Yeah, I think there's a few like 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else' from that golden period, rediscovered by later fans and afforded god-like status (by the fans if not the band.) It'll be fun when we get round to discussing them.
No, no, you got me totally wrong: I rank several British Bands & artists of the Sixties still very high (Animals; Yardbirds; Them; Bluesbreakers; Kinks; Rolling Stones; The Who; Cream; Fairport Convention; Family; Incredible String Band; Pentangle; Spencer Davis Group & Traffic, plus 200 others). Only the Beatles, Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin are heavily overrated. So we are talkin' about a small amount of approximately 0,003 % of negligible "musicians" ´
It's an unfortunate reality that a lot of unusually talented, driven, and focused artists are very unpleasant people to be around, especially over the longhaul. And it's not just artists -- I'm sure most of us could name a coworker who was very good at what he did, and no one could stand. Never meet your heroes.
I TOOK MY BABY HOME A great fun track. Surprising lyrics with the guy refusing the girl's advances. An unusual theme for the time. The 'woahs' seem to indicate he wants the girl to be less aggressive (and incidentally I certainly don't hear 'won't' as in the lyrics Mark put up). Then again the singer's taken this girl home so he's also probably moaning out of pleasure. She knocks him out in more ways than one. Fine use of the harmonica all the way through by the way. I'M A LOVER NOT A FIGHTER How come every cover tune on the album so far is less good than the original? Again Dave's vocal is atrocious. But this time even his guitar solo is wonky. Funnily enough he says 'I can sing like a bee' which pretty much describes his problem.
I remember when I went to the (in the end) free gig Ray played in Hyde Park in 2013. I strolled on down to the front and buddied up with a group of (much older than myself) Kinks fans. We chatted about many different things (someone even said their favourite Kinks LP was Kinks!), but I'll always remember the bizarre halfway section when we broke into "Sittin' On My Sofa" out of nowhere.
That rings a bell. Did he have to sit in for Mick because he was injured? Or am I thinking of someone or something else? Hopefully we’ll discover all about it when we get to those tracks. sorry if this is off topic but, as has just been discovered, Clem Cattini played on a couple of Kinks songs so is now part of the family. I thought I’d just say, for anyone that doesn’t know, Clem has been on more U.K. No 1s than any other artist. He’s performed on an amazing 42 No 1 singles! That’s more than The Beatles, Elvis and Madonna combined! Worth a mention I thought.
From what I’ve read it was more likely that Micks absence for much of the Misfits LP was cos his and Daves relationship was at a particularly low point at the time! Cattini is on most of, if not all of the Kontrovesry LP, although exactly why remains a mystery given that Mick had by then played on most of Kinda Kinks, as well as the immediately preceding 3 singles and EP. Maybe the same reason as in ‘77!
of course the next track on the album is You Really Got Me, and if you missed it, the blue type on the track name means it's a link, and you can click on it and go back for a look. Cadillac This is a Bo Diddley track, and Bo was very famous for his particular groove and style. Here the Kinks rev the song up a bit and we get what sounds like an uptempo Willie and the Hand Jive. We open with a sort of wandering chordal intro, and then move into the somewhat breakneck pace of the Kinks version of this song. The arrangement is really pretty good. Again we get the harmonica used nicely for accents and rhythm support, and also taking the lead break. There is a sort of frenzied abandon the guys have in this song, that creates an interest all of its own. Again we get some nice harmonies from the guys that work well. Around the 1:30 point in the song, it almost sounds like it is going to move into a fade, as the backing track seems to drop in volume as the harmonica blasts away, but we roll back into the song . This probably isn't earth shattering, but I reckon it is one of the stronger covers on the album, if not the strongest.... Pretty cool all round really.
Big fan of Cadillac, always have been. It's got a real viable energy, and is a solid, fun cover. The stereo mix is fantastic to, with the doubled vocals spread in the L/R channels, and the backing track nicely balanced in the same way. A high point on the album.
Totally agree that this is a better cover than the others - speeding this up works quite well, and not having Dave on lead vocals is a welcome relief!
Bald Headed Woman Here we get the guys playing one of Shel Talmy's songs ... and one wonders if anyone that recorded with Talmy as producer didn't record one of his tracks as a prerequisite Anyway, here we open up like a mournful blues type track. We have a funeral march beat, with Ray singing the main vocal in a low and somewhat bluesy kind of feel. Slowly we get different elements introduced and the piano adds a nice flavour to the track. You kind of feel like this track is going to be a fairly standard kind of blues track and then we burst into a bit of a rave up, complete with handclaps, and just when it feels like it is going to be an instrumental coda to the song, Ray comes back in with some vocals. Another thing that interests me... there seem to be several songs about bald headed women in the sixties/fifties .... is this some kind of subtle reference to something else? I know it is something that happens but very rare. Anyway this isn't the greatest song ever written, but I kind of like the arrangement, and it works pretty well, even if not a particular favourite.
For the record guys, I am a song guy, and so far as my posts of the songs go, I am just posting a version ... It makes no difference to me if it is stereo or mono, as I am just looking at the song .... If I post the stereo version and you want to post the mono, or vice versa, please feel free to.
Public domain, well known in folk circles... Shel getting some royalties off his charges backs... here's a take...
Get out the flaming pitchforks, but I think I prefer The Who's cover of this rather ordinary song. Daltrey's vocal sells it more IMO.
Bad brain fart on my part several pages back... hadn't listened to Kinks "Cadillac" in years... forgot it was the Bo Diddley song til I heard it today... Hep Stars learned "Brand New Cadillac" from Birmingham's the Renegades, who were based in Finland where they turned the Vince Taylor "Brand New Cadillac" into the streamlined title "Cadillac" (in Finland it was obligatory to do this song after the Renegades took it to the top of the local charts; in essence the Finnish "Louie Louie")... Hep Stars took that title - "Cadillac" - with them... however, Hep Stars were still very influenced by the Kinks, covering two of their songs... just not learning Bo's "Cadillac" from the Kinks...
