Martial arts may not have been the right term, some kind of ancient battle-type movie maybe - I know I've heard this type of soundtrack music before somewhere!
Hollies ? For Certain Because, Evolution and Butterfly are gorgeous records, especially the one in the middle, with the arresting Stop Right There, one of my favorite "lost songs" from the sixties. Graham Nash singing. (did I say I'd try to keep my freeform instincts in check ? Well, I failed, but you made me do it!!).
Three absolute masterpieces. I tend to agree that 'Evolution' is the best, but it's a very high bar they're at here. A shame the next album was the 'Hollies Sing Dylan' (a big seller, but after the self-penned trio above, a big drop. They pick up again with the next two - again written by the band - 'Hollies Sing Hollies' and the much better 'Confessions Of The Mind' ('Moving Finger' in the USA for some reason). But they were a different sounding band once Nash departed. He's touring close by me in the autumn, can't decide whether to go...
We Are The Ancestors There's an eerie, spooky feel to this track. It's a piece of music that could fit into a night-time scene in a sci-fi movie. The robotic voice adds a sense of something ominous and sinister. A strange but fascinating track.
I imagine that by that time (late '68 -'69) it may have been more appropriate to instead refer to that Liverpudlian group as The Quarrel Men.
We Are The Ancestors Pretty insistent these Ancestors and not a little foreboding like some in-laws! Obviously this is a key part of the story that needs to be played out but it doesn't engage me as my mind just drifts off into space.
Yeah, not getting much out of this one, with the pitch shifted down vocals. I’ve liked some of it, but not this one.
Mirrors. We open with some glistening wind chime type sounds and a solid synth pad. Then we get atmospheric, soundscape stuff. Then it moves into a nice melodic synth/new age kind of direction. It ends up being more like a link track than anything, as far as I can tell.
The Ravens - Ooba Diooba Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Long Tall Sally at the Cavern Club Starstruck promo video/ Days video/ Sunny Afternoon TOTP April 65 Beat review Barry Fantoni - Little Man In a Little Box Dead End Street video Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 The Long Distance Piano Player Nov 1970 - Jun 1976 Apeman video Sitting In The Midday Sun video Ray video interview 1973 Soap Opera Tour Spring 1975 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 Don't Forget To Dance video Dave and Dick Clark Jan 1984 - Dec 1993 Ray - Musician mag - Q questions Feb 87 RockBill Sep 1989 East Coast Rocker Dave - Guitar 1990 Do It Again video Pulse mag May 1993 1994 - 2006. Mojo 1994 Mojo 1995 Dave - Guitar Player 2002 Musician May 97 Guitar World 97 Quaife Holland 2004 Heroes Of Rock live in Germany 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 Feb 2006 - 2009 Feb 2009 Dave Davies Around The Galaxy I Need You She's Got Everything Look Through Any Doorway Susannah's Still Alive Creepin Jean Love Me Til The Sun Shines Milk Cow Blues Imaginations Real Wicked Annabella Picture Book Strangers Too Much On My Mind Death Of A Clown Get Back In Line I'm Not Like Everybody Else All Day And All Of The Night Unfinished Business You Really Got Me Around the Galaxy June 2009 Ray Davies Kinks Choral Collection Postcards From London - Kate Nash Days Waterloo Sunset You Really Got Me Victoria See My Friends Celluloid Heroes Shangri-La Workingman's Cafe Village Green Picture Book Big Sky Do You Remember Walter? Johnny Thunder Village Green Preservation Society All Day And All Of The Night Oct 2009 Ray Davies Collected Do It Again (movie) the movie Ray Davies - New York Choral Concert Nov 2009 Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 2010 Ray Davies Imaginary Man - Julien Temple Nov 2010 Dave and Russ - Aschere Project - Two Worlds - info - book 1 - 2 - the book - interview Kakshisa Cipher Two Worlds Love Will Change Remember Me I'll Get By We Can Do this Together Echoes We Are The Ancestors Mirrors Arthur BBC Radio Play Ray Choral You Really Got Me on tv Ray Choral Waterloo Sunset on tv Ray and George Lamb 2010 Ray on Alex Chilton May 2010 Sound On Sound Dave Davies Banger interview 2010 Come Dancing play Spin 2010 Uncut Dec 2010 2011 Dave Davies Kinkdom Come - Julien Temple 2011 Kinks Kompilations 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 How Ray And Dave Survived Their Kinks Journey 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
Mirrors Mirrors mirrors the title track Two Worlds as heard earlier on the album. A revisit of that theme with the same chord progression (C Ab F). What’s different here is we don’t have the powerful drum groove to give us the same motive, purpose, feel, and implication of the earlier track. By design, this is supposed to be a reprise of sorts to bring this progression and melody back to mind and to remind what came before and enhance the rest of the overall story without it being a direct copy and quote with nothing new to say or add either musically or lyrically and this reprise is effective on its own terms within the album’s overall narrative and context. Tension and release, remember? What I am lamenting is the lack of that real drum sound as heard on the earlier track Two Worlds which is not heard again on the album. I very much enjoyed the real drum sound on the earlier track whether it is a true performance on real drums as part of the backing track or even samples of real drums programmed into a computer and cut and pasted straight as it it was performed or not. For me, the sound is the most important aspect here and that drum sound is a very pleasing sound and mix they found there, but then it’s absent for the duration of this album. A curious decision indeed. Chalk it up to a drum, as opposed to a drug, withdrawal syndrome. They gave it to me in the first two tracks on the album and then no more. Jonesing for more. Actually this is just a minor gripe since I can’t find much else to gripe about with this project. I’ll have more to say when when we wrap the album up, but this is a very good outside-the-box-and-for-the-most-part-fully-developed alternative direction for a one-off project for Dave to pursue and I think the results are outstanding and speak for themselves in terms of what the goal was here. It’s not a rock album to be judged in those terms. Despite its obscurity, I think he and Russ succeeded with something very unique and worthy here with this effort.
Greetings all Avids from Toronto Airport where I will soon fly to Beautiful British Columbia. The time change will make commenting on songs as they are posted (2am BC time) difficult this coming week but I will endeavour to stay tuned in.
Yesterday was sci-fi soundtrack, today is good sci-fi soundtrack, evocative and strangely visual, it conjures a lot of images, with the little Two Worlds synth motif worthy of Dave’s old cohort John Carpenter (it has a little minimalist Halloween feel to it). In Carpenter soundtracks too, you often get heavy drums, but some are more ethereal and atmospheric. More than a little interlude, this one’s both creepy and engaging, and it’s raised my expectations for the last two songs.
"Mirrors" continues the soundtrack feel - seems like a link track to me. If Dave would only mount the stage show, we would know where all of these pieces fit in!
Mirrors This sounds like a brief interlude before the final part of the story (which I haven't read yet). Very atmospheric with a dreamy kind of feel. Another well-created track on the album.
Links to some reading material. A couple of contemporary interviews with Dave that touch on this album and some of the other projects from this 2009/2010 era. A lot of well known old ground is covered of course, but it’s always great to read comments on the then-new stuff that will never be discussed or brought up again in the future after the current interviews. The first one is quite lengthy but very good. Dave Davies: 'I was just a crazy kid with a guitar, a cheap amp and a Dave Davies on his new album: "The Aschere Project: Two Worlds"
Mirrors A subtle and relaxing piece that I don't mind at all short bridge or link piece aside. I would still like it even if extended somewhat as what you (can plainly) hear is what you get, there is no smoke with these mirrors!
Public apology to Dave Davies I’ve been as guilty as anyone on this thread of making fun of Dave’s belief in UFOs. But it now appears that Dave will have the last laugh. A NASA panel tasked with studying reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena" said at a hearing last week that the stigma associated with reporting UFO sightings — as well as the harassment of people who work to investigate them — may be hindering efforts to determine their origins. Most UFOs can be explained, according to the panel of experts. But not all of them. Before too long I expect PhD science students will be sifting through Dave’s lyrics for clues about the universe. I sought the least boring hyperlink for this news: NASA Says UFOs Are Real—Here's How to Report Saucer Sightings | Entrepreneur
More quality Streett, really enjoyed reading that long interview but didn't read the other due to hitting OK to the foreign # cookies.
Yeah, sorry about that. Some sites are cookie monsters you can never be sure about. Here's that second interview copied and pasted here. A ROCK LEGEND - MEET DAVE DAVIES OF THE KINKS. We talked to the younger brother, Dave Davies, founder and lead guitarist of The Kinks, about his career and his new album. You really got me - If I feel good, I play well, Dave says and seems to nail his musical nature in one sentence. Over the phone, speaking from his UK home, Dave’s voice sounds surprisingly young and clear. He’s vivid, enthusiastic, and witty to talk to – and first of all curious, interested in the world of today. Patiently and sincerely, he answers my questions though he must have heard most of them many times before. He’s eager to talk about his new record called “The Aschere Project: Two Worlds” and his passion for spirituality. Enthusiasm’s infectious, but first we dive into the days of rock and pop music’s childhood, which he became a very important part of. The British Invasion By 1964, the world was changing fast. The cold war was on, the Cuba-crisis almost caused a third world war, a 45 km long wall divided Berlin, and Kennedy had just been assassinated. Then into the middle of it all came a new, rebellious generation, emerging fast and transforming the world of pop culture forever. Learning from American rhythm’n’blues icons like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis, British pop culture seriously started rearing its head in the beginning of the 1960s. The outcome was the British Invasion and especially the four “big ones”: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who. And then The Kinks. As founder/lead guitarist, and occasional songwriter of The Kinks, Dave Davies became a very central part of this Invasion. What was it like for a sensitive 17-year-old working class North Londoner to be hurled into this kind of stardom, when The Kinks had their major breakthrough in 1964 with the first of a string of hit singles, the pre-heavy metal rocker “You Really Got Me”? - A contrast! It was. But there was an advantage: Being in a band, it was like an extension of the family, Davies explains. Still, when asked about the highs and lows of his career with The Kinks for more than three decades, being in a band like The Kinks wasn’t always pure happiness, and the brothers’ almost lifelong feud is now legendary: Ups and downs with The Kinks - I feel I have been fortunate. There were amazing highs – and very low ones. Also personally, in the relationship between Ray and me. We started on top in the beginning of the 1960s. There was an explosion of creativity at the time with lots of fantastic bands. Then we went a little down towards the end of the 60s, got banned in the States. Then again a built-up, a comeback in the late 70s, and in the 80s we went big in the US with records as “Low Budget”, “Give the People What They Want”, “State of Confusion”, and “Word of Mouth”. - Then in 1996, Ray decided he wanted to try out some solo material. So me and Ray decided to pause – I didn’t want to get in the way of that, Dave says, summing up the period that turned out to be the end of The Kinks so far, though they never formally split as a band. Ray and Dave Davies - observation vs. feeling Ray and Dave are known to have had a complicated, yet very creatively productive relationship. I suggest that his own songs have a slightly stronger vulnerability and sensitiveness than most of his brother’s many songs. Though Dave speaks highly of Ray’s unique songwriting and performing talents, he doesn’t disagree and reveals a little of the secret behind their success: - Ray’s songs are very observational songs. He has a problem with expressing his feelings. He feels uncomfortable with feelings. While my own songs are inner feelings. That’s a part of the problem with me and Ray. His song style is a craft, he’s dealing with external elements, mine depend fully of how I feel inside. So when these things met and we worked together, some times magic would occur. - Ray started working on his craft [songwriting, ed.] early on. A method. Mine was feelings, which I think is something I have from my mother. Like the interest in spirituality, astrology, the psyche, Dave continues. The Journey The journey into the unknown, the search for something else, was always encouraged in the Davies’ childhood home, which according to Dave is part of the explanation why the brothers became so creative. - As a kid, I was lucky. I was always interested in unusual things – and we were encouraged to. Like learning guitar – my mom lend me a few pounds. I didn’t like school as a kid and I had a problem with authorities. I think I learned more from my mom and sisters – my family was a matriarchy. So I always felt comfortable with women, talking to them, picking them up, Dave laughs. I was interested in painting as well. But I found that the teacher new nothing at all about painting, Dave explains. This kind of square truth was not his cup of tea. - Who’s to say….the imagination could be more important than the “real” world. Maybe some times 2 + 2 equals to 5? Perhaps this is why the creative, open-minded world of spirituality and music suited him better. The razor blade incident So let’s go back into music history to that crucial day, when it all began and “You Really Got Me” found its form in 1964. Ray had written it as a bluesy, slower tune, and Dave wasn’t satisfied with the sound coming from the small amplifier, which was rather “sort of a radio without the radio”, according to Dave. The 17-year-old had just started shaving, and he got hold on sharp razor blades, stuck them into the speaker cone and sliced it, leaving the material/cone intact, but with scratches and holes. And that’s how the distorted, “ugly” guitar sound on “You Really Got Me” came about. Of course this song is one of The Kinks’ most well known singles. But what were the finest moments of his career besides the obvious ones? - God, that’s a tough one. But the mid to late 70s were good, Dave says. I suggest that his work on an album as “Schoolboys in Disgrace” from 1975 is under-valued and that he sounds inspired. - You’re quite right. That was a period when I felt good – I was also producing and engineering at the time. I felt inspired. And if I feel good, I play well. And me and Ray we were a well-suited team with Ray’s writing crafts and my writing and playing from the heart. What are his personal all time favourite Kinks- and Dave Davies songs? - Oh, there are so many. Shangri-La is one of them, and Dead End Street, Waterloo Sunset. Of my own songs, I’ve always liked Visionary Dreamer [from Davies’ first solo album, ed.]. Dave also had a big Kinks hit with "Death of a Clown" (1967). New album and DVD During this solo career, Dave’s been more and more occupied with spiritual matters. At age 63, having suffered a stroke in 2004, he is now back and is releasing a new album, a co-work with his son Russ Davies (from the band Cinnamon Chasers), called “The Aschere Project: Two Worlds”. - It’s basically a love story, Dave explains. A science fiction-like love story about two souls, about multidimensional existence between a man and a woman and about getting access to spirituality and the deeper understanding of mankind. Breaking the codes. Two souls attracted to each other across the galaxy. The story is rooted in ancient myths from Persia and Eastern India and then he and his son have placed “something new” in it, as Dave puts it. The music is spherical and dreamlike, yet still very melodic. And the CD comes with an 8-page booklet – telling the story along with the music. Dave is very into soundtracks reflecting the inner world these days and has high hopes for this project, which he plans to turn it into a stage musical and eventually a movie in the future. Furthermore, he has recently released the DVD “Mystical Journey”, a documentary on his life with music and spirituality. The beginning of a new world We’re coming to an end of the interview. Dave sounds fresh and is still quite optimistic when it comes to the future: - We’re just seeing the beginning of a new understanding and communication. Just think of the Internet. Now I can talk to like-minded people whenever I want. It’s fascinating now; there are so many sources of information. It’s different now…we’re a part of the change going on. - Spirituality and spiritual matters cross over everything. A song like She Love You – it’s foundation is spiritual, says Dave who’s not afraid of the future itself. - What scares me is fanaticism. I don’t believe in dooms day. It’s just an excuse. If it’s ending anyway, then why do anything at all? On the other hand, when we’re scared that’s where we really learn and develop, says Dave and defines spirituality as an energy behind all things, thoughts, and minds. A powerful, non-visual inner world, Dave concludes over the phone. Probably the same world that helped to create modern world's rock history that he was a part of during the British Invasion, Swinging London, and The Summer of Love. Thanks to Dave and The Kinks, it’s been a long journey. Living on a Thin Line on a Sunny Afternoon. - Rune H. Jensen
Freeform Sunday:This is a looooong hiatus time for me but, out of curiosity, I checked my Apple Music Top 100 plays to see if/where Ray or The Kinks might appear. ‘After The Fall’ hanging in there at #5 and ‘Imaginary Man’ clinging on to #10. Then there’s more Ray solo stuff sprinkled throughout until The Kinks pop up on #88’s ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’! How’d that happen? It’s on my The Kinks (and Ray) Play the Sound of the 50s playlist. Then, The Kinks again at #92 with ‘Better Things.’ A bit odd but I think it is purely by chance, coming up on shuffle by coincidence or because Apple has an especial affinity for it. On hiatus, awaiting 2017 in thread years (for Ray’s ‘Americana’, I continue my playlist pursuit tackling 60s AM and, separately, 70s AM radio, The Delines, The Jayhawks, Singer-Songwriters and am still working on John Prine.
In case anyone is thinking that these articles are all starting to sound the same, it might be because I posted this one last Sunday. Not meant as a criticism @Michael Streett, I love your posts, and enjoyed the first interview quite a bit.
I thought this was amusing. I just finished reading a biography of Theramin this afternoon, and thought what better album to put on than the Aschere Project. My wife and I were resting, before heading out to a party, in different rooms. As we were getting ready to go out she asked what I had been listening to, was it theramin music? By the way Theramin had a fascinating life, living through the entire existence of the Soviet Union, inventing a listening device that went undetected in the US embassy for 6 years, and spending time in a Soviet Gulag, since he was suspect due to his apparent capitalist tendencies while he lived in the US. The biography was interesting, but a bit of a slog to read. Anyway heading in to my niece’s birthday party.
