The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    End of the Season
    Thanks to those who educated us on the rugby/cricket connection in this song. Never ever would have put it all together. I assumed "end of play" literally had to do with the end of a theatrical or opera season.

    Listened to this song earlier this morning and then went out to do errands. This song has not left my head since then. It's a song that I do appreciate, but would I want to hear a full album of this style of music? probably not. But place this in the awesomeness of this album and it works. Brilliant!

    I guess there is some question as to when this song was written. I know there's this quote where he's talking about his recovering from his breakdown: “I was only playing The Greatest Hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan’s Maggie’s Farm – I just liked it’s whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach – it was a strange time."
    So with that in my head, i was thinking he was taking something from the crooning Sinatra...especially the use of "chicks" for "Women"...that seems very Frank to me. But obviously since Ray is English there is no doubt more to it than that.

    A fine song.
     
  2. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Thanks. Appreciate it a lot.
     
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  3. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Dammit I was gonna post that! Was biding my time for just exactly the right moment chronologically! No harm no foul though: even though I’ve been acting like it for the last two months, it’s not like I have the God-given monopoly on posting Kinks footage on this thread. And your write up about Ray’s demeanour in this interview was great!

    Just want to add my usual anally retentive notes to say that this is from the BBC1 show ‘Meeting Point: My Song Is Me’ and is the earliest surviving on camera interview with Dave, and only the second with Ray.
     
  4. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Frosted windows just made me think of winter... I wasn't imagining the fancy fake frosting
     
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  5. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Sorry to scoop you! But I must say, you are doing a fantastic job of curating and posting archival stuff in this thread, and you seem to make an effort to find the best quality versions of the clips when you do.

    (and thank you for the compliment!)
     
  6. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Those interviews w/the Davies boys are also on the DVD portion of the Kinks at the BBC box set.

    Also I saw your Shindig! article on Colour Me Pop, which I enjoyed reading.
     
  7. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I couldn’t get the sound on it so you can post it again!
     
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  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well I must say thank you to everyone particularly on the terribly insightful posts about End of The Season ...

    I can't believe I missed Now that Labour's in , and the scrum reference.... as someone born in Wigan, it is unforgivable to miss a rugby reference lol.... but I played Aussie Rules so I'm gonna forgive myself :)

    So yet another song with more layers than a mutant nuclear onion......

    Sorry I've been MIA today, it's been a crazy one, but you guys have excelled and it was great reading the posts
    cheers :cheers:


    Tomorrow, we're going to have a quick look at Waterloo as the closer, and just summarise the album, it seems like a task all on it's own. This album has been even more of a revelation for me than those prior.

    Either in the morning, or tomorrow afternoon I will post some of the alternates we haven't looked at yet, for the Sunday crowd, and I'll put together some sort of schedule for next week, so we are all on the same page:righton:

    What a remarkable album.
     
  9. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Geez, the thing he says at the end of that interview, about writing "Waterloo Sunset". It sounds like he was in a trance state, and he's back in it as he talks about it.

    Q: How did you get the idea for "Waterloo Sunset," particularly?

    Ray: (long pause) Everything was right for it. It's like, if I stopped writing...I went out, and I went past buildings, it reminded me of the song. Or, it was just ... Everything happened. I saw rivers and things. And I had to do it.

    Q: You mean every impression you had, kind of fell into the song.

    Ray: Yeah, yeah. It just felt right. That's why I did it. Because I....because I like it. I like...that place.


     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Aussie Pop sensations of the seventies
    Sherbet - Summer Love... I doubt anyone knows them except @All Down The Line :)
     
  11. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    "If I Fell" is Beatles song with an especially captivating and tricky "verse" in the early 20th century sense of the word. "Honey Pie" has one, too, but it is more to be expected, as it is a 1920's pastiche. Often the verse was a compulsory part of the sheet music version of a song, and dropped in most recorded versions of a given hit. Gershwin's "Somebody Loves Me" has a gorgeous opening verse that isn't performed enough. (See video below, of my fondly remembered cat Mozart enjoying this version.)

    "Till The End of the Day" technically has what you're calling a prologue, too, with it's "Baby I feel good, from the moment I rise" section, though it uses the same riff that shows up throughout the song. And as its a rocker, the effect is pretty different.

     
  12. Past Masters

    Past Masters Beatles Fanthologist

    Making my way through...

    Kinda Kinks:
    Wow I have to say I remember liking this more than the first album, but not by this much. The ratio of originals to covers has gone way up, which is a good thing. The songwriting has improved significantly, quite an achievement for Mr. Davies I would say, in the context of the period. There is a little more variety in the sound on the record too, with some lovely acoustic work on a couple songs.

    Standout tracks for me:
    Look for Me Baby
    Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me...
    Don't Ever Change
    So Long

    ...and I have to especially underline:

    Tired of Waiting:
    Fantastic groove and mood on this song that totally matches the lyrics.

    and

    Something Better Beginning:
    Truly a special track, perfect way to end the album with it's heart-tugging sentiment and passionate vocal. Love its little riff too, very simple but just right for the song.

    I feel I judged this album too harshly in the past. Listening to the CD with all the bonus tracks in one go is too much of the same and not how it was meant to be listened to. (Nothing wrong with the bonus tracks, just my attention span.)

    Now, hearing the album again it's not just "better than the first album and leading to better things", it's a great little album in its own right and I can listen to it all the way through appreciating every track.

    Now to get to those bonus tracks...
     
  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    That's a great interview.
    I completely understand Dave and Ray's perspectives on writing. I've been in both spots mentally, and they're both weird.

    It is terribly interesting hearing Ray try and find some words for something that is indescribable. I kind of feel like only someone who has experienced that weird feeling of this song just forcing it's way through and out of you could really get it.
     
  14. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Speaking of Aussie pop sensations of the 70s, recently I found a copy of an album by a band named Skyhooks called Ego Is Not a Dirty Word among the CDs in my local Dollar Store. From what I've read, I guess they were big in Australia back in the day.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Stream the Living In The Seventies album on youtube, their debut.
    Ego is the follow up.
    Loved Skyhooks growing up. One of the first bands I'm aware of that sang distinctly Australian lyrics, about Australian places.
     
  16. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Different songs but they play well together. Thr Small Faces had some crackers. But props to Dave for resisting phasing - which hasn’t held up well over time.
     
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  17. zipp

    zipp Forum Resident

    I imagine a few people here are still pretty confused about all this rugby stuff.

    Suffice it to say that there are two forms of the game in England.

    In Wigan and the north of England generally they play rugby LEAGUE with 13 players. This used to be the only form of the sport where players were professional and paid to play. Thus it was for the working class.

    In other parts of England and especially the south (places like Bath, Bristol, London etc) they play rugby UNION with 15 players. This used to be for people who played purely for pleasure. Thus it was for the upper class. This is the rugby still played at upper class private schools like Eton, Harrow and ... Rugby (where the game was invented).

    There is an amount of cultural rivalry betwen the two forms of the game.

    A few years ago I had some business in a bank in the north of England which was a sponsor for the rugby union world cup. My lady advisor gave me a pen etc. with the world cup logo. I asked her who she thought would win. She then told me she had no idea since this wasn't real rugby and neither she nor her husband would be watching any of the games on TV!
     
  18. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    :D:D Very funny story
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Lol, yep, sounds about right
     
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  20. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    And, as someone who spent the early years of my life in Yorkshire (the north-eastern half of England's rugby league heartland), I can attest to that sentiment being shared. There was only one rugby in my family and it wasn't the one played in private schools. I felt like a class traitor when I started playing rugby union in Australia, where the game was more egalitarian.
     
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  21. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Ok, settled in and listened to the last 4 songs. I'll do short takes on them so I don't clog up the thread.
    "Lazy Old Sun" -
    As mentioned, probably The Kinks' most Psychedelic song but it's still a very pastoral lyric by Ray. Great song.
    "Afternoon Tea" -
    This is a veddy British song by a veddy British band. Very good song.
    "Funny Face" -
    A different style of very mask-like vocals that work well on this song. And the shift in time signatures is really great.
    "End Of The Season" -
    This song sounds like an album closer, I mean, I know "Waterloo Sunset" is probably the best closer for this album, but this song would've worked well too. A nice seaside type music.
     
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  22. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    I'm another Aussie transplant from the old country. I could have been the Terry to Ray's sister Rosie and her husband Arthur. In the mid-70s in Brisbane the tough kids would demand kids state their allegiance to either Sherbert or Skyhooks. It was a bit of a trap: Sherbert were a bunch of airbrushed pretty boys appealing to young girls while Skyhooks had a guitarist who wore drag and a lead singer nicknamed Shirley :D. Either way I risked being beaten up. I had a similar experience once in Scotland when a gang of rough kids wanted to know if I supported Celtic or Rangers - alarm bells were ringing!
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Lol... Australia was pretty tough place in the seventies... as the pommie bstd, I spent most of my childhood fighting... apparently ...

    If I was in Scotland and was asked that, I think I would say nothing and start twitching lol
     
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  24. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Same. I was the pommie bstd in Australia and the aussie bstd in Scotland. If only my later rugby physique had kicked in earlier I wouldn't have been targeted so much.
     
  25. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I'm getting the feeling that between Steve62, our Leader & Down the Line, it's gonna be interesting discussing Arthur on this thread:)
     

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