The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

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

  1. Geoff738

    Geoff738 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Were they touring at all during this period?
     
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  2. Scottsol

    Scottsol Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston, IL
    Some recent posts have applauded the civility of the discourse on this thread. It is due, I think, primarily to the predominant demographic of the base - too old and infirm to get it up. It, being our hackles. I have been so afflicted for the past few years, and while there are some advantages to the inner calm thus engendered, there are times when one looks back fondly to the days when strong, solid opinions could be thrust into the aether with barely any preparation, even happening multiple times in a single day. There is some special satisfaction from the uncontrolled spewing out of such unfiltered thoughts, even though the aftermath is often a hot, sticky public mess and a feeling of emptiness and regret.

    All of which is to report that I have discovered a “magic pill” that will promote hackle raising in all but the most severe cases. As a public service the restorative is posted below.



     
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  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Ohhh lucy wadama gon do wit choo
     
  4. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    They were still regularly playing one nighters and weekend type engagements in the UK and Europe during this (66-67) era, but no heavy night after night touring or further flung jaunts.

    There was a fairly intensive UK package tour with The Herd in spring ‘68 to promote ‘Wonderboy’, which was an unqualified disaster for the group by all accounts.
     
  5. zipp

    zipp Forum Resident

    SUSANNAH'S STILL ALIVE

    So Dave turns his hand to a character song.

    That's all very well, but who is this woman and what are we supposed to feel towards her?

    No idea.

    Nice catchy song which maybe lacks a middle section.

    And the harmonica, albeit a nice touch, is somewhat old hat.
     
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  6. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Not a lot to say about the BBC Sessions, although it's interesting that Brian Matthew appears to attribute authorship of "David Watts" to Dave and also gives him co-authorship of "Autumn Almanac"!

    The two (actual) Dave songs are the ones that sound most "live", and his vocals on these versions clear up some of the lyrics that couldn't quite be determined from the studio versions.
     
  7. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I'm back home and about 20 pages behind! I thought I could keep up, but it's not as enjoyable to read and post from my phone. I like to sit at home and listen to the music while I read all the comments. I will now attempt to catch up tonight! Excellent posts by everyone. I am enjoying all this reading material for the evening. I love every song that I missed.

    "Afternoon Tea"
    While listening to this the other night I was hearing a bit of a Donovan vibe. It swings in that slightly jazzy beat cafe style that Donovan was experimenting with. The prominent bass line and the melody also recalls something that would fit right in on Ram, which wouldn't come out for several more years. @Fortuleo beat me to that observation, but it's a good one! Even though I hear hints of these other musicians, this song is pure Ray Davies through and through. I love it.

    "Funny Face"
    I think this is the underdog of the album. With so much strong material, this song kind of drifts out of your memory until you hear to again. There were some accurate mentions of it being reminiscent of The Small Faces or The Who. I feel like it sounds like a song that could have been on The Small Faces self titled album in 1967, which came out a few months before Something Else. It then breaks into that little psychedelic part which also reminds me of some Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. Dave is really getting good and it's easy to see why he almost had his own solo album around this time.

    "End Of The Season"
    Ray must have had Sinatra on his mind. Sinatra lost out by not covering it on his 1968 album Cycles. This would have fit the mood and style of that record perfectly. I wonder if Ray ever tried to get the song to him? Never mind all that though, because here we have a most excellent version by our very own cool cat Mr. Ray Davies. This could have very well been a tremendous closer, but we were lucky enough to get a beautiful Waterloo Sunset at the End of The Season.

    This wraps up a phenomenal record and is most likely a top three Kinks album which would follow the next record and the previous record. The Kinks could certainly do no wrong for many years, but it doesn't get much better than this three album run that we are in the middle of.

    I will take a short break and hope to catch up on the rest later tonight!
     
  8. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "Autumn Almanac"
    Wow. What else can I add to all the brilliant posts so far? I am very happy to see all the love for it. Who else could write a song like this? It definitely feels like the bridge from Something Else to Village Green. In a sea of very British Kinks songs, this one may take the cake, or should I say the currant bun? The lyric that begins with "I like my football" we hear a vocal style that will come up several times throughout the years. I love how Ray has so many voices that he chooses to fit the lyrics and mood of a song. This song always turns into a sing-along in my house. To follow up "Waterloo Sunset" with this song and with "The Village Green Preservation Society" on the horizon is nothing short of miraculous.

    Susannah's Still Alive
    Sounds like a throwback to that long ago year of 1966. This makes for an excellent single with the B side "Funny Face". Poor Dave had to try and keep up with his dominating older brother, but like Susannah he manages to stay alive.

    Happy to be back and caught up!
     
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  9. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Needle Time.
    Edit: @Scottsol beat me to it up thread.
     
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  10. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Iam astonished it lasted until 1988!
     
  11. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!
     
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  12. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Please tell me if iam incorrect but I thought I heard an interview where Larry Page said that he tried to approach Sinatra's people with one or two Ray Davies penned songs.
     
  13. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Have they stated why it was such a disaster?
     
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  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Live at Kelvin Hall

    [​IMG]
    Live album by
    the Kinks
    Released
    16 August 1967 (US), 12 January 1968 (UK)
    Recorded 1 April 1967, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland. Mixing and dubbing at Pye Studios No. 2, London, throughout April 1967
    Genre Rock
    Length 34:18
    Label Pye (UK), Reprise (US)
    Producer Ray Davies

    Live at Kelvin Hall is a 1967/68 live album by British rock group the Kinks. It was recorded at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, in early 1967. The album was released in August 1967 in the US (as The Live Kinks), and January 1968 in the UK. Live at Kelvin Hall received mixed reviews upon release, and sold poorly.

    The album was first re-released on CD in 1987.[1] In 1998, the album was reissued with both the mono and stereo mixes present. Unlike many albums in the Kinks catalogue which have received Deluxe Edition formats, Live at Kelvin Hall was passed on by Andrew Sandoval, who, at one point, attempted to remix the album. The mono mix was absent from the 2011 box set The Kinks in Mono, but was present in the 2005 box set The Pye Album Collection.

    • Ray Davies - lead vocals, backing vocals on "Come On Now", rhythm guitar
    • Dave Davies - lead guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on medley, lead vocals on "You're Looking Fine" and "Come On Now"
    • Pete Quaife - bass guitar, backing vocals
    • Mick Avory - drums
    Technical
    • Alan MacKenzie - chief engineer
    • Alan O'Duffy, Vic Maile - assistant engineers
    Side one
    1. "Till the End of the Day" – 3:20
    2. "A Well Respected Man"* – 3:12
    3. "You're Lookin' Fine" – 3:28
    4. "Sunny Afternoon" – 4:40
    5. "Dandy" – 2:06
    Side two
    1. "I'm On An Island" – 2:53
    2. "Come On Now" – 3:02
    3. "You Really Got Me" – 2:13
    4. Medley – 8:53 "Milk Cow Blues" (John Estes) "Batman Theme" (Neil Hefti) "Tired of Waiting for You"
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wikipedia----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am a bit torn with this one.
    From my perspective it is one of those sixties live albums that shows how far live recording came in the seventies. My cd is pretty poor sounding and it makes it seems like the band is playing on another continent surrounded by a wall of audience.

    We unfortunately only one thing available on youtube and it is just a straight run through the album on one link.

    I completely understand what folks have already described that they loved about this in the thread so far. With a lot of the tracks being unavailable and then this album coming out in the US in August 67 before the Something Else album came out.
    For me it is an interesting piece of history, but it just hasn't got a clear enough sound for me to enjoy it for any frequency of listening....

    Anyway please give us all your thoughts about this and the songs as we go here.

    Till The End Of The Day

    This track opens us up and it is a good track to open with. We get one of the guitars prominent in the mix, and Ray sounds like he is miles away. the backing vocals come through pretty well. The drums exist, but are certainly not clear.
    The performance sounds really solid, but it is swamped by poor sound.

     
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  15. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Basically it was a desperately uncool teeny bop tour of the kind a more established and progressive band like The Kinks shouldn’t have accepted by this point in their career. They were outshone by the strong teen appeal of the young Pete Frampton and it was kind of a waste of their time. Most of their peers had either retired from the stage or were moving into hipper/underground concerts by then, and yet here the Kinks were still on a package tour like it was 1964. It clearly didn’t help the single either, which bombed chart wise!
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2021
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well Respected Man - starts at 3:30

    In some ways this works a little better, being a less rock track.
    The guitar is still prominent, but it is a more measured and less aggressive style, so it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the instruments too much.
    We can make Ray out a little better here.
    I am supposing the reverb is the hall reverb, and it kind of overwhelms the music.

     
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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    You're Looking Fine - starts at 6:30

    To some degree the levels here seem a little more balanced, and again we can hear Dave but he is swamped in reverb.
    To be honest when I hear live albums from the sixties like this, it makes me wonder if folks that say they hate live albums were exposed to these and never noticed how far live albums came through the seventies and eighties.
    The lead guitar is almost inaudible. We get to hear that Ray was a solid rhythm guitarists though.

     
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  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Sunny Afternoon - starts at 10:10

    Again being a little less rock, this track comes through a little more clearly.
    That rhythm guitar still dominates the mix. We can hear the bass and the vocals are audible.
    One good thing I can say about this, if it is the real live audience recording we can hear the enthusiasm.
    It is a real shame Andrew Sandoval couldn't find a way to remix this for some edition , or reissue, because the playing sounds really quite good, but it is just such a messy live sound.

    At 14:06 we get an audience singalong.

     
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  19. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    I thought Sandoval did do a remix but it’s still unreleased?
     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Dandy - starts at about 15:20

    Dandy is obviously a really popular track with the audience.
    Again a less rock sound, gives us the ability to hear the song a little more. Again we get a good performance. Again we have Ray's guitar somewhat dominating the mix, we can hear Ray's vocal pretty well, but again the cavernous reverb.

     
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  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Not sure mate....
     
  22. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    That was my remembrance from the Deluxe CDs thread as well - I thought it was done but then cancelled. It could be a nice bonus in a Face to Face or Something Else SDE...
     
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  23. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Til The End Of The Day
    With typical Pye quality, this was listed as "All Day And All Of The Night" on the sleeve and "Til The End Of The Day" on the label (or the other way round). My CD version plumps for one of them only, and gets it wrong, listing ADAAOTN on the insert and disc. Sounds like a good performance, but the balance isn't great. Most prominent in the mix is Pete's bassline, so it's just as well he gets it right!

    A Well-Respected Man
    Better balance this time, although Pete's bass is again very prominent. I like the performance though - the melody comes across really well in the chorus.

    You're Looking Fine
    Is the reverb causing Dave to sound double-tracked? Again, a good performance, and I rather like the grungey sound of this take. Of course, by the time this album was released, the Kinks had moved past this type of material.
     
  24. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    While Kelvin Hall wasn't included in Sanctuary's 2011 Kinks in Mono CD box set it was included in Sanctuary's 2016 Kinks in Mono LP box set. Without wanting to rekindle the mono versus stereo debate (ref Beatles box set threads) mono really is the best way to hear this album - and I believe any album up to 1967. At the very least it projects the energy of the recording. As for the quality of this live release, well, that's another matter. Maybe it would be fine if it wasn't for the constant screaming, which is impossible to ignore. On this, I have to quote a NME review from 1975 (for some reason) by Charles Shaar Murray: "The first thing you notice is the curiously tinny sound of the band, as opposed to the upfront, full-bodied quality of the screaming..."

    By the way, I did a cross-format comparison of audio quality using Autumn Almanac and found the Mono LP box set recordings reigned supreme. And for this live recording, the balance of instruments and vocals is perfect on the LP. Even the screaming sounds a little muted, which is a mercy!
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2021
  25. Steve62

    Steve62 Vinyl hunter

    Location:
    Murrumbateman
    Is the cavernous reverb we hear on these versions the same as fake stereo - e.g. putting one of the channels 1/10th of a second behind the other?
     

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