This EP has always been a strange one for me, but it's appearance directly between the debut and the next single makes a lot more sense. Louie Louie: I first became familiar with this through the noted Marble Arch compilation, and I've always been relatively underwhelmed by it. It's certainly not laughably bad like, sad, The Beach Boys' rendition, but you'd think The Kinks would be able to make something like this a little more exciting, akin of course to The Kingsmen hit version. It's fine, and on an EP it's not offending anyone, but it could have been better, especially given this is the band that only just gave us YRGM. I Gotta Go Now: An odd track that surely makes more sense to close out the EP, at least lyrically. I appreciate the different texture musically, which is more unusual for The Kinks at the time, though it's lyrically very repetitive and simple. Again, it's another little songwriting exercise for Ray, and while nothing I wish was on an album, it's great to be able to hear his quick development as a writer. Things get a little better tomorrrow - and that's not meant to be a play on words either!
Hey! Just discovered this thread but over the last 3 years my Kinks' collection has grown from only having The Essential... to now, owning everything (except for a couple comps/box sets) that they released on CD. So, yeah, I'm super excited to have found this thread. Ok, on to the song - "I Gotta Go Now", I agree with Mark, it's an odd duck of a track. I had to listen to it now to even remember it, which speaks volumes as to how forgettable the song is, but I enjoyed listening to it. It's a little r&b and a little Rock n Roll but aside from the tonal shifts in the song it's just an average early Kinks' song and believe me, that's not a bad thing to be.
"Louie Louie" There's an interesting bit in The Kinks: The Official Biography by Jon Savage (37 years old now FFS!) about this EP and this track: Ray: "That's exactly the sort of thing we shouldn't have done. Louie Louie wasn't as good as when we played it live. It's an awful story, but I did the vocal while I was reading the Record Mirror. That's how cocky I was. The whole EP was pretty dreadful. This lack of care was something, I think, that people wanted. We were being milked dry, really, because they thought it wouldn't last long." So, it's another so-so cover for me. I wouldn't skip it, but I wouldn't seek it out to play.
"I Gotta Go Now" Interesting and unusual track that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Kinda Kinks. Certainly a step-up from tepid covers and ersatz Merseybeat!
Louie Louie is another (albeit fine) proof that the Kinks were never really meant to be a cover's band. At least the guitars are nicely kinksian, in the early sense of the word. I like the structural analysis Mark gave of I Gotta Go Now. I'll add that it's almost a pre-write/foreshadower of the immensely superior Nothing in this World Can Stop Me from Worryin' about that Girl on Kinda Kinks, which has the same blues chords and almost the same instrumentation style and flavor. It's very interesting to note thanks to the methodical scrutiny of this thread how in the beginning, Ray was writing two of three versions of each song and learning his craft along the way.
Indeed the Kinks live version of 'Louie Louie' is quite a bit better (below is an isolated clip of the song from the already posted Paris 1965 concert, but hey, it's the only surviving footage of them playing this particular track so worth reposting on it's own at this point in the thread!) Interesting here that Ray replicates Jack Ely's famed premature vocal reentry after the solo, (as would later become standard for many cover versions of the song) which he DOESN'T do on the studio version. Ely's delivery on 'Louie Louie' was definitely an inspiration for Ray's early vocal stylings before he started unashamedly singing in his own voice, and with their rough edged garage rock stylings and similar name, I can imagine some at the time taking The Kinks for the UK's answer to The Kingsmen, As for the EP in general, I agree with Ray's assessment as quoted by ARL a few posts up. It was fairly weak product rushed out too early while the band was hot and no one knew how long it was gonna last. It's a shame Pye weren't so keen to squeeze product like this out of them by the late 60s, when they actually did have tons of additional top level unreleased songs written and recorded!
I am curious. How do the Kinks ep's on vinyl compare to CD ep box set that came out in the late 90's?
Yes, I revisited the EP yesterday and it does sound very rushed. The songs are kind of demo quality, in sound and performance. Nothing here seems good enough to have even made the debut. Not a step up like the next singles and album are.
Louie, Louie, Much earlier in this thread someone wrote that with “You Really Got Me” the Kinks were introducing to rock & roll a sort of song that had never been done before. Of course, there was precedent in R&R hit built around staccato chords (albeit played on keyboards) broken up with a wild-abandoned guitar solo in “Louie, Louie.” What the Kinks did with YRGM—applying their heavy guitar sound and Dave’s innovative playing—was take what LL started and kicked the can down the road, forever redefining it and arguably pioneering a truly new kind of rock that would later manifest itself as both heavy metal and punk. So, because the Kinks proved with YRGM their dominance over power chord rock, it would seem “Louie, Louie” is the song the band was born to cover; that they’d improve on the Kingsmen’s take and re-appropriate this songs as their own in the public conscious, much as The Beatles did with The Isley Bros. “Twist and Shout.” By every metric, the Kinks should knock this one out of the park. Am I right? Any yet it just sort of lays there, and the band knew it; Ray even joked in a contemporary interview—quoted earlier in this thread by ARL—that he was reading while singing this, his implication being how easy it was. I’m not sure he was kidding. He’s making no effort. It sounds like the band is sitting down and invites the listener doing the same. At the very least one expects Dave to put the Kingsmen’s guitarist’s solo to shame, but he’s content to more or less follow their version by the numbers. Every other cover song on their debut LP re-issue, including the much maligned Talmy “bald” songs, is performed with more excitement. Clearly the band’s sudden fame and hectic touring/recording schedule had caught up with them, and with having to fill out the EP with something quick and familiar, they just didn’t care that much how this one came out. Now, there are worst covers of this song for sure, and thanks to FJFP for reminding us earlier that their’s at least didn’t sink as low as the Beach Boys here. Still, I’m in danger of having my Kinks’ fan membership revoked because I find their version less compelling than (gasp) the one by Paul Revere and the Raiders. This cover is the very definition of a swing and a miss. Were it not for “Dancing in the Streets”—and we’ll get to that one in due time—this would be the worst cover song of the band’s career. Gotta Go Now. A nice little track that foreshadows the “quieter” approach apparent on the upcoming “Kinda Kinks” LP. The song itself is not particularly memorable. It’s the performance that makes this one stand out. The repetitive blues lick (likely taken from an unacknowledged Chicago bluesman?) is played softer than we’ve heard on a Kinks record so far, giving the track a sorrowful feel to reflect the regret of leaving in the lyrics. Ray breathes the vocals. He’s doing this in his ballad singing voice mode, even though it’s not really a ballad. Thanks okay, though. It works. The drumming is given an almost jazz-like approach. It’s the first time drumming on a Kinks record calls attention to itself through out rather than on just the intro or a break. And what’s a 1964-era Kinks record without the threat of breaking into a rave up? The middle teases that nicely where Quaife’s base moves front and center. It’s a nice cut. I wouldn’t call it an undiscovered gem necessarily, but his one deserves better recognition
Louie Louie -- It's nice to see the Kinks pay a little tribute to the primary source for their early hits, but disappointing that Ray's vocal delivery is so flat and languorous -- almost like he's itching to check that "honor thy influences" box and move on to his own material. Dave's chunky guitar salvages the track somewhat, but compared to the sheer excitement of "You Really Got Me" and several others we'll be getting to, "Louie Louie" is an eye-roller. Give me the Kingsmen's iconic version any day, week, and month. I Gotta Go Now -- A slight track with underdeveloped (to say the least) lyrics. The guitar work sustains a little bit of interest for me, but overall it can go now. And if it doesn't, no, it can't stay all night. I love the way the owner of the EP scanned above scribbled "YES" under the question of whether he already had the Kinks' first album.
I love these sort of things. It's why I was a big fan of their decision to include that heavily scrawled on back over of the debut LP in the book in The Mono Collection.
I've never liked "Louie Louie." I don't care who does it. The Kingsmen. The Beach Boys. Anybody. I love early rock n' roll but there are some songs like this and "Splish Splash" that I think are just dumb. It should be said, though, that Mike Mitchell, Kingsmen guitarist, died this week. He was 77. What @Martyj said about this sounding like the band is sitting down is the perfect way to describe it. "I Gotta Go Now" - Yeah, this song can go. It's almost more boring than "Louie Louie." The weird part about the brief rave up in the middle are the drums totally disappearing. I don't know if they ever played this live but I wouldn't be surprised to find out they learned it the same day they recorded it and then forgot about it.
According to the liner notes of the 2 CD set, this EP was released 27 Nov 1964 and the "All Day and All of the Night" single came out first on 23 October 1964. Kind of strange to quickly follow-up a hit single with this, but that's what it claims. I know there have been conflicting reports through the years on which actually was released first.
I'm not sure how accurate any of the dates are. There is a fair amount of variation between different sites. Oh well.
Yeah Pete was there and he was doing some strange uncomfortable looking twitching. Funny about Dave being represented by just a hand.
Agreed about the influence of "Louie Louie" on the Kinks and their surprisingly lackluster cover of it. BTW, Paul Revere and the Raiders were a rockin' band and their cover is second only the the Kingsmen's which is not too shabby as it's one the greatest rock'n'roll records ever made.
Louie Louie I'll start off by fessing up that I was never a big fan of this song to begin with. Aside from Dave's lead, there's no reason for me to want to listen to this cover. I Gotta Go Now This has a pretty lackadaisical groove that I can easily settle into. There's certainly nothing earth shattering about this song, but it's a very nice addition to the katalogue.
"Louie Louie" I don't care for this song in any version. I think at this point it is just played out after decades of cover versions. The Kinks version sounds lazy and doesn't have much excitement in the performance. The lead guitar break is nice, but not great enough to make this cover worthwhile. "I Gotta Go Now" I always liked this song. I have all these songs on a CD compilation called Kinks-Size Kinkdom. It's not a major early Ray song, but it has its charm. I like the nice gentle guitar line and a soft vocal with the rat-a-tat-tat swing of the drums.
Louie Louie..... pretty ordinary cover from the boys/ i do like Ray's vocals, the sneer is real I Gotta Go Now Were they desperate for another song and the band just just riffed with a line from Louie Louie.....it's bizarre, but kind of interesting and maybe Ray continuing to venture out on his own island (songwriting speaking)
I like “Gotta Go Now” and use it to close my all-originals 1964 playlist. Sounds good there. While like the Kingsmen’s take on “Louie Louie” and recognise it as an utterly essential song to the history of rock, with probably hundreds of descendants (including “You Really Got Me” I’d argue, I hate every other version of it, including this one.
I like the Kinks' "Louie Louie". It's nice and sleazy. And they do something kind of original with the refrain -- pronouncing it "Lou-ee-a Lou-eye". They also do something a little unusual with the chords themselves..... Maybe it's as simple as a strange bass part inverting the third chord in the riff. I like the Beach Boys' cover too. It's the only one I've heard that toggles between the garage arrangement AND the original Richard Berry R&B arrangement. It's kinda clever. The "original cover" of the Richard Berry song by the way, was by Tacoma, Washington, USA's "Fabulous Wailers." That's the cover version the later Kingsmen's hit was based on, down to the solo and some of the vocal interjections. If ever there was a band that made the early Kinks possible, whether or not they even realized it -- it was the Tacoma Wailers. They, and their later labelmates the Sonics, were local legends whose 60's recording finally reached greater fame in the 1990's, post-Grunge. The Kinks, far more than any of the other British invasion bands, had a garagey spiritual kinship with the bands of the Northwest USA. I recommend the Norton reissue of the "Wailers At the Castle" -- a live album, plus Louie Louie single, that shows what the fuss was all about circa 1961-2. Jimi Hendrix's "Spanish Castle Magic" was a tribute to the Wailers' run at that rock venue. Jimi, as a Seattle teen, was a local Wailers devotee. But Ray does, indeed, sound half asleep on the verses.
