Creeping Jean Definitely should have been the A side. Great performance on this one, great guitar tone and sliding bass part (which I think is actually the guitar). I always thought of Creeping Jean as a companion to Wicked Annabella. I'm Crying The rhythm section is super tight on this one. When we get to Arthur proper I'll have a lot more praise for the Kink's instrumental abilities during this era, but it really shines on this one in particular. The real fat bass tone especially. I'm guessing that's still Pete Quaife on bass judging by the late 68 recording date... I like the organ jabs too... reminds me of Something Else. Mr. Reporter I prefer ths version to the 66 demo. The horns worked so well for the Kinks at this era. Their previous few albums had horn arrangements here and there, but imo they perfected it on Arthur. It's interesting that they used trombone a lot... when I think of horn sections I think of slick trumpets and saxophones but the lower tones of the 'bone really blend perfectly. The arrangment and flow remind me of Groovy Movies, another Dave-sung Ray track from this era. Both are great, though I can see why they were excluded from Arthur since they're not as 'progressive' sounding and don't fit in with the concept.
Since this is probably the only rest day focused on Dave, I wanted to share a few videos I found of the exact show I attended when I saw Dave live in 2018. So you can see the setting and what he sounded like as of then. I believe the drummer with him is from the Smithereens, and the other guitarist with him was from Fountains of Wayne. Not sure about the bassist. Definitely wasn’t Pete or John! This one has “Tired of Waiting for You”, “Path is Long”, and “Too Much on My Mind”: Here’s “You Really Got Me”: https://youtu.be/HUqlh27z9vE Here’s “All Day and All of the Night”: https://youtu.be/46arJ-oOD2w Here’s another view of just “Too Much On My Mind”: https://youtu.be/IiTG5N9sDnQ I wish I had full videos of “Strangers” and “Young and Innocent Days”. And now that I know them, “Creeping Jean” and “Susannah’s Still Alive”! I only have this short clip I took of “Strangers” from where I was sitting: Streamable Video I am sad to say I have never seen Ray live. I had tickets to see him in 2010, but the show got cancelled because he wasn’t feeling well.
We haven’t done “Groovy Movies,” “Mr. Shoemaker’s Daughter” “Lincoln County” or “There Is No Life Without Love” yet, have we? Did I miss those days?
That's OK - I just saw it in a YouTube video. I listened to the radio broadcast of that concert in 1980 and taped the show although I don't have the tape anymore. It was a great show and I remember Bird Dog really well. Also they played Give The People What They Want which had not been released yet and Imagination's Real from Dave's first solo album.
Some of Dave's vocals on Decade sound a lot like Rod Stewart, 'Cradle to the Grave' for example, at least to my ears (uneducated when it comes to RS).
We haven't done the first two yet, but the latter two were covered starting at page 223, at the point they were released as a single.
I'm Crying For a demo, i like this! I think there's something really workable there to make it go to the next level. Mr Reporter OK, I like Dave's version of this so much better. I'm a sucker for the horns. It lightens up the viciousness of the lyrics. and it's totally interesting to hear Dave do vocals on a song that was meant for Ray's range. Not to be repetitive but I'm hearing Dylan. But that just may be part of Dave's voice when he goes more 'gruff'.
Like so many others, both Rod and the Kinks (especially Dave) heavily influenced by the Band and Mr. Dylan. This extends to instrumentation, vocal stylings and songwriting. Just wait until we get to Strangers!
Watching a show called Mr Inbetween at the moment. Season 3 episode 1 finishes with Well Respected Man... Nothing super amazing, but it tickled me somewhat.
Cool. Even so, and it is jumping ahead, but it sounds like Rick Danko fronting the Band, even more so on the recent remix. It doesn’t sound much like Hank.
The A side of the Hold My Hand 45 is what goes 'round and 'round in my head day after day while reading this thread.
The next track on the album is Lincoln County, and we ran through that as the single release HERE There is No Life Without Love closes what appears to be the original idea for the album, and it was the B-side, and we went through that HERE
Mr Shoemaker's Daughter. stereo mix, recorded probably Jan 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London Hey, Mr. Shoemaker's daughter, Hey, Mr. Shoemaker's daughter, Don't throw my love away. I'm coming home today. Hey, Mr. Green Grocer's daughter, Hey, Mr. Green Grocer's daughter, Don't turn your head away. Don't take the sun away. Every time I see you I wanna say "hey". But every time you see me you walking away from me. I've been gone for such a long, long time, But I'm coming home, gonna make you mine. Hey, Mr. Cake Baker's daughter, Hey, Mr. Bread Baker's daughter, I'm coming home today. Don't hide the world[?] away. Every time I see you I wanna say "hey". But every time you see me you walking away from me. I've been gone for such a long, long time, But I'm coming home, gonna make you mine. How is that fresh morning feeling? How is the dawn and the evening? I will be free today. Hey, Mr. Shoemaker's daughter, Hey, Mr. Shoemaker's daughter, I'll see you soon today. Hey, Mr. Dress Maker's daughter, Hey, Mr. Green Seller's daughter, Don't throw my love away. Written by: Dave Davies Published by: ? I really like this song. It has a great bouncy feel, and musically it is a really fun, jaunty little track..... Lyrically it is somewhat puzzling....... There are a couple of stories about this track, but I can't access them from here.... There's a post on Twitter regarding the lyrics. There is another post somewhere about it being Death Of A Clown in reverse .... I really don't know about any of that, but anyway. What comes off initially as seeming to be about, possibly, a young guy who is in love with all the girls in the town, seems to take a somewhat sinister turn in the change. I remember being a really young fella, and just thinking all these women were beautiful and being ignorant enough to feel like I would fall in love with a different girl, just about, every week.... of course that is just a young man's hormones and it's certainly lust and not love, and I thought that was where we were here.... A kind of "Hey you're beautiful and I love you.... but wow, so are you" kind of thing .... but the change makes me look at it a little differently. I'm not sure if we call the change a chorus, a verse or a bridge to be honest, but that's where questions about our storyteller first arrive. Ever time he says hello to any of these girls, they walk away as soon as they see him..... and to some degree you wonder "well what is that all about?" Then we get the idea put forward that he has been away for a long long time..... was he at war? away working? did his family leave the state for some reason? He's coming home and he is going to make her his..... but which of these ladies is he talking about? Then we get a verse, or main section that changes the lyrical make up, we don't start off with Hey - any particular lady .... We have this change up that asks how is that fresh morning feeling, how is the dawn and the evening, I will be free today...... So the twist here seems to be that he has been in jail? Or are we just looking at someone who has been locked into some kind of contract? It is a really unusual lyric, and when we tie in the idea that he is chasing all these girls, and they all walk away from him, he's been away, and he is finally going to be free today..... It seems like this character may be somewhat more than just an endless romantic looking for someone to love him. I don't know, perhaps someone has more insight on these lyrics, but what seems initially to be about a guy who is a bit of a strumpet, or young and always in love with every girl he sees, it seems to take this twist where things may not be what they seem. Musically this is very cool. We have this somewhat circular series of chord changes, that keep the melody rotating through these different sections. The changes between the keys are really smooth and the feel is excellent. There are sections with excellent harmonies. We have some really nice horn accents and accompaniments that colour the arrangement beautifully. The piano gives us this bouncy feel and keep us moving along. There are some nice little bits of lead dropped in here and there. The change throws in this double time vocal, and that adds a bit of flavour too. A really cool little track, that is musically very satisfying for me, but this lyric that starts off seeming quite innocent and then seems it may be a little sinister..... A very interesting track, that I am very interested in what people might think about it.
Ok this is interesting ..... was this you @ajsmith ? Apparently in Dave's autobiography Dave says this was written by reversing the tape of Death Of A Clown..... Here is Death Of A Clown reversed.... and I can hear a certain amount of it. I don't think he followed it note for note. I think he just pulled out some particular sections. An interesting listen
Oh dear, the twangy countryish guitar had my wife asking me to turn it off within the first 30 seconds
Yeah that was me, I prepped it for today’s discussion! After someone else reversed the ‘My Street’ section in Autumn Almanac, I always meant to try reversing the other song that Dave says they played backwards to base a new track around, so this seemed like a good excuse to get around to it! I agree you can hear where MSD came from at spots, but it was very much using the reverse melody as a jumping off point rather than copying it to the letter.
Incredible stuff. I would never've guessed it! This is a good song and a real fleshed out performance for once, not a demo at all, with sparkle and life to it. The horns are already Arthur bordering on Muswell Hillbillies, Dave doesn’t stretch his vocal range too much and the song has a very easy going flow, funny lyrics (the guy went away but he knows all the girls back home, so it's only normal they should be wary of him…) and a very agreeable vibe, almost Ray-Like. There's another little Byrds nod with the piano intro playing the Feel a Whole Lot Better riff. In many ways, it’s the most « kinksian » of all the outtakes, music-wise, lyrics-wise and performance-wise. As a come back song to the little provincial hometown, it also works as a companion piece to Lincoln County, which makes me think Dave tended to work by pairs of songs. It looks like the compilers more or less followed this logic when they put together the track-list for this «album» (that still isn’t).
In the new Record Collector special on the Kinks Dave says he had the Hank Williams influence from when he was a kid. He also says he loved the Band’s first album when it was released. So it’s probably no surprise that those influences come through in his songs.
