First, more thanks to @Brian x for the wonderful story. It's always great to read more personal life events related to music from our group of regulars here that have affected, changed, and in a lot of cases, altered our lives. I know I echo others when I say I really appreciate it. Music has of course changed and altered my life in so many ways and I love reading how it has changed others. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Easy week for me, 0-fer four so far. None of the 4 really close to consideration, though maybe You Make It All Worthwhile may have had a shot at the pre cutdown list had I bothered with another pass through my album-ordered notes. 32 songs into this second installment of 60 and the trends are tracking along similar lines as the original top 40 in terms of eras. I'll wait until we get through the full 60 before suggesting an alternate reason not brought up yet as to why I think this continues to happen if the data ends up shaking out like it's tracking now and there's no reason now to think it won't. But I'll hold that before suggesting anything further. I'm a data guy and I need more data. There is an alternate mix to bring up, so I'll go there in the meantime. This is an alternate stereo mix of Brainwashed released on the 2019 Arthur SDE box set. It seems to be a new remix of the song in an earlier state of completion before some final overdubs were added as opposed to a remix of the full track with some elements simply mixed out. This is my own conjecture and guess as the liner notes do not explain any of this. The differences here are the drums have been moved to the center as opposed to being way over in the right channel as in the original (wonky™) stereo mix, and this new mix is missing the horns entirely and some percussion and backing vocal overdubs. This is why I think it is a pre-overdub mix and there are several of these new alternate mixes on that Arthur box set and they are all illuminating. You can really hear what Dave is doing on lead guitar in the left channel in this mix without the horns being there as they were always mixed with that lead guitar in the original 1969 mixes and obscured a lot of what Dave was doing and his parts sound great. New to the thread. For comparison, the original (wonky™ drums-right) stereo mix from the original album from earlier: The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song) I think I've mentioned this before, but back in my band days, one of my many other on again off again (non-prog) bands did the basic rock cover thing and somehow, I ended up as the lead singing drummer on one song as my one and only vocal spotlight from behind the kit and it was Don't Let Me Down by you-know-who. It probably started off as a joke, but I can't remember exactly how it happened. I certainly didn't offer it up to begin with. I'll just say there was a reason why I was never a lead singer and Thank God mobile phones did not exist back in those days. There are tapes, but they will never be exhumed.
Stop Your Sobbing is my third-favourite track from the debut album and I'm with @Paul Mazz , @Fortuleo , and @palisantrancho in preferring the Kinks' version to the Pretenders'. While I can certainly understand why many would rate it highly, this song has never been among my particular favourites, so wasn't really a contender for me. Brainwashed, on the other hand ... well, I just love it. And yet it is not one of the four Arthur tracks remaining on my list ...
I've got you all beat, I've never heard the Pretenders version, and hereby swear never to listen to it, in honor of this thread.
70 Stop Your Sobbing Unranked by me. I had never heard this before the thread, not even the Pretenders version. It’s a great song, but not my favorite style. It was featured in the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit. 69 Brainwashed Unranked by me again, but I do love all the riffs here! Ray’s lyrics are top notch and spit out with fury. The new remix does bring out Dave’s work, and also highlight’s Ray’s vocals a bit more, but I miss those horns. Love those horns in this. A bit surprised this made the list! I’m still holding out hope for Nothing to Say…
Michael if you had any fears about weak vocals standing out you certainly picked one out that would highlight them at the end of each line! Q: If we heard it would we Start Our Sobbing? As for data going forward is your prediction that; A) It will continue to be somewhat scattershot & B) It will still lean pretty heavily on Pye?
Stop Your Sobbing I first heard this song on the One For The Road album and assumed it must have been a big hit single for them at some point. I was really surprised to later learn that it was "only" a deep cut on the debut album. It's a very catchy and timeless song. I struggle a bit with the lyrics though - it sounds like the narrator is asking the other person to stop sobbing because that annoys him, rather than him actually being concerned why the other person is sobbing. He even says that his love is conditional: "There's one thing that you gotta do / To make me still want you / Gotta stop sobbing now" and also "It is time for you to laugh instead of crying". Still, the song is overall very good. Brainwashed To me, this is a very strong album track and an essential part of the Arthur album, but I never seek it out as a stand-alone song. I really like that the song feels so epic even though in reality it is a quite short song. The horns add a lot of flavour and intensity to the song, but I think Ray's vocals are buried too low in the mix.
Total agreement here! I don't want to hear the pretenders version! I don't need to. It's not a major song for me. It's very good and It was under early consideration for my second list, but it only felt like it should be there to represent the first album. It didn't make the first cut and never returned. So I'll gladly join you in taking that oath. Never heard it, never will. If I'm out somewhere and music is playing and it comes on I'll cover my ears and run screaming from the immediate area as soon as I recognize it.
68 Did Ya 1991 Did Ya EP/1993 Phobia* 236 points On 11 lists 2 top 10 Did Ya came in at 173 on my big list. A very cool song from the last batch of Kinks releases. It's interesting that they released an EP in 1993. Certainly back in the sixties they released many EP's, but of course the EP seemed to die out when the album era kicked in at full steam. This song was of course also included on many, but not all copies of Phobia, and as someone who only really buys albums, I'm pleased about that. 67 Fancy 1966 Face To Face 238 points On 8 lists 4 top 10 Fancy didn't make my 176, but really should have. To some degree The Kinks kind of sidestepped the psychedelic movement, but I think to some degree it also seems they preempted the psychedelic movement with songs like this. It's one of the things that struck me about the band on this thread, they sort of preempted the hard rock movement with You Really Got Me, the whole sixties world music scene with See My Friends, and generally they seemed to sow these seeds and then move on, whereas some other bands made a particular thing their entire style, at the very least for a couple of albums. Ray didn't seem particularly drawn to the idea of fashion, and just wrote the songs he wanted to write, and then moved on to something else
Episode 3 is out now! Ep. 3: Kinda Kinks (1965) Thoroughly Kinky: A Kinks Podcast: Ep. 3: Kinda Kinks (1965) on Apple Podcasts https://music.amazon.it/podcasts/fe...54a3807e9b39/thoroughly-kinky-a-kinks-podcast https://podcasts.google.com/search/thoroughly kinky
Did Ya A nice vocal hook which I'm wondering if the Whitlams coincidentally used on one of their numbers? Anyhow I went back and relistened wanting to pick this for my Top 80 but it wasn't strong enough overall for me. Fancy Well it certainly is and represents another moment when the Kinks stepped forward and more importantly outward and planted another flag for their friends (and fellow groups) to see even if it was a transitory detour under our old sun! Fancy made #14 in my first list and number #1 in my second Top 40! I'm not kidding, with some songs i really enjoy getting Psyched out! It could be a person or feeling or perhaps it needs to just be taken at face (to face) value with either of its meanings but either way it's a bit special and i want it!
67) Fancy (238) =67 68) Did Ya (236) >98 Positions 27 and 28 in our new top 40. Finally hit on another of mine and I bet you could guess which one! Fancy with 238 points is in the exact same position as last time, where it was tied with Berkeley Mews for 67th place. I love this song and hear it often (my #12). Did Ya garnered 236 points, moving up 30 places from #98 to #68. At the moment I'm not even sure how it goes but I will be in a minute. 26 titles remain to be seen.
I fancy Fancy. I didn't rank it but it's an integral part of the listening pleasure I get from Face to Face, my favorite song on the second side, except for Sunny Afternoon. And also Little Miss Queen of Darkness. And… no really, it's one of my favorites, one of their rare escapades on the other side of the psychedelic river, which they seldom crossed as we all know. At 2'29'', the track is remarkably short. Once the psychedelia era was in full bloom, just a few months later, this type of drone experiments became long trance inducing epics. But the Kinks keep it short, like another pop tune, an intriguing interlude, a poetic respiration in an otherwise surprisingly bluesy album side. I've just used the search engine to see what I wrote about it in 2021 (more than 2000 pages ago!). If you'll indulge me: I'm happy to say I subscribe to every word of this old post of mine. If Fancy was twice as long, I bet it would've long been rediscovered as a massive breakthrough in the mid-sixties pop canon. But they did it in style, modestly. Glad to see it didn't get unnoticed by our beautiful Thread group.
"Did Ya" - Yes, I did my best to get this one up the charts - #21 in my first list, going up to #5 in the second list. A fantastic song that, in its position as the last track on my copy of Phobia, provides the perfect full stop on the Kinks' studio album collection. Easily summarised as "Ray Davies revisits the 60s legacy in the present day and finds only disappointment and disillusionment". Obviously a few references to past works, but the song has enough qualities of its own to stand up. It's also a welcome contrast to some of the heavier material on Phobia. This track should be a lot better known, but at least it got a slot on an album for some of us. "Fancy" - Another Face To Face track that I've unjustly overlooked in my obsession to get "Session Man" into the countdown.
‘Did Ya’: and Ray says he isn’t a singer! And here he is, in full character-mode, crooning, warbling and growling and “whine whine whin(ing)” his way through this late Kinks gem. Number 37 on the redux list, I just listened again and wish I’d show-horned it into an even higher slot. ‘Fancy’: hmm, am listening to it now and am ashamed to admit I had it confused with ‘Dandy’! (I was wondering why everyone was going on and on about psychedelia. Ha ha.) Big mistake. But it still wouldn’t have made this list, I don’t think. It just kinda trails off…
68 Did Ya (unranked) I'm perplexed because I also shouldn't like this song; a basic 4/4 plodder with Dylanesque vocals.... ugh. But by the second verse, I'm starting to get into it and by the third, I'm totally hooked. Part of that is that there's some real musical creativity bubbling under that plodding surface, and part of it is the evolution in the story being told in the verses. Lyrically, the first verse had me thinking oh, please, but I should have known Ray had something else up his lyrical sleeve and he was just setting us up for greater impact. And then that subtle musical creativity and lyrical progression come together to totally captivate in the end. Yes. It's Brilliant 67 Fancy (unranked) This is another perfect example of a song I failed to properly appreciate when I was 19. I wanted more You Really Got Me and completely overlooked the beauty resident here. The more mature me knows better.
I considered Did Ya’ for a moment. I was completely unaware of this EP when it came out. The first thing that caught my ear was the line about Kings Road as I connected that to Tom Petty’s song Kings Road. It’s a cool throwback tune that probably should have been on Phobia. I like the opening of Fancy but it seems like it just never gets where I thought it would go. It could be more of a long term grower.
“Did Ya”/“Fancy”: No, I didn’t Fancy putting either one in my list, although I should have, since they’re both exceptional songs. It’s amazing how many musical styles the Kinks started and/or anticipated: YRGM/ADAAOTN: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock “See My Friends”: World Music “Fancy”: psychedelia “King Kong”: T. Rex/Glam “The Way Love Used To Be”: Kate Bush
Podcast 3 Schoolboy Is Displaced.... Thanks to Adam and Liam for their early '65 album refresher course! Handy and pertinent for me as I'm not a big wrap on the pre Face To Face albums consistencies and feel the gap between best songs and least good is most notable here. So again I needed to re sit Kink Klass and recall some minor gems so's to not throw the baby out with the bath water!
Did Ya was my #62. This was another find for me because of this thread. Very solid & enjoyable. Glad to see the latterest of the later day songs make the list. Fancy- This didn't make my Top 80, but think it'd make my Top 100 or very close to that. Very cool tune indeed. Lastly, So psyched to watch episode 3 later today or tonight! @ajsmith
