"Survivors". Good song but slightly generic, I suppose it gave Dave something to do in between Ray prancing about like some outrageous, er, person.
One of the Survivors closes an excellent Side 1, but this is probably my least favourite song of the side.
One of the Survivors I agree with Mark that this is a solid song and a good bookmark to a fine first side of this album. It doesn’t make any new ground musically and it may even be a rock’n’roll pastiche but it’s still a catchy rocker that gets me air guitaring. Fun fact: Dion of ‘Dion and the Belmonts’ is still kicking and still making music. He’s been delving more into the blues in his later years - for those who are inclined I highly recommend his Blues With Friends album of 2020. It features a who’s who of great guitarists and songwriters but Dion is the glue holding it together.
I don't know if the intro is more Who than Stones ? Then we get a Lou Reed voice, excellent Dave harmonies, classic Elton Lee Lewis piano, the horns play like it’s the 50’s, or like it’s a 50’s pastiche, which, at its heart, it definitely is, the Johnny & the Hurricanes change of pace is spot on, but the best part's got to be the Beach Boys Barbara Ann break ("Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock 'n' roll"), followed by Dave’s good “vibrations” vocals. With all this in place, the main resemblance overall must be Bowie, especially his most derivative self as heard six or seven months before on most Aladdin Sane tunes and even more recently on Pin Ups. It’s an exciting propulsive track, a bit too much on the pastiche/generic side for my taste and maybe the most Glam the Kinks ever were, which is of course completely deliberate, perfect in execution, incredibly spot on as a satirical rock song, which was always a huge part of what the glam was about in the first place (not speaking of the already mentioned 1973-1975 Graffiti/Phantom of the Paradise/Picture Show revival). That we can also hear shades of the punk movement to come (this song's riff was once mentioned as a precursor to Holidays in the Sun by the Sex Pistols, which could be true) is just another proof that whatever they did, even day and date satire, the Kinks were never quite of their time, but on their own little out of time planet. Someone could've written "I've just seen the past and future of rock'n roll and its name is the Kinks".
The Winterland 1977 live version from KSAN's simulcast of the show was the way I learned this song. Winterland was the second vinyl bootleg of the Kinks that I picked up. The 1970s were great in that American FM radio did simulcasts of shows regularly (Springsteen did five in 1978 including Winterland and they were part of what drove his live rep on his way to superstardom). The first thing I thought was it was pretty self-referential - who were survivors? The Kinks. I thought it worked great as the opening song on that Winterland 1977 show because of that. Plus it's a good old rock n roll song. Of course, back then I never really understood the song as part of a set of songs telling a story so it is very interesting to consider it as part of the way the Kinks originally presented it and its role in Preservation.
One of the Survivors: The key to this song, and how it fits into the storyline, is the title; Johnny is one of the survivors and stubbornly refuses to go along with the change in the weather. I agree. I didn’t click on the single version above but if it’s shortened a bit it makes a good single. Naturally, at this point I have no confidence in RCA providing any support/promotion for it as a single…but it could have done well. References to ‘rock rock and roll’ always seem to do well (if actually receiving airplay). Side Thoughts outside the album/musical: We probably all know at least one person from our youth who hasn’t quite figured out how to (or maybe just refuses to) let go of, as Bruce Springsteen says, their ‘Glory Days.’ I imagine this is the case with Johnny and his repeated playing of his 78s and roaring down the highway (or motorway).
One of the Survivors Probably my least favourite song on the record. It's OK but a bit pub rock. It doesn't sound like a viable hit single at all. Lots of energy here though, it keeps the momentum going.
It was the opener in Toronto in 1977 as well. That concert was the best of the 3 times I saw the Kinks (1972 and in the 80's, the one where Pete Quaife joined them onstage for an encore number).
"One of the Survivors" is another song that popped out for me when I first heard Act I. It's a great sequel song, like Chuck Berry's "Bye, Bye Johnny". Again, like the previous song, Ray lists 50s acts that may have not been so obvious. I mean anybody could be an Elvis fan, but it takes some special dedication to be a Johnny and the Hurricanes fan. The song is also the story of a survivor who holds on to his passions despite the fact that time has passed him by. I think that it could have been a hit in the era of "Crocodile Rock", which was itself as pastiche of 50s music. Points to Avid Fortuelo for "Elton Lee Lewis". Also, who would have thought that Jerry Lee would be, like Dion, one of the People Left Standing in 50s R 'n R?
One of the Survivors is One of my Favorites. Actually sitting down and listening to the album the other day, it bursts out of the speakers with energy and a huge sound stage whereas the other songs, (with the exception of Morning Song/Daylight), were rather thin and mono-ish, sonically speaking - as if it were recorded in a different studio with different recording equipment.
One of the Survivors This is good catchy song. My one gripe is I think the "rock rock rock, rock rock'n roll" section is a *little* too much pastiche for me. But other than that, the opening riff is great, and does sound very Whoish to me, but the lead guitar sound does scream Rolling Stones -- especially in that buildup around 2:30 in. And in fact, I could hear Mick Jagger actually singing these verses, not so much the chorus though. The chorus, to me, actually seems a bit ahead of its times? If I just heard the chorus, I would think it might be late 70s. Dalton's basslines are I think the (literally) unsung heroes of this song. He really does some neat things throughout the whole song, driving it forward, but especially in the last minute or so. Some great bass runs. As I've been listening to this over the past few weeks, the repeated "Johnny and the Hurricanes" delivery was reminding me of some other song... and it was killing me... and then it finally hit me, I think that same tag/hook was used in the repeated "Big Australian barmaid" line at the end of that verse in Ray Davies' All She Wrote in 2006, which we may get to in 2023? So it good to see that Ray continues to recall or re-use hooks even as a 21st century man. I also just assumed "Johnny and the Hurricanes" was Johnny Thunder's fictional band from years ago, but now I learn they were a real band like the others!
They were an instrumental band, very sax driven. This track may have been their best known cut. I have a few of their tracks that have popped up on various compilations.
Personally, I find the sound quality of this track to be not only sub standard, but particularly ill suited to the song. This track needs to be dynamic, punchy, bright and forward, traits we find in a lot of the Everybody’s tracks which were recorded at Morgan Studios. Instead, either because of the setup at Konk or Ray’s suspect decisions, we have the drive, energy and pace of the performance squashed into a muddy, dull mess. When I first heard this in 1973 I though the band had simply lost it’s mojo, but in retrospect I think the bigger problem was the recording, not the band.
I'd have to do an inventory to be certain, but I think my all time favorite Dave vocal moment is when he comes in with "...feel those vibrations flow in my brain..."
Entirely different but I find myself thinking of Neil Young’s ‘Sun Green’ lyric: “The Imitators were playing Down at John Lee's bar” An aside: I think it’s credited as ‘Sun Green & The Imitators’ on Apple Music. At least it was at one time.
The Coasters, 1962. Am having to check on some of the references as my personal bailiwick isn’t the same as ‘ol Johnny.
Generally speaking, the sound quality on Preservation is not up to the music's ambitions. And, maybe, the arrangements are a bit too crowded in the middle range. They would have needed very good engineers to make it work. But the music is so good that it doesn't bother me much, really.
One Of The Survivors Not much to add to what has been said. Probably my least favorite song on the album, but I still like it very much. Nice point about Holidays in the sun. The horns sound as if they had received the same treatment as the saxes on Savoy Truffle. On my revised Preservation set, Survivors is the penultimate song on side A. Cricket had to be moved here from side B, to make room for History between Here Comes Flash and Sitting in the Midday Sun (after History's ignominous flight from my alternate EISB, once I was notified that it was recorded in 1973). It works, but not completely, because of the sound. History has the best sound of all early 1970s Kinks recording, in my opinion. Which makes me think that at least some of the damage was made at the mixing stage. Or maybe the album's mastering suffered from the recent sound wars ?
I agree with both these statements, except the latter makes me disagree slightly with the former : I think you need the Barbara Ann reference to fully appreciate the Beach Boys "vibrations" nod after it. Overall, the song is a bit like Lola's Top of the Pops : a well executed genre exercice, catchy and stock full of musical references and winks. Whether you like either one of them or not, it's interesting to note that both Ray's straight rock'n roll songs so far in the 70's are, as @ARL put it this morning about this one, more "pastiches of a rock/rock & roll song than actual rock songs".
"One of the Survivors" If there was ever a Kinks song the New York Dolls should have covered, this is it. It sounds straight out of the rock n roll revival which would soon turn into punk rock. It has that sleazy rock n roll sound of the NY Dolls and early Flamin' Groovies who both sounded like an even more deranged Rolling Stones. Ray's love of 50s rock n roll will be heard many times over the next few albums. There were many bands partaking in 50s rock n roll nostalgia at this time. I can't help but see David Johansen and his Dolls sidekick Johnny Thunders prancing and thrashing through a version of this song. The part at 2:00 minutes in "I got my freedom riding along on the freeway" even sounds like Alice Cooper from the Love It To Death era. I think this song has a great energy and comes off as The Kinks keeping up with the punk kids of the early 70s. It doesn't sound like a corny pastiche to my ears, but like a genuine rock n roll tune. We all know Ray loves to "Bebop Boogie and Jive"! Here is some "Boppin' At The High School Hop" which is mentioned in the song. One of my favorite rock n roll songs from the 50s.
I don't have a whole lot to add to what everyone else has already said. I just want to point out, that in the same way that "Where Are They Now" musically quotes "Johnny Thunder," this track gives a musical nod to "Starstruck" at the beginning of the chorus (at 0:38) "Star Struck On Me..."
