The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The temptation to join the dots with these so-called concept albums is overwhelming but I think the concept here is is pretty loose. I don't really think all those songs about mental illness and depression are actually connected with the relocation of his family.
     
  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Yea, I dont see this as a concept album or rock opera....
    I would say it is themed, but a loose theme based around some problems with how modern society tends to function.
     
  3. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Not on Skin and Bone. It’s just a blues with slide guitar.
     
  4. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Oh, I agree it’s not his own family biographical sketches. But I do think it centers around his observations of that impact. Ray is one astute guy that can make a song out of a half heard aside.
     
  5. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Not convinced, to be honest, notwithstanding that a lot of this album just comes across as Ray Davies having a very Ray Davies style whinge about modern life ca. 1970, the character studies on the album could have pretty much come from any Kinks album past and present. Also Muswell Hill is nice!
     
  6. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    I can’t argue with this.
     
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  7. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    As usual you have to give Ray credit for singing about stuff no other rock star would go anywhere near!
     
  8. Fortuleo

    Fortuleo Used to be a Forum Resident

    Reading a lot of posts since we got to Muswell Hillbillies, I can understand the criticism that Ray may rely a bit too much on the same gimmick : treating heavy subjects in a tongue in cheek flippant ladeedaa way. But I think the whole concept works in relation with the art-work. After a scene setting opener for all characters, the remaining first side tracks all have a pub singalong quality to them. But even more than that, they work as mini-portraits of any member of the pub crowd or as theme songs for each and everyone of them. They’re all 20th century men (and women), all suffering from various addictions, disorders or depressions, probably all unemployed and all coming to the same place during a sunny afternoon to drink all this shared misery away.
     
  9. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Re subject of forced relocation. Back in 2007 I saw a documentary film about villagers from the mountains of Gifu Prefecture (Japan) that had returned to their abandoned homes. The government had forced everyone to leave, I think it was decades prior, in order to build a dam but nothing further had been done. Ten (?) villagers snuck back to their homes, no electricity, etc, and resumed their subsistence living. One scene I will never forget is of an elderly woman leaving the documentarian, less than half her age, in the dust as she scrambled up the slopes to pick wasabi in a secret location….And then the bulldozers come and the rebels (?) are trundled off to tiny government housing. That elderly woman sits in front of a television set having seemingly aged overnight. Completely spiritless. No longer living near her friends and comrades. Broke my heart. I can see this same thing happening in an urban setting.
     
  10. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Oh it definitely does happen in an urban setting!
     
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  11. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Complicated Life

    From here on in every song remaining on this LP I have never heard before either studio or live.

    Just heard this a minute ago so bear with me fumbling around here.
    Really like some of the guitar tones which for me includes Dave's slide & the cool intro.
    Something about the vocal melody reminds me of a song on the next LP called Motorway.
    I can't comment fully on the possible single comment as I've not heard the whole album but I can't see it top 10 at all with Ray's at times deliberately drab delivery, not sure if they did this onstage but if so I can definitely see Ray really delivering the theatric goods!
    N.b. Though a different tempo i can also feel a bit of a Tin Soldier Man thing going on.
     
  12. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "Complicated Life"

    I have had this one stuck in my head and was humming it in my sleep last night. It has a bit of that Faces, and the two Ronnie's vibe that Dave usually takes lead vocal on. Dave has mentioned that this is one of his favorite Kinks albums, and yet he doesn't even take a lead vocal on the entire album. It's also the type of music that lends itself to Dave's style. I wanted to say this was the first album where he doesn't have a lead song, but there is also Arthur and Percy. His song on the next album would have worked on this album and like most of that album sounds like it could be a leftover from these sessions.

    This is an excellent tune to end the side. I count a very solid 6 for 6. For those not entirely loving this album, it may come to you at a later date. I seem to recall thinking that this album was overrated when I first heard it. This was long ago, but aside from a few songs, I didn't think it was up to the standard of the previous albums. I was wrong. This album just took more time to sink in, and I think we just finished an amazing side of music. I love it more than ever.
     
  13. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    Or to an animal in the zoo.
     
  14. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I remember reading somewhere that Ray once compared "Complicated Life" to a suicide note, probably because in the song the protagonist gave up everything that caused him stress 'n strife & he still has problems. Another "crying until you're laughing" song, especially in the chorus, although I really can't see it succeeding as a single in the year of the Jackson 5, the Osmonds & T. Rex. Ray wanted the Kinks to get away from being a "singles band" to appeal more to the FM/Underground album types. As I said before, if they stayed w/WB Reprise (not Pye!), maybe they would have benefitted from the "hip" cachet that label had in the 70s.
     
  15. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Why didn't the government let those people back if they didn't build the dam? It also reminds me of people actually coming back to live in Chernobyl.
     
  16. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Well, they finally did build the dam (see Tokuyama Dam on wiki) but , as I noted with bulldozer reference, they could have left everybody in their homes for another twenty years.
    Tokuyama Dam - Wikipedia
     
  17. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: Three chords in the key of D. This would not have sounded out of place on "Sticky Fingers" or "Exile On Main Street." It's good for what it is, but it isn't the sort of thing I would care to listen to over and over again. Once a year, maybe.
     
  18. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Dave does sing partial lead (ie lead on some sections) on ‘Australia’ and the title track from Arthur… Since John Dalton sings lead on ‘Willesden Green’ on Percy, that means ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ is the first Kinks album where Ray takes every lead vocal line!
     
  19. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yep. This is true. I thought about "Australia" and even "Arthur" almost counting, but I still think of them as Ray songs. There must have been a Dave tune that he was trying to get on this album, but probably didn't fit in with Ray's concept.
     
  20. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    ‘If You Are Leaving’ from the Decade comp would seem to be the best candidate for that (assuming you’re talking about MH here, not Arthur).
     
  21. The late man

    The late man Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    Well, my opinion on this song has been written already by @Fischman, so why bother ?

    It can be read as a suicide note, definitely. "gotta get away from the complicated life" doesn't necessarily have the same meaning in the first and second parts of the song.

    The music never caught my ear, but the words are great. I never understood them before.
     
  22. Martyj

    Martyj Who dares to wake me from my slumber? -- Mr. Flash

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Yes...but you have to admit "Complicated Life" sounds pretty darn good with horns on this New Orlean's style cover by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It's one of my favorite of all Kinks covers, and THE favorite Kink's cover video.

    (I'm surprised I'm the one having to post this. Usually Mark or ajsmith are all over the cover video's...)

     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2021
  23. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    They sure don’t look suicidal to me! (Not that I think this song has such meaning/reference).
     
  24. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    Complicated Life is a very fun singalong encompassing some less fun ideas, but that can be a neat trick, just like it is here. It does sound a bit Lionel Bart-ish. Ray could have made a great onstage Fagin!
     
  25. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Complicated Life

    "Life is overrated, life is complicated" - indeed!

    I haven't heard this a ton over the years. The "la di da dah"s sound SO familiar to me so I feel like I heard this song way back as a kid.

    I really enjoy this one. I wouldn't want a whole album of this sort of music but this does the job for me. As far as THIS album is concerned...this is the 2nd best song on this side. And Ray's delivery is perfect.
     

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