Yes! So great. It's even better with the visual which you can find on the Rolling Thunder Review documentary. This isn't a great clip, but the only I can find. A good reason to watch the documentary! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_DoCjwowZw
I did miss this section of the thread. I will check this one out and I guess I should go and check out the work Ray did with them too. I like that term “walkabout”, I think I will start calling this last year+ my “walkabout” (calling it my lost weekend seems a little too sloppy). …and thank you, it feels good to be back in the fold!
Well, I can think of worse things to do! All we need is a fire pit, cheap beer, popcorn and we’re all set!
Next 40 submitted. I had quite a large slice of leftover Pye (inevitable) from my 40 + honourable mentions in the earlier round. But I let a few go, reordered liberally, and sprinkled in a decent dose of RCA and Arista as well. Even a smidge of MCA. --- Reading of others' hesitation, I guess there was a heavy dose of ignorance is bliss for me . Not a big social media person and while I knew vaguely about the existence of the thread, I knew nothing at all about the forum itself. The quality of the writing, the diversity of opinions and knowledge, the personal anecdotes and plainly evident enthusiasm, kindness, and camaraderie of the participants here drew me in immediately. The wickedly clever humour helps too! I joined when I got curious about the top 40 countdown results my brother was reporting after he had submitted my list. I lurked for only a couple of days, reading from around the beginning of the top 40 reveals. I saw that @Steve62 had mentioned the submissions included a few lists from non-regulars, including mine, and my brother was also mentioning my results so I just ... jumped in and introduced myself. Quite a few people went out of their way to welcome me directly (thanks!), so I figured it was ok. Kudos @mark winstanley and all contributors for this community you have fostered. Thanks just generally for acting nice and gentle, being open to/respectful of all tastes and opinions, and so welcoming to newcomers/latecomers crashing the party. It is a pleasure to hang around here. (And please don't mind if you see I'm liking your ancient posts once I have a chance to work my way through from the beginning...)
I think that’s what made this thread so great. Everybody on here clearly loves the kinks. And over the course of whatever it’s been (2+ years? I am too lazy to look back to see when we started), on the rare occasion when someone would drop in to try to serve up some Haterade, we all politely showed them the door. This has been a real safe haven to geek out and enjoy/explore what a genius Ray and Dave and the rest of the kinks were in all their various permutations. As I recall, y hey were a couple of participants in the early days who made somewhat noisy exits when they felt that we had reached the point in the kink’s career arc where the kinks had peaked and they couldn’t be bothered to explore the band’s later music. That’s their loss. But there hasn’t been much like that. This has been a pretty dedicated group. This was such a great group of people and such a friendly zone that we all opened our minds and explored each other’s favorite eras, and we are all walking away enriched and enlightened as a result. Without this thread, I would’ve put on those albums from the RCA era, listened with half an ear, and put them away again, probably this time permanently (circus music!). Instead, we had amazing people on here that deeply loved those songs and they helped me slow down and realize how fantastic that whole era was, even if there weren’t the raging riffs and slashing solos I would typically desire in a song. … and who knows, maybe my enthusiasm and passion for Live Life has won over some of you non-metalheaded kinks fans too!
I'm so happy I liked Video Shop before it was cool, I didn't need any cajoling from the thread. This rendition of the list, anyway Anyway, happy birthday Dave! I'll highlight one of his excellent songs from Chosen People: I know we highlighted this already in the thread but Dave pre-empts the Quiet Quarryman's sound on Cloud Nine by several years (ok fine yes Jeff Lynne got there first but Dave rocked it so well here!)
I'm not sure where I first heard the term, but I know it's Aussie and have been known to use it now and again. It's a good one.
Well sis, would have been great to have you along for the journey from near the start. I think you have enunciated many of the reasons I have soldiered on pretty much daily approaching nearly three years now. I haven’t been the most active Avid. But I have read every word and consider my life improved because of it. So what I am saying is … Better late than never.
Given the specific free form discussions of the last week, it seemed a good time to take a little break. We've all been to concerts where you lose interest for a song or two and you answer a natural call at that particular pre-planned point and visit this area while grabbing another that will make you visit it again later in the show: The plan is to be back, refreshed, and ready to go when the next song (or in this case, topic) captures and resumes your interest, so this week's stuff was that for me. One topic did catch my eye about the people who are or were posting in the thread at one point but are not now, etc., so commenting on that now: Personally, I like having somewhat of a closed society (green village or otherwise) here in our thread. There are lots of Kinks fans on this Forum but as was suggested at the outset of this thread, it was likely that many of those folks would (and did) drop out adhering to the “Kinks lost it and sucked after 1971/1972” belief that has become “fact” simply from being repeated so many times, copied and pasted ad nauseum especially in this day and age of social media where one article that states this gets cited and repeated in another 100 sites and goes from there. The so-called self-fulfilling prophecy. For the dropouts, that’s their loss in terms of the music and potential and probable enjoyment and enlightenment, but they also missed out on the camaraderie of this thread itself that got stronger and stronger and more friendly and personal as a result, as more people dropped out leaving the truly dedicated and immersed folks here exchanging thoughts, ideas, opinions, and knowledge as before and luckily we added a few more after that who have only enhanced things by being willing to jump on board. The flow of the thread changed too, and we saw a gradual shift where more intimate personal life experiences, whether related to The Kinks or not, began to be shared and posted which brought not only laughs and smiles, but also shared empathy and sympathy for happy and sad events alike that we have all gone through that have changed the course of our lives. At the same time, there has been a mutual respect from most everyone which has pretty much defined and been the difference between this thread and just about all others. I don’t agree with all the opinions posted just as I don’t expect (or want) everyone to agree with mine. But I absolutely respect everyone’s point of view and approach to it all. We might like the same song in equal measure but for entirely different reasons and they are all valid. A “Like” I give to a post may indicate I agree with you, or it may mean I respect your opinion and willingness to share it even if I don’t necessarily agree with it. Unlike other threads, nobody is trying to win an unwinnable subjective argument or anything else here and that is refreshing. I think we’ve done an outstanding and very credible job and effort of evaluating the entire catalog from every possible angle and vantage point and had those folks stuck around some may have very well found this out and agreed and had their opinions changed if they were willing to dive in, take stock, and admit it. Some folks stick to their guns publicly in an effort to save face even though privately they know they are wrong and have been proven wrong. It’s true we don’t have a lot of new people posting this late in this mammoth thread, though I think we still have a lot of lurkers who check in but never post. One thing that amuses me is that some folks post or ask questions in other old or dormant Kinks threads on topics that have been thoroughly analyzed, covered, discussed and answered right here without bothering to even check in here, like they’re scared to comment on or ask about it here. I’ve seen some names over and over in those threads doing this, but not here in this thread. Why? I venture that any comment or question that anyone can possibly have about the music of The Kinks, Ray and Dave has already been thoroughly discussed, digested, analyzed, and answered several times over right here. If not, ask away. We’ll do our best and do it in a friendly and hopefully helpful tone. That may be the exact reason right there though. I’ve long thought it might also be an intimidation factor, especially during the later stages of the band and the thread. Some new Forum members may get the idea that we have a closed society in our thread with seeing the same couple of dozen names over and over offering outstanding commentary in just about every post and they may not feel comfortable jumping into an already ongoing discussion. We know that’s not true, and all are welcome, but I can understand how that idea might be construed while reading this thread. There is an immense amount of opinion and information here and it cannot be anything but overwhelming to someone not entirely versed in the band or someone entirely new to The Kinks. If this is you, my only suggestion is to start on page 1 of this thread, keep an open mind and a notebook, and enjoy. You are in for quite the journey and there is no one book out there that will give you what is here in this thread in terms of the breadth of written text about the band, the music, the history, the importance, and the impact of this band than you will read right here. Not even close. I welcome as much discussion and questions as possible by experts and newbies alike, but if whatever we’re doing here keeps the trolls, ignoramuses, and aholes out, so be it. I’m good with that too, closed greened village society or not.
walkabout - Google Search What happens in a walkabout? The movie takes its title from a custom among the Australian Aborigines: At the time of transition to young manhood, an adolescent went on a “walkabout” for six months in the outback, surviving (or not) depending on his skills at hunting, trapping, and finding water in the wilderness.
It's there all right! Such a wonderful tune… It was a key Dylan record for me because it introduced me to One More Cup of Coffee… which proved important for two reasons : 1/ I got introduced to one of the most beautiful songs in the world. 2/ It showed me how Bob's able to reinvent his own tunes in the most unexpected ways. Now, before getting back to Kinks duties (and pleasures), I hope @Michael Streett and @DISKOJOE will allow me one last (?) entry related to this free form Dylan week of ours. I’ve watched the We Are the World documentary (called The Greatest Night in pop), about the night the song was recorded, with about 50 American superstars in the room and there were a few neat little anecdotes that I thought deserved their own “free form” moment. Diana Ross crying at 6am, when everybody leaves, saying “I don’t want this to be over”. Prince accepting to come to the session, but only "in a different room" to put down a "guitar solo"! Al Jarreau drunk out of his mind when the moment came for him to sing his lines, Cyndi Lauper's jewelry rattlings ruining a few takes, Waylon Jennings leaving the place when Stevie Wonder tried to make the whole bunch sing in Swahili (before someone told him nobody speaks Swahili in Ethiopia anyway!), Paul Simon’s cracking the joke “man, if a bomb lands on this room, John Denver’s back on top of the charts”). Lots of great little stories, moments of camaraderie, ego, tension. The best is Dylan’s face in the beginning, during the take for the big chorus. Quincy Jones decides that only the singers able to sing in Michael Jackson’s key should sing this part, the low octaves not needed. You can read on Bob’s face that he's asking himself if he can reach the notes or not, decides not to try, starts wondering what the hell he’s doing there anyways. And then comes the moment for him to sing his "solo". And it’s pretty clear he doesn’t know how to approach it. He’s listening to the backing track, trying to figure out his part. It’s utterly fascinating. He may be one of the most important persons in the room, he's also the most mismatched around all these famous stars that are first and foremost great technical singers. You get a lot of close ups on Bob's face and you can see that he’s really trying to figure out what to sing… and failing. He asks to listen to the track again, but time’s running short. And then something happens that is absolutely priceless. Stevie Wonder decides to sit at the piano, starts playing the song and begins… singing in Bob Dylan’s voice!! Stevie wonder impersonating Bob Dylan to show Bob Dylan how he should approach his solo!!! Bob listens, he laughs, everybody laughs… He goes to the mic and does his own Dylan thing. One take. He seems pretty unsure of what he's just done. "It wasn't any good", he smiles, almost disoriented… but everybody comes and congratulates him, “great Bob, perfect Bob, you nailed it Bob”. At first, he doesn’t believe it, then says “if you say so…” in all incredulity, with self-doubt like you’d never thought seeing Bob Dylan expressing. And then he smiles in relief and it’s the most touching thing I’ve ever seen him doing, that smile. And that’s when Bruce says “Nice, Dylan”, or something like that. One of the very best Dylan moments I’ve seen.
While we are still on Dylan, with our 2nd great Kinks countdown coming soon, here is another song reinterpretation I Love. I was never big on the studio cut on Empire Burlesque, but he revived it some 7-8 yrs later, with this re-arrangement at the Supper Club. Ace! Tight Cinnection To My Heart
All this talk of Dylan on freeform Sunday got me thinking of my favourite Dylan songs. I used to collect his live bootlegs (often well recorded) in the days where he regularly made radical changes to his setlist - so I got to enjoy a bunch of songs I probably would never have played that much on the studio albums. Some of his best shows were during his “Christian period” - as shown in the Trouble No More box set (Bootleg Series vol 13) a few years ago. Here’s a good example from that set of a song that would likely make my top 40. Live in the wonderful French city of Avignon:
For my part, my allocation for the second top 40 was as follows: 24 from Arista (and beyond (2 of 24 selected from the “beyond” period)) 11 slices of Pye 5 RCAs Clearly I went heavy on the meat and potatoes era and light on the Pye. There were a whole lot of tunes from the RCA era just bubbling under but they weren’t effervescent enough to float up into the second top 40. I would guess if we take it out another 20 to 40, then the RCA albums would finally get the recognition they deserve from me. …but my count might be unreliable, everyone has already seen that my counting skills are a bit suspect.
I had been waiting for a few Sundays to post a few of my sons GT-40 Ford Sports Cars but when the last few came around like Murphy's law they could not be found on that day of any week..... until now! I believe this is an early model circa 1965-'66 and perhaps a MK I that won Le Mans in 1968-'69 when it was getting beyond its shelf life. N.b. I believe a MK II won in 1966 as per the Ford V Ferrari film? Below is a MK IV from 1967 P.s. Hmm there may just be some truth to the rumour that i selected these models.
I too came out in support of this much maligned song. I said it at the time, and I will say it again, it reminded me of an INXS song. I don’t envision too many supporters of INXS amongst our little group, but I always thought they took the Rolling Stone’s rock-on-the-dance floor sound (let’s call it the Some Girls through Tattoo You era) and ran with that. Considering Listen Like Thieves is released in 1985 and was quite the hit, and Think Visual was 1986, perhaps Ray was listening a bit to a little INXS while recording TE. Even if he didn’t go out of his way to listen to it, the hits from Listen Like Thieves was all over the radio, and would have been hard to avoid hearing. Despite appreciating it, Natural Gift did not make my second top 40 either. In fact, nothing from TE made it onto my top 8o. I do like that album quite a bit. I like it enough that, even though I do like Natural Gift, I count five other songs from TE that would have made my list ahead of it.
I really like INXS, but it's Shabooh Shoobah and the Swing for me... I could see Natural Gift being on X or something... I just don't like it.... oh well
Love INXS!! so I'm a fan! ain't nuthin' about being a Kinks fan that would disqualify me from digging this group.
this was just posted to YouTube yesterday. Hopefully here to stay! I've seen the acoustic performance of Waterloo Sunset (where Ray nearly cracks up at the very beginning) and maybe the Lola rendition, but the rest of this show is new to my eyes. Something to do on a Sunday... 1.Life On The Road 00:50 2.Celluloid Heroes 6:34 3.Waterloo Sunset 12:05 4.Live Life 14:20 5.Lola 19:07 6.Hay Fever 22:31
