‘Message From the Road’: This immediately brings to mind a stage set with the spotlight initially focused on the male singer seated on a stool…and then the light fades and then it swivels to shine upon the female character. Beautiful and pensive. Thank you for searching this out. It reminded me of ‘80 Days’ right away, and I knew it was a repurposing…of something, but couldn’t think of the exact song. Karen Grotberg is a fine vocalist. Rich and warm timbre. (Reminds me of Karen Carpenter.) (Oh! I just reviewed @Fortuleo ’s post and see he said the same thing!)
Message From the Road This is almost more a lullaby than a song. I like the structure of first part sung in its entirety before the woman's response. I agree with most of Mark's thoughts on this song except I don't believe the truth is in-between the two parts. Rather both parts are the truth: Ray might have his wife/girlfriend on his mind yet he will likely "encounter" good time girls in every town. Based on Ray's lengthy list of partners, the woman's concerns are well-founded. Impressively, Ray himself gives a voice to those concerns. It's a lovely, tender song.
Message From The Road - Boy this is simply beautiful. The piano and Ray’s aged voice are just right here. When I first picked this up my wife heard this song and had to ask me about it. She thought Karen’s part was Sally Times singing and I agreed, they sound very similar. Karen’s vocals are so warm and endearing here reflecting home fires burning. We went on to talk about the Jayhawks(and how they are Ray’s band on this one) her favorite album by them is Hollywood Town Hall (nice call @Fortuleo )and more recently, XOXO. Karen Grotberg has some of our favorites from that record. This song could go on longer and we wouldn’t mind a bit.
I expect you to have the next month off work and focus on write ups for Americana and Our Country Loving these posts mate
Yikes! As the Queen said to Ray: "So many songs!" - Again, I don't know how you keep up with it every day, but it sure is appreciated.
“Message From The Road”: I frankly don’t know what to say after all the great stuff from the other Avids, especially my neighbor to the North, Avid Luckless Pedestrian, just to say that it’s a good song w/a Broadway musical flavor (Avid Fortuleo’s look back to 80 Days is noted). One question I do have is that when Ray mentioned their child as a “kid”, does anyone think that’s he insincere? For some reason I kind of think that way, although I could be convinced otherwise.
Message From The Road Reminds me of Oaklama USA in its yearning, panoramic distance, gentility, longing and perhaps sentimentality. The musical backing is great as is the ffemale voice and the full lyric and vocal melody may grow on me further. I find that high droning note an unnecessary distraction. The story is timeless and the truth is up to us to imagine and the options are fittingly vast!
Message From the Road: This is a tough one to rate because I love Ladies of the Night so much, and it came first... but where that track paired its beautiful, plaintive mid section with a rousing can-can, Message From the Road will pair (or lead into, at least), something even more incredible (more to come tomorrow). So overall, I'm happy with this one. I think it's harder for Ray to convey the tenderness of the melody with this older vocal, but it does come through; and his duet partner Karen more than makes up for it, in any case. Anyway, this is a lovely little link, and the high quality tunes continue to march along.
Message From the Road Since I'm listening to this LP for the first time as each song comes up, I don't associate this as a prelude to another song (though I assume I will tomorrow and forever after), so to me it's just this beautiful miniature gentle lullaby (as @Steve62 notes) with a perfectly well-chosen co-singer (rare to hear someone treat RD's lyrics with such delicacy and grace). Yes, more Oklahoma than any of the previous "road" songs. Not a litany of complaints or a celebration of the touring life but a soft lament, appropriate for RD's Americana stage of life. Playlisted.
For me this is a minor masterpiece. I too got a bit of a Percy vibe from it . Great write ups all around. Again.
Message From the Road I love this one. It has such a beautiful simple melody, one of those that sounds like it has always existed. (I was almost going to describe it as a lullaby, as some others did, so obviously I can see why, but my second thought was, no, this does not lull me to sleep, and thought better of it.) The melody stands out even more here than on the 80 Days demo. I could picture this song being used in a play with both singers on the opposite sides of the stage. (I see @Zeki imagined this being performed on stage as well.) The alternating vocals are great, Karen Grotberg has a beautiful voice, and when she comes in it raises the song to another level. The competing views from our hero on the road and his lady back home are heartbreaking. We can tell they love each other, but we know that in the end their relationship will not survive. I did have to stop the clip that @fspringer posted before it reached the end and ruined Ray's song for me forever, lol.
I know that this feels like an interlude, but at almost three minutes it’s longer than many Kinks songs from the 60s! I agree that it’s lovely.
I had never heard this song when we were discussing 80 Days, so I had forgotten all about it. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it until I read your post. I was hoping for an entire song by Ray and I was disappointed right when the female vocal comes in, but she does a beautiful job. A really touching and sweet song. It's also a good reminder to listen to 80 Days again!
Got a bit behind here again. If I can rewind a lil.... Regarding Dave's Ripping Up Time album. I have 4 keepers. Title track, King Of Karaoke, In The Old Days, Looking Through My Window. I preferred the new songs on The Live Winery album. A few of the old songs were good here as well. I may be ordering this live album at some point. On the fence currently.
Message From The Road This is a beautiful but also sad song, giving contrasting views of touring life - the narrator who is a long way from home missing his wife and child, and the wife at home who suspects that he will be unfaithful several times on this tour. It must be a very difficult situation to deal with for both persons. Since it is on a Ray album titled "Americana" the song is presumably set in 1965 when The Kinks did their first U.S. tour and presumably there were many phone calls to a spouse back home during Ray's more than five decades of touring. I sense a level of guilt, that part of him thinks it was very selfish to pursue his dreams and have a long career in music at the expense of family relationships while another part of him also feels pride and joy that the dream of a long career in music actually became true. The instrumentation of the song, with the acoustic guitar and the piano, gives the song a haunting and reflective feel and both Ray and Karen sing the words with great empathy. A truly beautiful song.
Poetry This one has really grown on me in the past couple of days. At first I thought it wasn’t memorable, but after a few listens the melody kept creeping up in my head. I don’t hear much of Starstruck myself, but to me there’s a part of it that reminds me of After the Fall. A solid rocket that would stand well on a 2000s Kinks album in another timeline. Thematically makes me think of Oh Where Oh Where is Love? Where is the poetry? Well, it’s here in… Message From the Road …here’s the poetry. My god. How beautifully aching is this song. Definitely gives me Percy era vibes, but also perhaps a bit of Uncle Son feeling. The transition to the piano just before Karen’s past is wonderful, the softer more feminine piano. I’d say Ray’s finest duet since Nothing Lasts Forever, another beautifully aching song. And how I love thinking back at 80 Days. Thank god for this thread to bring all these wonderful songs into my life!
Message from the road used to make me cry. I have no paternal figures jn my life so I used to imagine it being sung to me. I need therapy so bad.
A Place In Your Heart. Hold tight Winds are blowin' Coldest that you've ever known Cuts through the rawhide Right to the marrow bone Strap a live pig across your knees Chew tobacco so your jaw don't freeze It's a bitter, bad mighty mean breeze Who needs to ride a train? When we got the natural motion That's gonna take us Right across the mighty plain Look at that plain It's the flattest that you'll ever see Wo wo Hey Look at that big sky Look at that moon glow Lightin' up the Rockies on the way to Idaho Take out your fiddle, put your hand on the bow Rustle up a pretty tune Put a rhythm in yer toe-ow-ow (Spoken word) Hello, is anybody there, hello? I can't explain Am I letting my emotions get the better of me? You're always on my mind ooh ooh But I can't tell you that I'd willingly follow you And if I can't have you How can I expect to have a place in your heart? But I wouldn't be so bold ooh ooh As to expect you to have feelings for me Oh no I can't admit it to you (West to East under the stars) 'Cause then I would have to admit it to me (It's a thousand miles to the nearest bar) And I wouldn't want to bother you (West to East till we reach Omaha) 'Cause then I would have to admit how much (West to East) It's bothering me (In the land of the free) See the sun up ahead See the moon behind (Place in your heart) We're right on time We're going to get there Come rain or shine (You're always on my mind) Then Omaha city soon we'll be over the incline (But I can't tell you that I'd willingly follow you) Can't admit it to you (West to East under the stars) 'Cause then I would have to admit it to me (It's a thousand miles to the nearest bar) And I wouldn't want to bother you (West to East till we reach Omaha) 'Cause then I would have to admit how much (West to East) It's bothering me (In the land of the free) (See the sun up ahead see the moon behind) Place in your heart (We're right on time we're going to get there Come rain or shine) But I wouldn't be so bold (And Omaha city soon we'll be over the incline) As to expect you to have feelings for me Oh no Make the most of nature's great highway West to East See night turn into day Move so fast Too bad that you can't stay A place in your heart (Spoken word) Alright lads, I gotta phone home Hey Ray, what's the deal? Let's get this show on the road Alright then.... I can't explain (Gonna get a train) Am I letting my emotions get the better of me? (Take us right across the mighty plain) You're always on my mind Ooh ooh ooh And I can't tell you that I'd Willingly follow you To the end of the earth West to East Follow that star A thousand miles to the nearest bar Rattling wind Hold on tight Wrap up warm or it'll blow you apart Pass that whiskey Stoke up the stove Pluck that string wiggle that bow Mid-west snow Thunder and rain Get to the East coast Turn around, head West again Move so fast Too bad that you can't stay A place in your heart Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Davray Music Limited/Sony ATV This is a great track, and we came across this earlier on in the thread in the stage show of 80 Days The song opens up like it is going to be a sort of blues track, but then we get this really brilliant change, and we get a bouncy track that seems to be a perfect hybrid of a sort of country tune and a music hall track.... It really could be in a movie from the sixties or seventies. Lyrically we open up with a sort of anecdote of how cold it is out in the plains.... but I think the idea is that it is supposed to also reflect how cold it is for a relationship to be so far apart due to the necessities of touring and how it all works out. The lyric here seems to reflect that dual perspective from Message From The Road. Ray opens with that verse about how cold it is. Then we get Karen and Ray singing together, and it works so very well. This verse speaks to the great centre of the US, and the plains, and how overwhelming they are, but we have the context of the touring band put in there as well to keep us in a consistent spot of context. Then at the end of the verse we have Ray speaking on the phone "Hello, is there anybody there. Hello" Again reinforcing the context of the track. He is touring, and he is trying to contact his loved one, but it isn't working. Then Karen comes in singing on her own.... She is torn. He is always on her mind, but she doesn't want to wander the backwoods of the US on a tour. "You're always on my mind ooh ooh But I can't tell you that I'd willingly follow you" This next section is so beautifully human. I can't admit it to you, or I'd have to admit it to me I don't want to bother you, because then I'd have to admit how much it's bothering me I think One of the reasons I like Ray's writing so much is these kinds of little real human quirks that come up in his songs, and I really appreciate them. Then we move to The band on the move... The chug of the music works well chugging along with the idea of moving forward on the tour. Meanwhile this all works in tandem with the lady pining for the man she loves. The love, doubt, indecision for her The schedule, the movement, the distractions for him. This is accentuated by the next spoken passage "Alright lads I've got to phone home." followed by "Hey Ray, what's the deal? Let's get this show on the road!" Then we have Ray, back on the road, and he is also feeling that separation, reflecting the feelings of the lady in question. I love this song. It is a little different to the stage show version, but not too dissimilar. The arrangement and the music giving that feeling of being pushed forward and that is what the song is all about. Summed up in the final line, which is essentially moving so fast that I don't have any time to worry about the place in my heart where she/he is supposed to dwell... schedules keep dragging me on. That is what the arrangement does. As one of them is speaking to the idea of missing the other, we have this constant interjection of west to east, move here, move there, move along, and it carries the theme of the story/idea perfectly. Anyway.... It may be an older song, but having a proper version of it recorded properly, and arranged and executed so well, is a great thing.
Ok, ok, ok. Thanks for the excellent intro, @mark winstanley. I hope everybody will be kind today, I'd take any criticism against this track as a personal attack against me! This is my favorite song in the whole Americana project, and a contender for my favorite Ray Davies solo song period (let's see… yep, that's definitely the one), even if it’s hardly “solo”, but whatever. The first thing is to note that it’s a suite, originally a western suite (in the musical) much like Rio Grande by Brian Wilson was, only even grander (and rio-er ? ) in scope and beauty. It starts almost weirdly, with that show-tunesque blues intro. Of course, this betrays its 80 Days origins, this intro is just part of the scene setting context for what was probably written as a wagon train number. The weather, the situation, the hardships and obstacles… And then… then… And then she starts to sing. And it’s the best melody Ray’s written since… Soap opera, perhaps. You’re always on my mind… just this little bit is up there with his very best melodic ideas. How could this song remain in the vaults for so long ? The whole vocal arrangement is unlike anything in the Kinks world, it’s just the Jayhawks singing, but it doesn’t remind me of anything from their output either. Completely unique and very much what Mark described as a blend between music-hall and country (&western). From then on, the song works as an exquisite endless melodic serpentine river gliding away in the American landscape, with little torrents and moments of calm, where it would be tempting to stop ans swim, under a warming sun. Whenever I put this song on, I’m travelling through space and time, it gives me the chills just to think of it, I have almost a primitive sensation, like we’re back in the time of pioneers, following a wagon train discovering the new world (and I felt that way before knowing it was exactly that in 80 Days, which goes to show the genius of Ray's instincts to repurpose it here as another "road" song). This is the Americana concept in all its glory. The band is stellar, the singing is stunning, the call and response parts are irresistible, the string arrangement just perfect, and Ray’s writing is at an all time best. The fact that t’s not from 2017 after all but 1988 ? To be honest, I don’t know what I feel about that exactly. I rejoiced at the idea of Ray being able to come up with such a melodic feast that late in the game in 2017, it warmed my heart. But since I discovered that it was from the eighties, I think I enjoy his last verse, with the straining “older voice” even more : he’s singing an old melody of his, a melody that, in hindsight, he could only’ve written because of the vocal versatility of his early forties. So now, after leaving it to Karen Grotberg to sing the bulk of the tune for thematic/narrative reasons, he finally takes the mic for the last verse and delivers a heartfelt splendor of a vocal, even nailing that beautiful “You’re always on my mind" bit perfectly, before the backing vocalists bring it home in style. A late masterpiece, you said ? Well, I don't know about the "late" part of this assessment. What an extraordinary song!
"A Place In Your Heart" It certainly wouldn't have been one of my favourites when I first heard it. The old-timey country feel would have been the biggest dealbreaker, then the female vocalist further intruding on what's supposed to be a Ray Davies album (this being years before I rediscovered Preservation Act 2). This would have been the point where the album went off the rails and never recovered for me. Listening now, in the light of what I've learned since, I can hear that there is much more to it than what I first heard. More sections than the old-timey country bits, more melody, and more depth to the lyrics. I still wouldn't say it's a favourite, but I've made peace with it, and I generally enjoy it more than I expect to. This is about as far as I've got in rehabilitating this album so far, though.
For the record, I probably went through this track on September 20th, roughly.... I reckon every day since then, at some point during the day, I've had this song in my head, happily singing away, not really knowing the words. "Dip, dip diddle dooby ladi dada, always be with you, do do doobie do, willing to follow you" or some such thing. One of the catchiest songs Ray probably ever wrote
I love the use of the bouncy didgeridoo like riff in the intro (no idea what instrument that actually is). Karen and Ray’s vocals go together so beautifully in A Place in Your Heart.
