Don't put that down to our progress at the time but it is interesting, but there again that may be your reason.
Nah, come on. God's Children/The Way Love Used to Be/ Animals in the Zoo/ Moments / Dreams… this is 100 times better than the Yellow Submarine first side. We're talking prime Kinks originals against Beatles 2 years old rejects and already released songs, Hey Bulldog being the sole indisputable AAA exception (sorry, All Together Now, I still like you, though). It's not even close in my opinion (and I am definitely NOT a "the Kinks are far better than then Beatles" person, mind you). Like most here, I don't really look at Percy as a proper Kinks album but I'll admit I can never think of Muswell Hillbillies as the direct follow up to Lola either. Call it what you like, a side project, a soundtrack, Percy holds its own and its place in their "œuvre" and just can't be discarded for at least two main reasons. 1/ the proper songs are phenomenal, at least two of them universally praised (and "thread approved") as "playlist worthy" kult klassiks (four of them for me). 2/ these songs almost form a "singer-songwriter" Ray Davies EP. For once, he doesn't present himself as band or ring leader, or even frontman. There's no story to tell, no concept to follow, no constraints. It comes across as a very liberating project for him. The Way Love Used to Be, Moments and Dreams are sung solo, with no backing vocals at all, which seems to show just how personal they are to their author. It came to me as a shock or a surprise, but looking at the mighty 2014 Pye Anthology's tracklist, I couldn't help but think that CD5 was the strongest, most balanced and most consistent of the lot, with six Arthur songs, nine from Lola, Mindless Child of Motherhood in between and the four EP Percy nuggets to wrap things up, with God's Children at the tail end, re-purposed as a fitting farewell to the Kinks' first era.
Very much true in my case. I really like the song, and did not know (or did not remember) until very recently that it was sung by Dalton.
I don’t see any similarity/connection between Willesden Green and the songs from Muswell Hillbillies. Absolutely none. In terms of the sound/music, I think there’s been a number of songs we’ve addressed earlier in the discography that are a hint at the songs that we’ll soon be discussing for Muswell Hillbillies. But this Elvis number isn’t it.
If we’re moving on to the Muswell Hillbillies intro tomorrow, now seems a good time to post this Ray interview from The Kinks second trip to Australia in spring 1971. Only the 3rd known available filmed interview with the man!: edit: we’ll it looks like it’s unavailable as an embed, here’s the direct link: https://youtu.be/A5NaTh6X3nw
As I mentioned prior references to songs sounding Muswell Hillbillies-ish, I decided to use the search function and see! Including the current reference…15 songs (Got To Be Free; If You Are Leaving; Act Nice and Gentle; Nothing To Say; Pictures In the Sand; Climb Your Wall (Dave Davies); Berkeley Mews; The Good Life; Lavender Lane; Lincoln County; Dead End Street; The Contenders; Little Miss Queen of Darkness; Don’t You Fret; Willesden Green. And then there was a reference to Arthur, the album, being the “seed” for Muswell Hillbillies. Thus saith the Thread Participants (to date).
There seems to be a bit of a tradition of well known rock groups putting out either a lone album cut or a B-side featuring a member of the group who doesn't sing lead vocals on any other track. There's The Rolling Stones' IN ANOTHER LAND, The Hollies' PEGASUS, The Bee Gees' LAY IT ON ME, The Troggs' SAY DARLIN', The Beau Brummels' GENTLE WANDERING WAYS and on and on. The one this reminds me of the most is The Turtles' "Too Much Heartsick Feeling" featuring bassist Jim Pons on lead:
This rings true for me too, The Kinks Kronicles (2 Lp set) being my early 1980s (82?) entry point into The Kinks. I can find no fault with Mendelshon's? track selections and sequencing at all. Thus, "Willesden Green" (like "Berkeley Mews") has LONG been a veritable Kinks Klassic in my book, having come to Percy Much later, I still feel this way. God Save The Kinks!
Glad someone has picked on the good guys line. In fact the whole couplet: But the good guys lose and the bad guys win That's why you're looking out and I'm looking in Are just a brilliant showcase of how Ray can utilise 2 killer lines that may look just an obversation but in reality are lot more profound and deep and in many ways sum up mankind on so many levels. Brilliant!
Glad you mentioned the drums, Mark. Mick is so underated. I played this to a friend once who thought it could only be Keith Moon playing it! Mick 's drumming in the early 70s live is fantastic with frequent solos. In many ways Mick and John D kept everything together in the often shambolic early 70s gigs
In conclusion i am glad people have been positive about Percy. To my ears it has 6 classic Kinks songs plus 3 great instrumentals. Not a bad return. Funny but when people mention the klassic Kinks run from 66-71 they seem to miss out Percy and of course Kelvin Hall! I hope the recent posts and reviews have rectified that especially with Percy.
I came upon this clip in Tumblr, so I don't know the specifics of where this is from...or if this is real or if someone is pulling something over on us. But around 22 seconds in, if this is real, you get a taste of maybe why Pete never sang lead vocals: https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ov61bpRYZH1wowxnx.mp4 This cracks me up so much. if it's phony, I'll delete.
That seems pretty spot on. It's actually just a really bad mix. The backing vocal mixed down where it should be, wouldn't sound too bad really. With it eclipsing everything else on stage, it is rather unflattering
it's more than just a yelp...it's a high-pitched death knell. LOLLLL It happens twice and it doesn't sound good to my ears.
How it was explained to me is that Dave's mic was off and so it's only Pete we're hearing. Is that not correct?
Thanks @ajsmith. Fantastic little interview there. Ray looked and sounded exhausted. While we are on that Australian tour of 1971, I've flagged a vignette in Doug Hinman's book that's pretty amusing: June 1st, Canberra: "Dave tells a gullible reporter that last year they transferred Dalton from another group for two bottles of scotch, having shot Pete Quaife, his predecessor."
I have most of that concert on DVD & there were mike problems throughout it. You have to remember that the quality of PA systems back in 1965 was rather crude in comparison to today. Here's another example of the Kinks playing "See My Friends" on Shindig. You can hear Dave's voice out on top of Ray's voice in places:
