs by most other bands simply could not. This is a very good version, almost seems like a hybrid of the original and the 90s live version. It's got that Zorro-like intro. I specifically remember that Zorro comment from, what is now, nearly 2 years ago, but I did have to search and find out that it was Sir Avid @Fortuleo who made that perfect comment when discussing this song in May 2021: Ray's renditions of this song live... no Zorro riff intro. Dave's renditions? Zorro riff intro. Ray knew that was Dave's calling card, and so did Dave. Living on a Thin Line Solid version of a song performed at a time before it was broadcast into millions of homes via the Sopranos. The drummer, the bass player, and the band as a whole sounds tight on this, with good backing vocals too.
Day three of Dave’s big belly. No weak links here by my estimation. I think Dave acquits himself quite well on dead-end street, giving it a little bit more of that rough and ready rock ‘n’ roll punkish attitude that the song requires (as compared to some of the earlier live renditions that we have looked at). Milk Cow Blues really comes across well. I was not a fan of the studio version and it did not make my playlist. Maybe I need to go back and revisit it, but for whatever reason this version really has grabbed me. It could be Dave’s fantastic soloing throughout. I’m not like everybody else steam rolls in next. As others have mentioned, I too thought I was suddenly listening to a Neil young song when Dave kicks in that opening solo. This version is a bit sloppier than some of the earlier live versions that we have heard, but that doesn’t bother me, this is a rip-roaring version nonetheless. Living on a thin line is my weak link for the day. For a band that has demonstrated time and time again their ability to reinvent and improve a song live, I have not really thought any of the live versions of this song, including today’s version, come close to the studio version. Perhaps the studio version is just so perfect that they can’t improve on it.
I think the production and arrangement of the studio version is what really pushes it over the top as a song. It's terribly difficult to recreate that in a live environment
Stream of (un)consciousness thoughts (it’s Sunday somewhere). It seems the cover of Belly Up! has elicited a fair amount of fun response and some shrugs but there’s one aspect about it I think is being overlooked if not outright missed. The release of this album with this cover shows that even after suffering a stroke and going through the intense mental and physical recovery process (which he was still in at this time in many respects let’s not forget), releasing this photo to the general public as an album cover showed that Dave had a sense of humor and humility and was still keeping a positive attitude about life despite his ordeal and situation. He could still poke self-deprecating fun at himself at the expense of himself. As has been mentioned this release was strictly a limited print run only available from his website, never intended or available at retail outlets or online stores, and my guess is less than 1000 of these were actually printed, maybe far less than that, so Dave’s thought might have been “frac it, let’s have some fun with this” by showing a photo of himself passed out with several things on that table that may have contributed to the stroke itself. Maybe this photo was staged due to the name of the venue once it was decided to release parts of this show a decade later, but that is actually irrelevant really. This also follows in the post-stroke footsteps of Fractured Mindz where I think we also overlooked or even missed the humorous (and cathartic) side of that release. The above opinion reinforces, at least for me, that Dave at this stage and age of his life is comfortable in his own skin and how he presents himself to the public. He knows who he is and never puts on any false fronts or façades and never hides behind any shields. We may not understand his fascination and beliefs in the extraterrestrial and out of body experience stuff, I certainly don’t, but he clearly does, and he’s relaxed in presenting that aspect of himself to the public. And he’s comfortable with the music he is doing and releasing and having no second doubts or anxieties. Dave is exactly who we think he is and he’s quite cool and confident in his public persona. He’s no imaginary man and never pretends to be. “Belly up to the bar boys, the drinks are on me.” He’s not even checking his wallet to see if he can cover it. He already knows he can’t. Fascinating fact: Of course, as partners in what turned out to be a three-decade career together and still an ongoing business, the family aspect is a huge reason why they each turned out the way they did as people, but good thing Dave and Ray were brothers in real life, otherwise they could have never existed in the same band. One guy is imaginary and living in The Real World, the other guy is real and living in a World Of his (Our) Own. You decide who’s (whose) fooling who.
This version grabbed me too, and it was definitely Dave’s guitar playing and enthusiasm. I went back and checked the Bottom Line version, and that wasn’t too shabby either. Both are much better than the studio version, but then again Dave was 18 when The Kink Kontroversy came out. More than 30 years of practice couldn’t hurt. Over the course of this thread I only appreciate his playing more and more.
This was another fun listen, in all it's ragged and raucous glory! Felt like I was in a small club or bar, hearing some balls to the wall rock n roll. I had a blast listening at home & woulda been rocking n rolling seeing a set like this live from Mr. DAVE. Thanks for posting the upload Michael. Sure wish I could purchase or find the cd somewhere. Maybe someday.
Belly Up (part 3) First, a correction... in my part 2 post about "Belly Up" I commented that the CD didn't include neither "Death of a Clown" nor "Living On A Thin Line". I sadly don't own this CD and was looking at the track listing on Discogs to see which tracks were coming up and "Living On A Thin Line" isn't listed there, but obviously it is on the CD. Sorry about this mistake. In any case, this 1997 show continues to be great. I really like the version of "Dead End Street". It is obvious how much Dave cares about this song, both he and the band give it 100% commitment and energy. I am also amazed how natural it feels to hear Dave sing the lead vocals on it. "Milk Cow Blues" has never been a favourite of mine. Possibly this is due to me hearing it for the first time almost 30 years after it was released. To my ears, it is a generic blues tune that was included on The Kinks' debut album to make up the numbers. Hearing it on Belly Up doesn't improve my opinion of it, but clearly the audience loved hearing it. The version of "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is nice to hear, but it also feels a bit rushed and I am not too keen on the "shouty Dave" vocals. Compared to the version on Rock Bottom and also on other Dave live albums the version on Belly Up comes up a bit short in my opinion. I am glad I was wrong about "Living On A Thin Line" not being included on this album. It's a superb version of a superb song and compares well to the Rock Bottom version.
Belly Up Part 3 This is getting better and better. "Dead End Street" is proving to be a surprisingly effective live track for Dave to put his mark on, and it's followed by a raucous "Milk Cow Blues" which effortlessly rolls back the years. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is delivered in awesome fashion again. "Living On A Thin Line" keeps up the high standand up.
Something for free form Sunday: the Sorentinos 2007 tribute song ‘Ray Davies Day’.. this was the OPENING TRACK on their album ‘volume 10’ which is a pretty bold gambit imo, starting your album with a song that says ‘let’s listen to an entirely different artist for the rest of the day!’
Very cool! I hope Ray got the key to the city! And thanks for the new videos. Good to see all this action around our heroes.
I don't think we did, it was in the back of everyone's… mindz throughout the bonkers discussions. But your point still stands : all immediate Dave post-strokes releases are about cathartically celebrating the "up-ness" of things. So yeah, dressing up, thumbs up, belly up, amps up, anything "up" was good, and clearly, nothing "down" was allowed.
I think it’s interesting that we’ve been listening to Ray and Dave playing shows and at the top of their games. Fun to conjecture what the Kinks might have sounded like, set-list choices and the band members if the brothers could have come to a truce at this point? @Fortuleo ,I have a chance to see America over in Louisville this summer. Do you reckon they put on a good show? And one last Free Form nugget, Fenner Castner, the drummer on the in-store Kinks tribute I posted a couple of weeks back, is from Bowling Green. He played in some early bands with Bill Lloyd and moved to Nashville, where he played with Jason & The Scorchers among others.
