I just searched and searched (we’re only three songs into this soundtrack and do you know how many pages ago that Mark posted the album cover (front and back)? Many!) and see that the back cover lists ‘Lola.’ Period. Not ‘Lola (instrumental version).’ So…how many people thought they would be bopping to the original “coca-cola” version and were given the shock of their rock’n’roll lives? Bait and switch.
No, not his last proper ballad. As I pointed out earlier today Nothing Lasts Forever is very good. That appeared three years later on Preservation Act 2. There are others that followed but these two can't be beat. EDIT: Aplogies, just read Fortuleo post above.
Oh boy! (All these references are beyond my scope of awareness. I polished off Muswell Hillbillies today; confirming its masterpiece status in the universe and I smell an onrush, a cascade of tunes tumbling onto The Great Kinks Playlist. Once we’re past that, in three or four weeks, all I know is Come Dancing…and? I’m not sure.)
Harsh. I remember reading that the one thing that Rasa left behind when she left him was a particular record. Never found out what it was, but I would guess it was a sentimental record to the couple. Apparently Rasa doing that was an extra stab in Ray's heart. awwww.
I was just joking mate. No offense intended. I doubt living with Ray was any kind of picnic for Rasa, and I'm sure I annoyed my ex at times, I just didn't appreciate the way it was done
Oh, sorry I didn't pick up on the joke. but yeah, Ray was definitely not a picnic. He could be the biggest bastard, but also the most sensitive person in the room. Very complex individual.
The Way Love Used to Be Ok this is now the second song that I could imagine on Teaser and the Firecat. The strings, piano, plucking guitar seems very 1970/71 Cat Stevens to me, again. I'm thinking along the lines of How Can I Tell You. It is a lovely, beautifully sentimental song. It is also very new to me, just exploring Percy the past couple weeks. It's a bit disappointing that many here are saying there isn't much more like this in the Kinks output after this! Oh well, if there was more like it, then it wouldn't be so special now, would it? Gorgeous. That is all I'll say.
Ah yes! completely forgot about that song when mentioning this. Yep, sounds like that whole thing inspired this tune.
Yes. Remember John Mendelsohn's observation from Kronikles liner notes: "On Side Four The Kinks speak to and of women, of whom they've sung less frequently than nearly any other pop group with a comparable number of albums."
We'll get a wriggle on a little across this album. With the instrumentals, and some super short ones, we'll double up on a couple of days.... tomorrow being one of them
The conventional wisdom is not far off as British groups, including The Kinks, all started off covering American R&B and blues. Even most of the original material was American-derived. Later on, as they became more established British groups began to sound more British, especially the Kinks. It is true that many American groups tried to appear as they were British, to jump on the British Invasion bandwagon. But I think that was more image rather than music.
Here's a great example of this, the Sir Douglas Quintet on Hullabaloo. Wait to hear from Trini Lopez after the song finishes:
The Way Love Used to Be Achingly beautiful.(edited to say, I inadvertently stole this description from an earlier post, but it does describe my thoughts perfectly) My goodness. No, those are not tears sliding down my cheeks. Just the music alone would make me emotional. I don't know my music stuff, but is it in D minor... what Nigel Tufnel calls "the saddest of all keys"? And the lyrics. I guess as one does, you attach your own 'stuff' to the words. I see it as a longing for new love or a return to it. Once you get over that infatuation and early emotions of falling in love, you move into mature love. I think Ray is singing about "let's try to recapture that feeling again". Let's go back to where we fell in love or a mindset that gets us back there. Let's reconnect. Gorgeous.
never thought I'd read an ex-wrestler's list of beloved Kinks tracks, but there ya have it. He obviously is very connected to the music and I just love it.
@Zeki @Adam9 Just for interest on the sounding American thing. I'm going to use me as an example, because I know facts rather than speculations. When you learn to talk, you mimic people around you, and I think that's why I ended up sounding Australian rather than a Lancashire lad.... Interestingly though. I learned to sing, by singing along with records, and I had never considered what accent that was.... it was just how people sang. So I guess from about 5 years old I was singing in an American accent. Nobody ever said anything about it to me until Midnight Oil became popular, and I just shrugged, and said well I don't know. When i first came to the US I was asked about it a bit, and that's when I came to the above conclusion. Oddly, I guess, I sing in a somewhat northern US accent, but i can't speak in a northern US accent to save myself. I do a pretty decent southern though.... My understanding is, most of the British bands were either learning from old blues songs, or US fifties rock and roll.... and less from the pub culture and other sources in the UK... Certainly there were probably some that "put it on", but I get the impression that the first wave of rock and roll, and the close behind blues exposure essentially shaped the accent of the rock and roll era singing just by default of being the learning source.
There's a lot of NORTH and a lot of SOUTH in the USA. so which north 0r which south?? LOL. don't even try the Boston area accent. You can only master it if you're born here (except if you're Christian Bale).
The mainstream north of the music industry. Yea I sound more Boston when I talk... I park a car. Apparently "country" south, and mildly Georgia
Well, I was talking about 1st wave period (referencing ‘67 era Mad Magazine. If I recall correctly “it was a “rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain” training exercise for young pop musicians. It’s amazing how much one can remember from 4th grade!). I can’t think of The Kinks generally sounding American anyway, up through what we’ve studied.
This is one of the great examples of a baroque arrangement from a group that unlike say, The Left Banke, isn't exactly known for that sort of thing. Lyrically, it covers the same territory as Nilsson's I WILL TAKE YOU THERE, but in a much more serious manner. Other singular examples of baroque experiments from groups not known for them include (everything underlined below is a link): LADY-O by The Turtles NO LOVE TO GIVE by The Rascals WHAT LOVE IS MADE OF by The Grassroots WITHOUT YOU by Gerry & The Pacemakers
The Way Love Used to Be: Checking in late, traveling on business. Everyone said it already. This is a beautiful song. Seems Ray and the gang can do anything from invent heavy metal to power pop to British folk to a love song that can break your heart in under two minutes. How is this guy and this band not seen the same way as Lennon/McCartney and the Beatles. I like the Beatle, I love the Stones, but this thread has made me realize that I choose Ray and the Kinks every time .
Which Beatle? Don't keep us in suspense! I'm betting on the dark horse and predicting George Harrison.
Wasn't that why the Buckinghams adopted their band name? And then, of course, those upstarts Paul Revere & the Raiders deliberately went against all that...to the hilt.
