The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Saturday afternoon side note: ‘Something Else’ continues to be a strong candidate for my top 100 albums list. I ruthlessly slashed through the old guard list and currently have nine albums jousting for seven slots. (I just hope nothing else by The Kinks, as we continue our journey, blows me away and forces me into another untenable position!)

 

Luckily for your list, Nothing Else by the Kinks doesn't exist!

Unluckily for your list, Arthur and Lola do exist!

 

“I’m Crying” is another decent song. Not amazing, but serviceable and would do what it needs to do on an album. I agree the beginning sounds a bit Hendrix-like, and I do hear some Ogden Nut Gone Flake-era Small Faces in there too.

The more I listen to this album, the more I like all the songs, and I am getting used to Dave’s vocals dominating an album. Sequencing certainly needs adjusting, and the styles are a bit varied. But the songs seem to fall into 2 categories: a countryish tilt, and then just flat out rockers. It all could work on an album. It’s hard to say whether it should have been a “Dave” solo album, or just a Kinks album featuring Dave’s songs. I imagine a Kinks album called “The Dave Davies Project” or “The Dave Davies Quartet”. I don’t see these songs sprinkled into Arthur, but perhaps another 1969 release with 1 or 2 Ray songs sprinkled in.

“Mr Reporter” - definitely prefer this version, but still too biting to actually be on an album at the time.

 

And I thought I was being subtle!

 

I’m guessing my top 100 albums would have at least three Kinks albums. I’m not sure how I would ever go about finding out! Such a difficult task to keep it under 100 and not limiting certain artists.

 

I agree - it's too confronting and difficult task to seriously consider!

 

I wonder who actually plays bass on Dave’s “Mr. Reporter”—Quaife or Dalton?

 

I know that some of my fellow Avids have suggested that some of Dave's songs could fit onto Arthur, but you have to consider that it was a project that Granada TV commissioned Ray to do & I'm not sure if Dave was supposed to be involved aside from his usual musician duties. Again, I think that between the backlog of songs between Ray & Dave, you could put together another solid Kinks album as Avid Donstemple has suggested.

I'm currently watching the Kinks' 1982 German TV concert while bashing this out. Very strange to see Ray w/a full beard. I wonder what the story was behind that.

 

Without reading the Hidden Treasures booklet, I'll make a guess that it was Pete.

 

I just meant that stuff like “Mr. Reporter” sounds like an Arthur track with the brass, not that any of the Dave-led stuff should have been on there. Nothing from Dave’s solo stuff actually seems appropriate for Arthur thematically, unlike, say, maybe “Lincoln County” fitting on Village Green.

But I agree with you—they could have put out a really solid second album in 1968. I’m not sure that Ray had enough non-Arthur-related leftover material to flesh out a second 1969 album.

 

Tricks of the trade. Neil gets 3 and then another 2 with Crazy Horse!

The exercise is a lot of fun. And is subject to change at any moment. I just finished (I think) and have 60s: 12; 70s: 52; 80s: 6; 90s: 16; 00s: 10; and 10s: 4
I’d really like to winnow down the 70s but so far still just over half.

 

While Mr. Reporter uses the same brass musicians and the same conductor/arranger (Lew Walburton) as the Arthur tracks, the way they are used is very different. On Arthur we get a trumpet forward, bright, loud big band sound playing accents. Mr. Reporter is more trombone heavy and the band play a counter melody.

So for me, the brass no more links Mr. Reporter to Arthur than King Crimson and Dire Straits are similar because they are both feature genius level lead guitarists who also run the band.

 

Okay, but as you said, the Dave songs use the same conductor/arranger as the Arthur tracks. They were also recorded around the same time. Fripp doesn’t play in Dire Straits and Knopfler doesn’t play in King Crimson.

Village Green didn’t use brass and neither does Lola.

Dave’s December 1968 sessions don’t use brass either.

So since they were recorded at the same time, with the same band (although possibly different bassists), with the same conductor/arranger as Arthur, and that the immediately preceding and following Kinks albums don’t employ brass, I made the comparison. I’m also considering “Groovy Movies” and “Mr. Shoemaker’s Daughter,” both of which use bright trumpets, as I recall (I haven’t listened to either of them recently).

 

Going on the dates in Mark’s introductory post (recorded 3/69 and 6/69) I think the most likely scenario is that the basic track (with Quaife still on bass) was taped in March and the brass overdub was added in June.

 

I'm Crying

Just heard this a minute ago for the first time.
An effective Dave song and i can see why @mark winstanley alludes to a Hendrix influence in the intro but I hear it elsewhere also.
I enjoy the music and it is very of its time but I find myself a little ambivalent about the lead vocal and lyrical content.
For a demo it's pretty killer though!

 

This sounds Muswell Hillbilly-ish to me, and that album was recorded August to October 1971. I guess it could have been influenced by 1969's "The Band," but the most likely scenario is that he was riffing of Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story," (both the album and particularly that title song) which came out in May 1971.

 

I kind of feel that Muswell Hillbillies will be right up your alley.... I'll be interested to see how that album strikes you.
We head into Arthur next, and although initially I didn't connect with it, over the last five or six months it has been steadily rising in my list of favourites

 

Mr Reporter

Though I usually prefer Ray's voice Dave gets the chocolates here and he makes it his own with more urgency and angst.
The brass is excellent as are the propulsive and jaunty lead guitar fills!
I wish I could be like David....Davies!

 

Muswell Hillbillies (and Village Green) were both on my list pre-thread. And easily survived The Great Purge. ‘Something Else’ is the first album that has risen to such lofty heights solely due to a forum deep dive. And I thank you (and all thread participants) for it.

 

I'm Crying: it rocks and it’s catchy, but I suppose it does not stand tall amongst the true Kinks classics or even the very Best of Dave’s songs. Nonetheless, I find with the kinks thus far, if it’s a good Kinks song and it’s under three minutes, it’ll make my playlist (Which obviously means that most of their songs will ultimately make one of my playlists). This one might be towards the bottom, But it will probably squeak in.

Mr Reporter: I guess the downside to falling behind is that everybody says what there is to be said. I will simply be redundant and agree with many of the other posters here that the original version, with Ray on vocals, sounds a bit repetitive and one dimensional. By contrast, for whatever reason, Dave’s vocals fit better and the music seems a little richer and more vibrant. Even though it’s not a topic that is highly interesting to me, overall the song is catchy enough that it would again make one of my playlists (although somewhere in the nether regions).

 

If you put the playlist on shuffle you’ll never know!

 

You might go back and check your reaction to Face To Face. For me, it should never be slighted in any way.

 

Yes, I often think of Rick Danko's charisma and rock'n roll persona when listening to Dave's stuff. But it's true Climb Your Wall has even more of that shambolic Rod/Faces/Lane quality that graces some of the Hidden Treasures demos, as @palisantrancho also noted. There's more than just mere coincidence here, as I seem to remember Rod was in the same school as Ray and Dave, and even sang/auditioned for them in their pre-Kinks years!

 

I completely agree about the comparison to Rod Stewart. It sounds so much like Rod’s early solo stuff (vocally and arrangement-wise). Supposedly this recording is from 1969 or 1970 though, but who knows!

 

I had no idea. (If it was mentioned up thread it must have been hard for my mind to grasp.) Very interesting