Announcement. stereo mix, recorded Jan-Mar 1974 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London Announcement 3 (track 11) "News has just reached us of a major victory for Mr. Black and the People's Army. The battle took place on the outskirts of a small village somewhere in the Northern Zone. Casualties on both sides are reported to have been very high, indeed. And our on-the-spot correspondent describes the fighting as some of the fiercest in living memory. No quarter has been shown on either side." Written by: Ray Davies This announcement starts with a sort of slow drunken keyboard playing the Salvation Road melody. To some degree I understand why some folks feel the story fails to gel properly, and this would be part of the reason why.... but I guess it depends on how you look at it really. This seems to tie into Here Comes Flash as well, with the story there suggesting that Flash has come back to reclaim the people via violence and such. Here we have an announcement essentially suggesting there is some kind of Civil War going on. I suppose we could look at this as being somewhat like the unrest seen when there have been Union standoffs over the years.... but it is referred to as a battle, which makes one think of a war.... I guess there are two ways we can look at this - we can think Ray has lost direction and his story id getting out of control - we can see that Ray has made this as a political farce, and he has just raised the stakes Either way, it's an interesting way to end the first half of the album... I guess we'll see where it goes on the second half of the album, but it feels like this announcement somewhat disjoints the storyline.... For me so far there is nothing particularly wrong with the storyline flow up to this point, but when this announcement comes in, it is like, "hang on a minute, when did a war start" .... but again, it could well be seen as an exaggerated entry, to elevate the farcical nature of the politicians and the activities surrounding them.
I initially thought it was directed towards Mr. Black. Does it say who’s singing it on the album jacket?
I don't mind this track, although the lyric now would possibly be pretty risky and un-pc! However, it's another track that doesn't seem to be required to move the story forward.
Yeah, there really should have been some kind 'Mr Churchill Says' style song that dramatized the war. Probably the biggest weakness of the album concept is that there is no song that shows Flash's defeat: there are many songs in a row exploring the nature of him and his gang in power but then the turn of the tide happens quickly offstage ('The Revolution Will Not Be Dramatized'?) and by 'Flash's Dream' and 'Confession' he's already effectively isolated in his bunker.
Mirror of Love: I love this song especially the trilling “baaadd!” and “alrieeeght!” where Ray’s vocal kind of swoops up. I just listened to about a minute of the full band version and prefer the album track with Ray carrying the load. Can’t see how this moves the story along but maybe Belle saves his ass later on? We shall see!
"Mirror Of Love" I didn't realise it was the demo version on the album until this morning - I thought the demo was released as a single and then it was remade for the album, but clearly not! Either way, this is not one of my favourites. If there's one point I'm going to start nodding off during Preservation Act 2, it's usually this song. Maybe it's something to do with this relatively mundane song coming after a string of attention-grabbing tracks? Fortunately, getting up to put on record 2 wakes me up again. It reminds me too much of something else - am I thinking Mungo Jerry? I just don't like the song or the general sound of it that much. Listening to the full band version for the first time, I think that one sounds a little more palatable. As for how this fits into the plot - where did Ray leave that giant-sized shoehorn? "Announcement" This is showing up one of the weaknesses of the whole Preservation concept - none of the supposed "war" takes place in the music. We're supposed to care about Flash's love interest while a civil war is underway? Not suggesting a "Gates Of Delirium" would have been necessary, but some kind of war song would have worked?
Oh, I misread the initial post, it would have worked much better if the Tramp had been singing it about Flash, not Black!
The Mungo Jerry resemblance of Mirror of Love is quite obvious, isn't it ? It never bothered me too much because after all, Jerry's Summertime hit was a blatant Kinks rip off in the first place. So there. The Mirror tune itself is lovely, very hummable, and was my first favorite on the record just because… well, because it's the one song that has “Kinks” written all over it. Maybe a particular brand of Kinks (music-hall trad jazz Kinks) but very recognizable as a Kinks single nonetheless (also because of the Mungo Jerry connection, paradoxically). So yeah, it’s pleasing, melodic, fun, wonderfully (if outrageously) sung by Ray, in a very affected but effective manner, despite being a bit overlong and repetitive. And in the long run, it has proven to be one of the least interesting songs of the set for me… I still love the minor chord change on the sensual/lusty "youuu're such a cooool lover" phrase (and even more sensual/lustier when it becomes "you're a meaaan and obsceene lover") and the way Ray slows things down by insisting on the same chord on the "treat me like / I'm a fool" and "you slap we down / treat me bad" phrases, suggesting the Belle character is kind of trapped in an erotic obsession despite knowing better. It’s a good attempt at turning the Alcohol/Look a Little on the Sunny Side template into a valid commercial proposition, yet not great enough, not perfect enough, not irrefutable enough (it being a demo probably doesn't help), never quite achieving the exuberance and joy of the best Kinks singles of the early 70’s (from Lola to Supersonic Rocket Ship). So in a way, its failure on the charts seems pretty logical, as was its pairing with He’s Evil on the B-side : two good Kinks tunes, but lacking that extra spark of populist evidence and seduction. The very things, ironically, that the aforementioned Mungo Jerry song built its success on…
Mirror of Love I find this old time jazzy bluesy cabaret tune a little too closely following its genre stylings to be a favourite. But it was probably a good choice for a single as it does have a memorable chorus (same would apply to "He's Evil"). It's funny, the title suggested self-love to me. It's hard to understand the choice of mirror as a metaphor if all Ray was saying was "seen through the eyes of love", but it seems that's all he was saying, judging by the rest of the lyrics. Why a mirror? I suppose it scanned. Oh well. I find the recording a little unsatisfactory so I'm always hoping I'll prefer the band version but I never do. Both versions lack a little zest and sparkle.
‘Tommy’ is one of those engrained-in-my-soul albums. Played it upon release until the jacket was frayed. Funny thing, considering Thick as a Brick has been mentioned, too; I found this forum by searching google for Jay Bennett. When I looked at the front page of the forum, it was Tull dominated (as it appears some deluxe edition of something or another had just been released). I thought I had traveled through a time slip and gone back 40 years! Promptly played ‘Brick’ and ‘Tommy’ for the first time in decades.
"Mirror of Love" is another of my favourite songs on the album. Call me old fashioned but I prefer when we have songs that actually sound like the Kinks, rather than failed experiments like "Secondhand Car Spiv". This song is catchy and memorable, having Ray singing as a female adds a bit of Kinksy gender confusion. Kinda reminds me of something else though - a touch of "In the Summertime" maybe? Oops I see that:s been mentioned already! Lyrically it works because it presents a negative side of Flash which, it seems to me, Ray increasingly loses sight off as the story proceeds. The gangster's moll/"tart with a heart" who is treated horribly by her lover but, for various reasons, clings on to her love for him is not an uncommon character in films/literature, it reminds me of Brecht (again) or Berlin Alexanderplatz but Ray's sentimentality soon reasserts itself.
I'm very surprised by the cool reception this one has gotten here so far, even from the Headmaster, who usually manages to see the good in everything! I always thought this was an album highlight, I mean it's so darn catchy and tuneful from the off. Always got to be the 'demo' two man Kinks album version though, Ray's vocal performance is just the bomb in it, whereas in the single version while it might be more filled out musically, the vocals are a bit more restrained. And this is a song that demands to be hammed up in every detail with full torrid gusto. Ray's back in the Betty Boop/Helen Kane etc mode of 'Sunny Side' in this vocals, but this is a lot less cutesy and 'shave and a haircut, two bits' winky eye pat, this time it's from the heart, the torrid tormented heart that can't help but love a bad boy. I can see Helena Bonham Carter tottering around a disheveled boudoir clutching a bottle of Jim Beam to this one , mascara smeared everywhere. There's also a fair bit of Tammy Wynette 'Stand By Your Man' tragedy in it. Tough tragic women, gay icon types, the glamour of squalour. The imagery of the Mirror is there I think more for the feminine space archetypes (The Evil Queen saying 'Mirror Mirror' etc) than to suggest introspection. The Kinks have always from the very start been playing with gender roles, but has Ray ever so completely and fervently inhabited a female character as much as in this track? (I think ) Maryanne Price or maybe one of the other girls took lead vocal in the full stage production, but she kind of belted it, and misses all the little pouts and tics that Ray works into the LP version.
Great post! “I can see Helena Bonham Carter tottering around a disheveled boudoir clutching a bottle of Jim Beam to this one , mascara smeared everywhere.” Perfect.
It started out cool but might be 50-50 now? As you and @Fortuleo have noted…this is first track on the album that screams “Kinks!” (I’m still chuckling at the comment about Mark (and Fortuleo) not just believing in Santa Claus…but actually being convinced they’ve seen him. Said way upthread.)
Mirror of Love One of the side-effects of not paying attention to the plot in concept albums is that I lose track of who is singing to whom. So when I hear Ray singing this I take the lyrics literally: Ray is singing this while looking in the mirror and he loves what he sees. Mark’s explanation has undermined my interpretation, which is a bit of a shame because I think the song is good fun if seen as a love letter to yourself. So I’ll cling to my redundant interpretation and enjoy this song. Now please excuse me while I return to my mirror of love.
This is my favourite song from the Preservation project. It works as a stand alone song. I heard it on the Hippodrome broadcast first and I always loved that version. It works as a song because it has an emotional purity to it that stands out regardless of whether it is part of a larger set of songs or not. I understand why it was a single and it should have been a hit!
