Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues: I already said this in my general overview thoughts but this song makes it very clear that The Kinks are now a very good…and clever, blues band. Like many posts that precede mine, I hear this as shambolic and yet, when I consider the inclusion of the horn section, it really isn’t at all. It’s well thought out, a considered musical arrangement. I first heard this 30 years after its initial release but if I had heard it real time I’m quite certain I would have taken to it immediately. Just as I when I heard Let It Bleed or…well, a lot of raw, just a bit off kilter stuff. The Kinks continue to roll; two for two on Muswell Hillbillies.
I don't have an issue with horns in rock per se, and I think that the VGPS songs re-done with the Mike Cotton Sound worked really well. I also have a soft spot for Have A Cuppa Tea, which is a bit surprising considering what else I've said about this album!
Definitely.... It also leaves the gate open to really swing... and a lot of the tracks on here Swing like an unlatched gate in a hurricane.
I for one blame that pesky Avory fella for this And I also used to hate horns in rock. I thought it was just horribly unrocking and quaint. See also: electric piano, female backing vocals, country and soul. Then I got into the Stones (I was six and my father had just bought Voodoo Lounge so please don't shoot me).
I guess I don't like horns in rock/pop music! (I was considering writing "I don't like horny music", but that could be seen as inappropriate)
Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues This is a really heavy number. Sorry, someone had to say that . It's also the first Kinks song where the horns are so prominent. I really love the live versions of this song - Ray and the band seem to be having a great time and there's a whiff of alcohol and more in the air. It's a boozy bluesy horny song, and what's wrong with that. @Mark was referring here to the music (yes the Stones did some boozy bluesy horny too) but I can point to a link with the lyrics. On It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974) there's a song about paranoia called Fingerprint File - Jagger makes it sound good (he makes nearly everything sound good) but his lyrics are trite in comparison. Here's a taster You better watch out On your telephone Wrong number They know you ain't home And there's some little jerk in the FBI A keepin' papers on me six feet high It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down Who's the man on the corner; that corner over there I don't know. Well, you better lay low. Watch out Ray's lyrics are clever. We can laugh at them but as Mark points out from painful personal experience, they are on point.
Very off topic but I just LOVE this song or perhaps rather the performance. Mick Taylor's bass is well funky. And yes, Mick isn't the world's greatest lyricist (unless he wants to, the lazy git). No Ray he. Or even Dave
Fantastic original post by Mark. Also as several have already mentioned, great Dylan comparison by @Fortuleo . On a related note, I always suspected the title of this one was intended as a take on Dylan’s verbose song titles of the 1965/66 era.
Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues The lyrics seem a logical follow on to the opener, but the music is straight out of New Orleans. This song puts me right on Bourbon Street. This is one of those songs I wasn't to keen on when I discovered the Kinks, but really can appreciate now. While I still really don't get into the lyrical content itself, I've really come to appreciate the music, and of course they somehow manage to match those lyrics to the music perfectly, so I do end up enjoying the words as well. More than any other group, I think The Kinks are responsible for opening the aperture of what I'm ready to appreciate musically and lyrically.
Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues New for me as only my 2nd play & have only read Mark's review before attempting a post. A serious lyric but I find it a bit of a jolly and boozy song, particularly with those shambolic (mostly in a good way) horns. Whilst this is a very serious condition (i work for someone that has it) it feels like it fits in with the album in as much as it may be no wonder we have an increasing number of people walking around like this given the societal woes Ray depicts. So as per usual a great write up by @mark winstanley but will let him down gently on this November '71 tracks release likelihood of influencing Exile On Main Street. Edit: This song had me thinking of two others: Eddie Cochran's thematic Summertime Blues & Bob Dylan's paronoic Talking John Birch Society Blues!
Perhaps though for me it's about it's use and placement, for example I love the use of horn on Bitch.
Mick though is not singing of clinical paranoia (& therefore not generalizing) but more so specifically the US government's possible (& it turned out for some to be true) surveillance of rock stars such as John Lennon & Mick Jagger.
I bought a couple of Kinks RCA surround discs a while ago only to discover they were stereo. Promptly returned to shop. Apparently, it was printing error.