On holidays i did see a Japanese White Label Promo with Obi of Think Visual plus both of Ray's Americana LP's, Dave's Barcode, Glamour and a sealed Bottom Line which i purchased. As for other Kinks Album rarities I did see a nice Australian Astor copy of Kinda Kinks but no super rarities or any decent UK 60's originals.
Clearly The Kinks missed a marketing opportunity with their clothing by not including a Mick Avory his and hers interchangeable Underpants range!
Sounds like a very pleasant little trip; very cool that you had Kinksian piano accompaniment not once, but twice! And of course, hint well received and signal boosted. Don't forget London's romantic views and how much I missed you, people!
I'm for one Ray song and one Dave song each day. Discuss both songs, and then make them fight to see which one wins!! @ajsmith, you were just fine on the Jewish/garlic controversy. You didn't try to settle the matter and it was the right attitude in my opinion. Just explain the TV show context, express a bit of puzzlement and try being sensible with the idea that some people could feel offended. That's what you did, and I think it's really fine. The song doesn't offend me, I must say, bur I do feel some reassurance whenever Kinks fans express a bit of cautiousness when he subject comes up. But really, as a Jewish guy, I'm fine with it, I think I would sense if there was something very nasty about it. It's not the case in my opinion, I think the idea (as was certainly mentioned two years ago) is just that most prejudices and physical flaws suddenly dissolve when it's time to "think of England" (is it the correct euphemism ?). And this, I think, is another quite funny Ray Davies observation!
As a lover of garlic, I do feel a little bit offended though. But the song is funny, and offers a plausible explanation for how the human species managed to thrive and multiply against all odds. Anyway, I have to turn my Dave list in by tomorrow, and one crucial question, though brilliantly put forward by @markelis , doesn't seem to have found an answer: do Bug/de-Bug/Life after life count as one song ?... (Maybe there was an answer and I missed it ?)
I just finished my Dave list by arbitrarily taking some songs out, including the Bug suite. Problem solved.
Funny, I got an EMail yesterday from a friend and colleague who is a brilliant keyboard player and Grammy nominated producer, currently living in Norway. He was asking me if I’d ever “sat with” Ray’s Americana work and how he thought it was Ray in top form. He’d never heard it before. I sent him back a mixed review, mostly concerning the musical backing and how I preferred Dave’s playing on rootsy material because it had so much more personality. But maybe Ray just became more controlling.
Cold Chisel They were around in my formative musical years of 9 to 15 and absolutely had a well deserved Stellar live reputation and as has been stated possessed the heart and nuance alongside the grit. Don Walker was a great writer, Ian Moss a great guitarist and Jimmy Barnes a great charismatic and forceful frontman who had a very good voice for some years. ( My Apologies to the drummer as i can't recall if I knew if he also wrote and sang?) Whilst never a major fan it was always great to hear their songs on the radio as there was always playing and hooks that were well crafted and thought out that made it very clear there was quality in this band. I recall taping You Got Nothing I Want and playing it over and over in real time and then flash forward to around 2015 when i had a client that was a huge Chisel fan and told Mr the back story of the band refusing to play ball with the US suits on their terms. There was a lot of fanfare around Khe Sanh so i didn't pay it a close and unbiased scrutiny for some years but by the time I was DJ'ing Weddings, Parties & Anything else I would Insert it by choice at the end of the night as a fitting celebration and acknowledgement of something meaningful shared for those present. In late '83 circa the bands last waltz or er Stand I had become far more appreciative and cognizant of what they were all about so joined in on what seemed like a near national lament at their announced disbanding and final shows. I recall a live show was filmed and footage was all over the place for a time on the television with it at some point shown in full. Years later I recall reading some posthumous band interviews reminiscing on their demise (in I think Rolling Stone?) and Don Walker sighed and said he wished Jimmy Barnes would have calmed down a bit and cut down on his (demon) alcohol. I guess in the wash up that even at a distance I was am or eventually became a working class fan!
Taxes done, filed, and paid so now I can move on to the solo lists. When are these due, tomorrow the 12th? I guess I better get on it so as not to not be perceived as listless. Speaking of tee shirts, this is one we discussed during the One For The Road album discussion as a shirt sold at concerts prior to that album's appearance and with its at-the-time-intended album title and it is still available on eBay should you desire said shirt. It's only $279.49 at the moment. Good thing too. Potential buyers may balk if the price was any higher at, say, $279.53. Vintage Kinks Double Life One For The Road Shirt Sir Ray Davies Brit Invasion | eBay How can you beat me when you just admitted you can't keep a beat?
Yay. I've submitted both my Ray and Dave top 20s today. The song styles of the two brothers are different - something we knew from their sixties work - but it's still striking how little overlap there is in the musical style of their solo work. You could argue that a hypothetical collaboration between the two would have generated songs better than either released under their own names. But we could also argue that a collaboration wouldn't last a single day in the studio.
A clip of Khe Sanh hasn't been posted so I'll rectify that for the non-Australians among us. It's Cold Chisel's first single and most famous song. I don't think it was a hit at the time but over the years it became an Australian cultural institution. It always brought the house down when they played it live. Don Walker (keyboardist) wrote the lyrics after speaking to Vietnam veterans. The chorus - if that's what it is - kicks in near the end of the song. Fun fact: Australians didn't fight at Khe Sanh.
It’s a rather stormy morning here in the Witch City and it’s Laundry Day (2 loads; white & color). I was thinking of Bowie and something I read in the web about what would have happened if he gave up his dream of stardom after his attempts in the 60s and that he would have ended up working in an office, doing the 9 to 5 routine. Then it hit me in that it would kinda be like Soap Opera. Bowie, like Norman, came out of the suburbs. His parents probably had ducks on their walls. He had the imagination to wish himself away towards stardom, like Norman, but unlike him, he had the talent to do so. I never really thought of Soap Opera and Bowie together for the over 40 years I had the album until now. Just some random musing on a rainy Friday morning. PS: Cold Chisel had the goods. No wonder you Aussie Avids dig them.
Lol That's why I didn't put my hand up lol Give me time, and I could put together the figures scratched out on pieces of paper. Excell? I use it but minimally, and it wiuld likely take me longer to set up the spreadsheet than to scratch it all out lol
