King Of Karaoke. He's the king of karaoke Hear him sing every Friday night At the pub down on Finchley High Street Come prima, pretty woman, it will be alright He's been practicing every night of the week After the factory, after his tea, Bohemian Rhapsody, all his favourite songs Unchained Melody, he never gets it wrong For he's the king of karaoke Hear him sing every Friday night At the pub down on Finchley High Street Come prima, pretty woman, it will be alright Walking on the wild side He's really got me going The Bee Gees, My Sharona, he's really got it down Daydream believer, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, He's a Soul Man In The Summertime, Paperback Writer I'm digging those Good Vibrations now See his queen always by his side In her multi-colored tutu, sippin' tequila sunrise The king of karaoke He's the king, it will be alright The king of karaoke He's the king Written by: Dave Davies Published by: Dave Davies/Carlin Music This track opens up nicely. We have a sort of minor ballad,,, I suppose this is in a four beat... but it feels like a 1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2 feel, and I like it. It probably has a name, but I'll leave that for @Michael Streett to fill us in on. This track is exactly what the title suggests. Dave describes a working guy who practices all week after his 9 to 5 grind. He heads to the pub on Finchley High Street every Friday night with his girl, and stars at the Karaoke bar. I really like the bridge. The musical change is excellent, and the way Dave ties the lyrics into it works really well for me. I guess in some ways this is a light relief, but the melancholy of the song seems to give it a more serious edge... and the reality of someone caught in the working class life, escaping to live in an alternate reality on a Friday night, by singing the classics and getting the flowers from some drunk locals, has a sad melancholy of its own... though also a sort of sad beauty at the fact that at least he manages to find a portal to another reality that doesn't involve paramedics in the middle of the night. I actually like this track quite a lot. We get a trumpet accenting the song, which is a nice touch. Dave gives us a nice little semi-Dire Straits outro lead also.
"King of Karaoke" Is there any other song in the katalogue with more "K" words in its title? Perhaps we should call it "cing of caraoke" just to be kontrary? To say this is a complete contrast to the last couple of tracks would be an understatement. It sounds like Dave trying to do another Ray-type song, and having a pretty good stab at it - perhaps a counterpoint to "Session Man"? It has a proper structure, proper tune, and even a mariachi segment. Some unexpected song title dropping as well - "My Sharona" seems out of place but maybe selected because of its Kinks-like riff? It's a pity we didn't cover this one before the Kwiz, as it has plenty of potential for questions! Bonkers in a completely different way to the preceding tracks, and not bad at all.
For the time being, I find the sound on this album, though indeed a bit demo-ish, to be much more enjoyable than the sound on the previous one. Somehow it makes me think about Bowie's Man Who Sold The World. The last album had a cluttered home-digital-studio sound characteristic of the time. In short I prefer this frankly incompetent recording to the falsely competent one of I Will Be Me.
Seems I can't see or hear any of these new Dave songs aside from the live posting. Hoping someone can possibly post accessible individual tracks or the full album for perusal.
‘King Of Karaoke’: A touch of melancholy, well thought out…beautiful guitar and western film mariachi flourishes…the best Dave Davies song in years (if I do say so myself). If I had a Dave Davies playlist, this would be on it. Fourteen songs or artists referenced, by my count. All tucked into a very singable tune. My first experience with karaoke was in 1981 when I returned to Japan as an adult. Little cassette karaoke machines in tiny ‘snacks.’ The English language songs could be numbered on one hand: Green, Green Grass of Home; My Way; Diana; Country Road and (I think this is a Japanese songwriter penned song) Mary Jane (“Mary Jane on my mind, I cry my eyes out over you…”). (Is the latter familiar? Maybe it isn’t Japanese after all?) There’s a few more but, yes indeed, the number of times I warbled my way through these…ha! Takes me straight back in time. Then it quickly advanced to laser discs and then the now (actually, I haven’t been in years so don’t know what it is now!) ‘every song imaginable at your fingertips.’ Back to the ‘King of Karaoke,’ yeah, I really like this. Thumbs up from me.
A 100% humor song, well… No. 50% humor, 30% bittersweet brother Ray tribute, 10% devoted to a fabulous Kinky bridge (though I’d live without the “in the summertime” bit, I think we’ve got the idea, he shouldn’t do it once on every album!) and 10% of Calexico mariachi flavored pastiche. It’s a playlister, for sure, like most melody oriented Dave songs. He sees himself as a riff maker, but at heart, he’s a tunesmith, our dear Dave. Love the piano sound near the end and the (female ?) backing vocals. Excellent track all around.
King of Karaoke- I like this one. Could be a Jonathan Richman tune. A fun mash up and the trumpet is great.
King of Karaoke I had to play this a few times in a row because I was questioning my sanity. I couldn't believe I was about to give three consecutive thumbs ups to Dave's songs. Dave made it difficult because this song is more conventional than the previous two. It even has a subject matter that, for the first time in a long time, anyone can understand. So for this I have to compare it to other conventional songs and I think it stands up pretty well. He doesn't rehash familiar riffs or even the style of song he or his brother have written before. And, as Mark usefully points out, there's a sense of melancholy weaving amongst the humour of the subject matter. So Dave captures some of the ambiguity his brother mastered in his best lyrics. That's a very long-winded way of me saying I don't mind this one from Dave. I'm unsure whether this is an example of the English saying "to damn with faint praise" or a straight-forward example of damning. Either way, it made me laugh.
Today was Food Shopping Day and on my way to the supermarket, “Stranger On The Shore” by Acker Bilk was playing on my car radio. I was thinking that he was playing the same clarinet that Dave had to clean up in his music store job, which leads us somehow to today’s Dave song, “King of Karaoke”, which strays into Brother Ray’s area of social observation with success. This has to be the best song I heard from this album. I like the way Ray, no, Dave mimics the various songs and I especially like the juxtaposition of “Sunny Afternoon” and “Paperback Writer”, especially since the former song pushed out the latter as UK no. 1 way too many years ago.
King of Karaoke: I can't believe I will be the first to say it (maybe I missed somebody!) but Dave sings this *so well*! Avid @Zeki is right, singable is the way to describe this tune, but that doesn't necessarily mean the performance is good (ironically, see drunken karaoke at your local dive for some great examples of that phenomenon) but Dave knocks this out of the park. How cool is it to see his vocals recover so well; this sounds like the guy who sang Flowers in the Rain, just 10 years older.
Semblance of Sanity This one has some almost sinister or dissonant sounding chords that is a bit unsettling to listen to... But I also really like that phrase... "semblance of sanity"... Is that Dave harmonizing with himself? Or perhaps harmonizing isn't the right word... there's a higher voice, and then the rockier voice both singing. An interesting sound. King of Karaoke This is really good! Dave sounds great, and the almost Spanish flair of the rhythm is a nice welcome change from the fist couple tracks. The "In the Summertime" bit is a bit much, but we have yet another Beach Boys pastiche/homage with Dave doing his best Mike Love while "digging those Good Vibrations". We also get some Mike Cotton Sound flavor into the track too with the trumpet. Well done, Dave.
Thanks! This is the first song I’ve been able to listen to from this album and fortunately it’s really good! The vocals are a bit of a weak point, but the song itself is great!
Ok folks. I have checked out the two Record Store Day releases, (which I didn't even know were RSD releases, shows how much attention I pay to that lol) and it seems to me there isn't really much for us to do with them. I have done basic write ups, and figure that they can go on the same day... We have covered all the songs on the EP, and I would be stunned if we haven't posted the tv show live tracks, if they are available ..... but please correct me if I am wrong... I'm just throwing this out there to make sure I'm on the same page as everyone else. So if that works for everybody, this is the upcoming schedule. Thursday - Front Room Friday - Johnny Adams Saturday - Nosey Neighbours Monday - Sept 18 - Mindwash Tuesday - Between The Towers Wednesday - In The Old Days Thursday - Through My Window Friday - Dave - Rippin' Up Time Live In NYC pt 1 Saturday - Dave - Rippin' Up Time Live In NYC pt 2 Monday - Sept 25 - Dave and Ray reunited December 2015 - You Really Got Me Tuesday - Ray Davies A Complicated Life - Johnny Rogan 2016 Wednesday - Kinks In Koncert 1965 (2016) RSD release and Till Death Us Do Part ep (2016) Black Friday RSD release Thursday - Ray Davies Americana
The whole country specific posts thing is bizarre to me... obviously I could see the one I posted, but I couldn't see the other
King of Karaoke I'm pleased other Avids are enjoying this one. I think it's my second favourite on the album, nicely worked out with relatable verses, chorus and a melody. Indeed, it is singalongable in a karaoke bar, if the need were to arise. My problem is that I wish that Dave had done a few more takes to take off his wobblier vocal edges to make him sound more in control and less the drunken Kink of Karaoke. With more work, this one could have been great, a solo career highlight, but in the end it's no better than OK.
Pretty good tune and performance today. Yesterday’s tune I’m less sold on, although so far this release hasn’t been the total disaster some were predicting.
King Of Karaoke I think it's all been said so I will look for scooping some crumbs up. Not a bad number at all and I think in good part it's because it's for Dave somewhat conventional so if tightened up for a single could it address the debt of a clown? Poor pun aside I didn't mind the song callouts but found the musical reminders alongside of them pretty unwelcome. I heard a choral snippet of Tired Of Waiting For You but my happiest takeaway is seeing in the first live (rehearsal?) that post stroke Dave has got some nice guitar vibrato back even if his dancing gestures are as funky as Andy Fair wheather-Low mixed with John Major!
