Now that’s what I call a groove. This is so good. How can it be that the best groove is not based on the drums but on the guitar riff ? It doesn’t make sense to my drumless brain. The song is incredible in every way. Ray’s vocals are stellar, we all regularly marvel at his theatricality and versatility, but the phrasing is his stronger suit, and here, it is absolutely sensational, Dave’s pretty good on the bridge too. Bass and guitar are spectacular all the way through, so many little licks everywhere… It took me years to appreciate this properly, because I came to the Kinks through melody so my first (and eternal) favorites were the Moneygoround and This Time Tomorrow, Strangers and Lola. But this is unstoppable. 12th song in, the album’s still flawless. Only one left to screw things up. I bet they won’t…
Reference guide Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 1967 Apr 1967 Mr Pleasant - Alt version - Beat Club - live - beat club - instr (whistling) This Is Where I Belong - Ray live - Ray with Francis Black May 1967 Mr Pleasant EP Mr Pleasant This Is Where I Belong Two Sisters - Ray live (with chat) Village Green - Instrumental - Ray May 1967 Waterloo Sunset - instr. - live 73 - Ray live 78 - live 94 - Ray and Damon Albarn - doco excerpt - Ray and Bowie - Ray live (Peter dedication) Art Nice and Gentle May 1967 Waterloo Sunset EP Documentary Jul 1967 Death Of A Clown - Dave Live - Dave live 2002 Sept 1967 Something Else By David Watts - Live 84 - Dave live 97 - Ray live 2010 - Alt mono - alt version Death Of A Clown Two Sisters No Return Harry Rag - BBC - Ray 2010 - alt version Tin Soldier Man - Sand On My Shoes (original) - Alt backing track Situation Vacant - mono Love Me Till The Sun Shines - BBC - live 69 - Dave 97 - stereo Lazy Old Sun - alt version Afternoon Tea - German Stereo - Alt stereo - Canadian Mono Funny Face End Of The Season Waterloo Sunset Little Women backing track Dave And Ray interview sixties Echoes Of The World - The Making Of Village Green Preservation Society Oct 1967 Autumn Almanac - stereo - Top Of The Pops - live fan jam - Ray - breakdown Nov 1967 Sunny Afternoon LP Nov 1967 Susannah's Still Alive - stereo - video 1967 BBC sessions - Sunny Afternoon Autumn Almanac Mr Pleasant Susannah's Still Alive David Watts Death Of A Clown Good Luck Charm Jan 1968 Live at Kelvin Hall Part 1 Part 2 Jan 1968 Wonderboy - video - Top Of The Pops - stereo mix Polly - stereo mix April 1968 The Kinks EP June 1968 Days - stereo mix - Glastonbury 2010 - live 1969 - video edit - Basil Brush - Alt stereo - Acoustic - 1991 EP version Aug 1968 Lincoln County - stereo mix - Dave live There Is No Life Without Love Colour Me Pop Medley She's Got Everything Promo film July 1968 Colour Me Pop - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion A Well Respected Man Death Of A Clown Sunny Afternoon Two Sisters Sitting By The Riverside Lincoln County Picture Book Days Nov 1968 The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society - the gold disc award The Village Green Preservation Society - Alt mix with studio banter - Live 73 Do You Remember Walter - Euro Stereo - Backing Track - live 94 Picture Book - real stereo - live 69 - live 73 - Ray 2011 Johnny Thunder - alt mix - stereo - original stereo - Ray (+VGPS) 2008 - Ray 2010 - Crouch End Chorus Last Of The Steam Powered Trains - alt ending - live 69 - live 70 - Dave live Big Sky - alt stereo - live 69 - Crouch End Chorus Sitting By The Riverside - Stereo Animal Farm - alt stereo - Ray 2004 - stereo Village Green - alt vocal - backing vocal Starstruck - alt vocal - video - stereo - Ray 2008 Phenomenal Cat - alt mix - stereo - stereo US link All Of My Friends Were There - stereo Wicked Annabella - stereo - Dave 97 Monica - stereo People Take Picture Of Each Other - Euro stereo (big band) - stereo - live 73 extra tracks Mr Songbird - stereo Berkley Mews - stereo - single mix Rosemary Rose - mono Misty Water - stereo - alt stereo Did You See His Name? - mono Till Death Us Do Part - stereo - Chas Mills vocal - Anthony Booth vocal Lavender Hill Pictures In the Sand - instrumental Easy Come, There You Went Egg Stained Pyjamas Mick Avory's Underpants Spotty Grotty Anna Where Did My Spring Go? - video When I Turn Off The Living Room Light Darling I Respect You Village Green At The BBC Days Waterloo Sunset Love Me Till The Sun Shines Monica Village Green Preservation Society Animal Farm Last Of The Steam Powered Trains Picture Book Do You Remember Walter? Dedicated Follower Of Fashion/Well Respected Man/Death Of A Clown Picture Book Preservation Overture Ray in Denmark with the Denmark Choir And Orchestra Colour Me Pop 1968 International EP's 1968 Four More Respected Gentlemen Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street 67-69 Dave Davies Solo Album This Man He Weeps Tonight - mono - acoustic Mindless Child Of Motherhood - mono - live 69 - BBC Hold My Hand - demo - mono - acoustic Do You Wish To Be A Man? Are You Ready? Creeping Jean - stereo - live 99 I'm Crying - better master Mr Reporter Mr Shoemakers Daughter Groovy Movies Climb Your Wall Dave Live various Rasa Didzpetris Davies March 69 Plastic Man - stereo - beatclub 69 King Kong - stereo - video Oct 1969 - Arthur - liner notes Victoria - mono - live 69 - live 73 - live 1980 - live 2010 Yes Sir No Sir - mono - alternate Some Mother's Son - mono - live 1970 Drivin' - mono - alternate Brainwashed - mono - live 69 -live 72 Australia - mono - single Shangri La - mono - 2019 remix - backing track - Ray live Mr Churchill Says - mono - BBC - live 69 She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina - mono - live 72 - Ray 2010 Young And Innocent Days - Dave 2001 - mono Nothing To Say - mono Arthur - mono The 69 US Tour - Then Now And Inbetween - God Save The Kinks Fillmore West, November 27th 1969 A day at the Zoo with Ray Davies Oct 1969 The Virgin Soldiers The Virgin Soldiers March - version 2 Ballad Of The Version Soldiers Mick Avory Kinks stuff pt1 - Part 2 The Kinks at Pye Sixties Kinks pt1 - Part 2 The Sixties charts 1970 The Kinks (anthology) The Kinks radio history - part 2 - part 3 Sixties recording chronology The Long Distance Piano Player Marathon Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
In this line, not only is there a lyrical thematic tie to the preceding song on the album, there's also a tie in to the Kinks real-life very first breakthrough hit 'You Really Got Me', and I think this was really intentional. It's a re commitment to what was really important to the band before all the business complications got in the way. Not so intentional but still interesting is that this one line also ends up referencing their first and last hits on Pye, and their first and last UK top 10 hits!
"Powerman" It's in that dreaded "penultimate track" slot which means that I often overlook it - but that's completely unjustified, as whenever I actually get to listen to it I realise what a fantastic track it is. The guitar intro is awesome. The guitar outro is awesome. The guitar groove inbetween is awesome, and it's helped along by the rock solid support of the rhythm section. This, perhaps more than any of the other tracks, is the perfect Ray/Dave collaboration. Ray supplies the tune and the words, but Dave's guitar is its heart, and perhaps as recognition for Dave's role in the song, he gets to sing the middle section. The two of them combine on vocals in the chorus, and it works as well as everywhere else on the record. I see @ajsmith got there just before me, but I was also going to point out the lyrical references to "You Really Got Me" in the final verse. It's as if Ray is saying that Powerman may own the publishing rights, but Ray owns the songs and the characters in them.
Interesting early 70s live medley of Milk Cow Blues into Powerman into You Are My Sunshine. Strangely this cover of 'You Are My Sunshine' (recorded by untold thousands though originally by the Pine Ridge Boys in 1939) was actually a concert regular for The Kinks in the late 60s and early 70s, going back to at least the spring 1968 UK package tour where it was played as part of their short 25 minute ish long sets on many nights in lieu of, for instance , something original from 'Something Else!' Not exactly sure why, although in at least one live intro, Ray introduces it as 'one of the greatest songs ever written' or words to that effect. Odd to reflect that this seemingly eternal standard was actually only 30 years old when The Kinks would play it.
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 Nov 1970 Lola Vs Powerman And The Moneygoround The Contenders Strangers - live 1970 - Dave live Denmark Street Get Back In Line Lola - TOTP - video Top Of The Pops - video Moneygoround - mono This Time Tomorrow - 2020 mix A Long Way From Home - live 70's - Ray live Rats Apeman - video - alt stereo - alt mono - ToTP - Calypso - live 94 Powerman - mono - 2020 mix - live 70's Ray On Wonderworld Preservation Live Starmaker Tv Play
Finally caught up. Sorry guys, somehow I forget about the guides. Perhaps holiday brain is finally recovered from now
The song's appearance in 'The Darjeeling Limited', which as you can see, mirrors the 'This Time Tomorrow' scene. Unlike the other two songs from this LP used in this film, 'Powerman' doesn't seem to have caught on as a song at all via it's appearance in the movie, I'm guessing in large part because it's a not particularly melodic riff based band performance track that doesn't lend itself as well to acoustic solo versions.
Powerman I first heard this on a budget Kinks compilation CD and it really stood out to me due to the aggressive, concise lyric, propulsive groove and funky rock guitar riffs! I love the defiant side of the band we see here and on tracks such as I'm Not Like Everybody Else where their beliefs and course of action is seen in solidarity. Here Ray hammers it home and Dave vocally joins in to glorious effect before giving us some fantastic descending lines (partial chords?) that add to the overall groove and urgency. At times they may well have been taken as suckers but not by their faithful fans, rewarded with such material and shown that despite all the pressures, were not about to konk out!
Powerman: I am getting boring, I am sure, but I love this one too! Dave lets loose on the guitar yet again, with a great repetitive riff that just slays. Great rock and roll! …and the lyrics hold their own just fine, bringing the story to what I see as the climax. Sure, the record man got the rights to his music But Ray’s got his girl, so it’s all good!
Very interesting. I gather the film has a lot of these ‘running after trains’ scenes. And that catching that particular train was a lot more important than the contents of their luggage (looks like really nice suitcases, though! I wouldn’t toss those if they were mine!).
Not only is the best groove based on the guitar, it's a hard rocking groove led by the acoustic guitar. Overall, I'm fully on board with all the praise that's been heaped on this song.
Man, Saturday morning & my fellow Avids are all over "Powerman". You guys don't want to sleep late or watch Saturday morning cartoons or the Three Stooges? I'm just kidding, I do realize that many of you live around the world & it's lunchtime somewhere right now. Anyway, "Powerman" is a riff heavy song whose lyrics are just as heavy, i.e. talking about those who are into money & power at the expense of good stuff like compassion, honesty, honor, as well as talking about the importance of a loving relationship that no money can buy. Ain't these smiley thing cute? It's a song that spells out what the priorities of life should be, although I think the author sometimes disregards his own advice.
Powerman Sometimes I forget that Apeman comes between Rats and Powerman on the tracklist because I almost consider them companion pieces by each brother. Among the hardest rocking groove either has come up with, both centered on the theme of the album. With Powerman, we get what seems to me like Ray channeling 68/69 rocking Dave — a guitar driven riff that keeps propelling the song forward. Lyrically, Ray again delivers the goods. I think there’s a clever play on words with the title too. We know Session Man, Tin Soldier Man, and Plastic Man. Those were all about the character, the person. But in this song, the title also works as “Power, man”. Here’s what I mean, read these lyrics with my updated punctuation and see how it slightly changes the meaning: “It's power, man… power, man… and all that it can bring” “It's power, man… power, man… driving me insane.” At certain times in the song, it’s not the guy in the suit himself that is driving Ray insane, it’s the power itself. It’s the power, man. It’s the control. He realizes he’s not free, and these leads into the final song beautifully. To me, the idea of being out from under someone’s (or some thing’s) control and being free a common theme not just in this album, but from the early days all the way through where we are now! “You Really Got Me”, “Set Me Free, little girl…”, “One day we’ll be free… we won’t care, just you wait and see”. And speaking of Big Sky, perhaps it’s just me but that descending guitar intro of Powerman reminds me of the intro riff of Big Sky a bit. Dave’s turn with the bridge vocals is great. He has *really* found his voice both as a strong songwriter and vocalist on this album and it’s sad that he either didn’t feel motivated to continue or Ray took more power or control (ironically) of the album tracks for the next handful of years.
Powerman: I think it’s the vocal that propels this song. A real in-your-face screed. Two thumbs up. Quibble: Ray has, obviously in my opinion, too many ‘Man’ song titles. It’s not enough to trigger a song in my head as I oftentimes can use the title as a snippet that gets the tune called up from my memory banks.
Sadly I think we all tend towards that in some regards.... the human condition, like a sad disposition, rendering confusion as we roll down the road.
With the exception of Dylan's, rock lyrics tend toward the non-specific, so I always enjoy it when bands venture into the real world, as the Kinks do in "Powerman"'s middle-8 history lesson. I love the roster of artists in "20th Century Man" for the same reason. "Celluloid Heroes" comes to mind, of course, though I'm a bit tired of those people.
Powerman: And after being on the verge of a nervous breakdown from being stuck in the moneygoround surrounded by rats and under the thumb of Powerman, our hero remembers what keeps him sane: the girl that (still) gets him going (i.e., the loved ones in our lives, as Mark pointed out in his typically excellent summary). Gratitude for the positive things in our lives can often put our problems in perspective. Musically, it rocks hard and has guitar and vocal hooks ("it's the same old story") galore. And just as the driving riff may start to feel a little repetitious, we get a changeup in the bridge, plus Dave stepping in on vocal. The Kinks do defiance as well as or better than any band, and this is the turning point in the storyline. Excellent track! Thanks for posting this! I had looked online unsuccessfully for a live version. This doesn't have the ferocious drive of the studio version; I wish they had performed this in their arena rock period - it seems tailor-made for it. Yes, of course! Thank you, I missed that.
Given how many times Ray Davies has used the sun and sunshine as a metaphor in his own work, it's only natural he'd appreciate "You Are My Sunshine." Fun fact: the song's long-lived native Louisianian cowriter Jimmie Davis (Sept. 11, 1899 to Nov. 5, 2000) went on to become governor of Louisiana and "You Are My Sunshine" went on to become Louisiana's state song.
"Powerman" Had this been a single we might still hear it blasting out of a '69 GTO as it cruises the boulevard. This song perfectly straddles the 60s and the 70s. I was trying to think who else this sounded like. The Pretty Things came into my mind and so did more recent garage type acts like Ty Segall. However, when you go and listen back to any of these artists, you quickly realize that nobody does it like The Kinks. It's also the type of song that Aerosmith wishes they wrote. In a better world this would still be a staple on every rock radio station. Another fantastic blast of rock n roll from the worlds greatest band.
