Thanks for sharing your story, @StefanWq, and my condolences also on your loss. Such a sad situation. I'm glad "Good Day" can bring good memories too. Speaking of @pablo fanques, yesterday I was feeling down and had the "will this depression last for long" line from "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" going through my head. So I put on Disc 2 of The Kinks Anthology, and after a while "Time Will Tell" came on (I didn't post back in those days, but for the record it's one of my favorite Kinks outtakes - I would take this over half the Kontroversy tracks). I was curious what response it received here. I went back months on the thread and was reading comments (not everyone shared my enthusiasm), when I saw @pablo fanques's name where he had liked someone's post, and my heart just hurt. I never met him, but it was like being reminded one of the family was no longer here. Thinking of you, Pablo, and again, condolences to you too @DISKOJOE on the loss of your friend. Are the lyrics the same as the Stones' "Sitting on a Fence"? Because the title doesn't seem to match.
I thank you Stefan for sharing this emotional story and should take a tip from you to share rather than discard any of mine should they arise!
I originally used the stewedandkeefed moniker on the IORR website and was regularly on the site in 2015 before basically moving the name and my attention to SHF in 2016. When the Stones played the Belly Up, someone showed up on the IORR forum claiming to have been there. The dude was probably not there but proved pretty clever at representing he was. It was an amusing read. I probably have a couple of Los Lobos shows recorded at the Belly Up.
I was reading that too fast expecting that review of that Stones show and for a moment thought I read Lost Lesbos and am pondering how it would go down......er as a band name of course!
I love that song too, but I put it on my improved Kinda Kinks album, not on my improved Kontroversy, for whatever reason. Same feeling for Pablo Fanques. Well, it's more like a free inspiration. To be honest I heard the song only once (in the waiting room at my son's somethingtherapist's), shazamed it and copied the youtube link without listening a second time. It seems to me he made the song about staying with his girl without being married, and the chorus is "we're just fine like this", as I think you have spotted ("nous sommes très bien comme ça"). So it does convey some of the original's meaning of staying in the middle, but with more of an emphasis on social non-conformism (for the time). Speaking about waiting rooms, does anybody knows "Waiting Rooms", by a guy named Simon Warner who never released much else to my knowledge ? I was thinking about it this morning as I listened to my improved Storyteller album, as "Art School Babe" reminds me of Warners's "Wrong Girl". "She reads thick books. 'Oh yeah', I lied" always seemed a striking example of effective lyrical concision to me. Most people will be rebuked by the vocal style, but once you accept it it's an incredible record. Kind of Iggy Pop meets Ray Davies and the Divine Comedy. Wow, it's not even on youtube. It seems to be on Spotify though. You mean the Quis?
Belly Up pt4. All Day And All Of The Night. This is a solid rock version, but Dave gets caught between keys. When he is high it's too high for him and when he's low it's too low for him. I think he really should have modulated the key to suit his voice. Money (That's What I Want). It seems so odd Dave singing this track with the angle of many of his lyrics, but he really tears it up here. David Watts. We roll straight into David Watts from Money. The verse's almost come across almost like speed metal... you could kind of hear it being somewhat of an Iron Maiden gallop. Unfinished Business. Here we get the post Kinks track from 1996. No matter what one thinks of this, positive or negative, Dave is pouring everything he has into this show... and there's always something to be said for that. I think to some degree though, if he had held back slightly at certain points, modulated a couple of songs into different keys he would have been more successful in the delivery. He does well on this, but you can hear he has just about burned himself up. Passion and some good lead breaks. You Really Got Me. We open slightly oddly... is it an edit? I'm guessing it's an edit. 46:27 All Day And All Of The Night 48:52 Money (That's What I Want) 51:48 David Watts 54:44 Unfinished Business 1:00:09 You Really Got Me
Belly Up. So interestingly this was recorded about 8 months before the Bottom Line gig, and it doesn't really compete with that. If I had time I'd check out whether Dave adjusted the key of any of the songs, or if he just happened to be in better voice in November. It is also quite poignant that he released this so many years later, and after his stroke. We get the Fractured Mindz release in 2007, which seemed like he may have rushed, and/or struggled with it to some degree... and understandably so, I don't mean that as a criticism. Then we get this release of a gig from 1997... then the next year in 2009, we get Around The Galaxy, which is another gig from 1997. Belly Up April 29th 1997 Around The Galaxy April 30th 1997 Bottom Line November 26th and 29th 1997... Dave seems to have such a unique solo catalog... How many artists have released so many live albums and demo albums, with a catalog this size? When we consider Bug was technically only his fourth solo album, and there were nearly 20 years between 3rd and 4th... it's an interesting catalog, and quite odd. I'm not a huge fan of this album. I like it well enough, but it seems slightly redundant, and the Bottom Line gig is still the yardstick for a Dave live album
Belly Up Part 4. Dave starts strong and ends stronger. The finale is what I would expect. An emphasis on Kinks klassics and the guitar that makes them among the greatest rock n roll records ever made. Dave throws in a heavy cover of Berry Gordy's "Money" between "All Day" and "David Watts" to end the main set. I have expressed my ambivalence about Dave's voice but I was blown away by his commitment to his vocals. Sure he does not have as strong a voice as his brother but he owns these songs when he sings them. The encore brings the one slower song in this segment (and the only solo song) before giving the audience a taste of the guitar pyrotechnics that make "You Really Got Me" what it is. "Unfinished Business" works well as a change of pace in the otherwise pretty intense finale. This recording reminds me of an early Elvis Costello & The Attractions show. One song after another with limited dead air or between song banter but an intense commitment to the performance. The whole show runs about an hour but it is all music. Great show Dave!
Belly Up to Dave’s bar for part IV: ADAAOTN: As usual, Dave plays a grinding and blinding version. No complaints, although the Rock Bottom version is better. Money: Great song. …when the B€@+/€§ or The Baby’s play it (yup, I m a John Waite fan, go ahead and sue me!), but nope, don’t like it here and haven’t gotten excited once when Dave plays it, whether solo or with The Kinks. I think it benefits from the snappier workout it’s gets from the two B bands I mentioned earlier. Next… David Watts: …although that’s a nice transition into DW and a fun little version this is. Dave sounds like he is pogoing as he sings and I bet the crowd is pogoing along with him. Unfinished Business: This one didn’t totally knock my socks off in its studio incarnation, but it was good enough to make my playlist. It’s not bad here either, although I might have swapped its position in the set list with Imaginations Real, playing this slowie earlier and using Imaginations Real in the encore to show he could keep the energy up towards the end with his own song. That said, nice solo in this one Dave! YRGM: Shortest version in history, but somehow still great. Not sure why we get only a 50% version as the final song, perhaps they needed Dave off the stage for the next act?
Belly Up Part 4 ADAAOTN: Dave messes up the lyrics in the opening verse, and seems to decide to have a bit of fun after that, even throwing in a bit of "Hello I Love You". Plenty of energy, but ragged - which applies to most of the rest of the show from this point. Money: Fair enough version but doesn't grab me a lot David Watts: Again it's getting a bit ragged now, but the energy carries it through Unfinished Business: Didn't know which song this was until it got to the chorus - I'm not sure this version shows the song to its best potential but you can't deny Dave's passion in the performance. YRGM: Seems a bit...unfinished? or even unstarted? I think the band's just about done by now, so a good point to end. I think that "Rock Bottom" is the gold standard for Dave live albums, and this one isn't going to change that. It would undoubtedly have been fantastic to be there, but probably wouldn't bear repeated listening as much as RB.
Love how All Day and All of the Night starts during the Thin Line outro. It promises to be another demented version… but weirdly, I then find it almost “tamed”. Dave keeps the “demented” thing for the next segue, between Money and a punkified David Watts. Unfinished Business is… ragged, but not in the best sense of the word. The Lennon/Rutles/Oasis descending chord sequence sound a bit out of place in an otherwise garage-oriented set. In the chorus, they “forget” the best chord change and the vocals are barely there. Not too crazy about hearing half of You Really Got Me either, but it's made me realize that a lot of the song's power lies in its structure. I thought it was the riff, or the solo, or the swagger (all present here). But as in every great Ray Davies songs, structure is key(nks).
Thanks for this remembrance. L.L. sounds like such a good guy. I'm glad you have those happy memories to carry you through your loss.
Thank you! I think we’ll effort to see these guys. It’s at a beautiful amphitheater and as I get older, nostalgia can be a balm for my soul. That’s a great line about America being their own cover band! It reminds me of a recurring line from the TV show, The Middle. They are frequently going out to catch The Little River Band Cover Band at a local pub.
Belly Up! is a fine document but it also shows that Dave couldn’t sustain the same level of fury all the way through. This starts with a bang, then after a dozen tracks high on adrenaline, it slowly loses its drive and power, until there's nothing left in the tank. Maybe that’s the whole point, giving it all, almost too much, and then coming home and crashing down onto the sofa, belly out.
Belly Flop? Pt.4 Away from Ray's Revolving Round House we do now solely get All Dave And All Of The Night and i like his Doors lyrical quote & believe they paid a kinky settlement of Money (That's what Ray wants) but it didn't save this cover. I wish he could be like David Davies but he's now vocally pooped Watt while the set still has Unfinished Business to Kwietly Komplete and he Really had me until the finale ended before it began though at least he didn't adlib Day-O like Ray-O!
David Watts @ Belly Up One thing that carried me so easily to Jam, Ramones, Clash etc in '77-'78 etc was "this sounds like the Kinks!" This version of David Watts really helps bring out that connection. Great energy, sounds like a band of grungy inspired sweaty angry hormonal 20 year olds. There's always a Waite song or two at the core of my "guilty pleasures" mixes. I mean In Your Eyes, come on.
