At first, you'd think the Soap Opera story is just a lighthearted mock’n roll take on Preston Sturges's film Sullivan’s Travels: the artist immersing himself in the “normal” (Norman…) person shoes, to find inspiration and authenticity, then gradually (twist) becoming him. Except (second twist) all of this may’ve been Norman’s fantasy from the start… Clever, entertaining and very funny, because this (quite sophisticated) set up is first and foremost a pretext to write and sing pastiche 50’s cabaret and rock songs about breakfast, nine to five office jobs, getting drunk in the pub and having a well respected life, but not so pleasant after all. Puns intended : this is Ray writing about what he used to write in his 66/69 most celebrated period, and a lot of the criticism (and yes, groans…) that I often read/heard (or even expressed myself) about this LP is that he did it so much better then, in a more concise and precise way. Which is evidently true but doesn’t take anything out of the entertaining power of this record, if you accept the outré dialogue and slightly decadent glam cabaret schmaltz style of some of the music. Overall, there's arguably more energy and wit in these vaudeville tunes than on the more ambitious and artful Preservation concept. Of course, Ray plays (and sings) like he is Norman and the Starmaker at the same time, or a combination of the two, but also Ray Davies himself, which may be the whole point, now that I think about it. The protagonist may be a star taking the place of the normal bloke, or maybe the normal bloke in the star’s shoes, or the normal bloke imagining he’s a star in his own shoes, or the other way around (my head hurts already) or maybe all of that (and more) at the same time. All the lines are blurred, and yes, I think it all becomes a close approximation (and more telling than the Flash/Black duality) of the schizophrenic state of mind of the author. This was so maligned and with such a terrible cover art that it was the last Kinks record I got. But it offers a lot of superb pastiche tunes, a great clean sound, and whenever I’m in a retro glam mood, I’ll blast this away on my speakers and have some of the most fun that can be had with a Kinks record. (NB: I only do it when the family’s out and I advise you do the same. Some things can be shared with the world, and some can’t)
"Soap Opera" Undaunted by my dislike of the three previous albums, I also borrowed Soap Opera from the university record library in 1986 and guess what?? I didn't like it! The track which stayed in my head over the years as most typically awful was of course "Ducks On The Wall". Fast forward to the middle of last year, and after finally deciding that I was going to get these four albums, Soap Opera was the first one I found, for £10 at a record fair. I played it and of course it's great - it's Ray on top melodic form. Yes there is plenty of pastiche, parody and theatricality here, which are the things which would have put me off years ago, but now those things sound fine. This album actually seems to get a little better each time I play it. I'd say the main weakness of it is that the turning point of the story - when it becomes apparent that "the star" may just be Norman's delusion - happens "off screen". There is no musical (or even dialogue) representation of this dilemma, and you only know about it if you read the lyric sheet. (At least that's how the sudden change from "Ducks" to "Face In The Crowd" seems to me) And the premise in general doesn't make much sense. The Starmaker says he's going to turn Norman into a star - how is he going to do this? By writing a song about him. How will that make Norman a star? It's not as if the real life David Watts became a star. And why does he need to do such research to the extent of taking over Norman's life for the purpose of writing a three-minute song? It probably all makes more sense if "the star" doesn't actually exist and it's all Norman. It's probably better to just suspend disbelief, sit back and enjoy the show that Ray is putting on for you. For that's what it is - a show. I don't think there are any particular standout tracks here that would go onto a "Best of the Kinks" list, but they all play their part in the show. (OK, a couple of them are only there by virtue of a very big shoehorn!) It's an enjoyable 38-minute diversion. Just a pity there isn't a song in there for Dave to sing! I did watch "Starmaker" last year - I'll probably comment on that tomorrow.
Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 Apr 1967 - Feb 1970 1965 Never Say Yes 1966 Trouble In Madrid Nov 1970 Lola Vs Powerman And The Moneygoround The Contenders Strangers - live 1970 - Dave live Denmark Street Get Back In Line Lola - TOTP - video - alt version Top Of The Pops - video Moneygoround - mono This Time Tomorrow - 2020 mix A Long Way From Home - live 70's - Ray live Rats Apeman - video - alt stereo - alt mono - ToTP - Calypso - live 94 Powerman - mono - 2020 mix - live 70's Got To Be Free Anytime The Good Life 1971 Golden Hour Of The Kinks Feb 1971 Percy (movie) - trailer Mar 1971 Percy (soundtrack) God's Children Lola The Way Love Used To Be - Ray live Completely Running Round Town Moments - Ray live Animals In The Zoo Just Friends Whip Lady Dreams Helga Willesden Green God's Children Outro The Follower 1971 You Really Got Me - Mini Monster EP Nov 1971 Muswell Hillbillies 20th Century Man - single - Alt Instr - Ray live Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues - live 73 - John Peel Holiday - live 73 Skin And Bone - live 70's - Ray live Alcohol - live 75 - cartoon Complicated Life Here Come The People In Grey - live 72 Have A Cuppa Tea - alt version - live 72 Holloway Jail Oklahoma USA - Ray Live Uncle Son - Alternate Muswell Hillbilly Lavender Lane Mountain Woman Kentucky Moon Nobody's Fool - Cold Turkey(Kinks?) Queenie Dec 1971 Muswell Hillbilly EP 1972 Muswell Hillbilly single (Jap) Mar 1972 Kink Kronikles Aug 1972 Everybody's In Showbiz Here Comes Yet Another Day - live 74 - live 75 Maximum Consumption Unreal Reality Hot Potatoes Sitting In My Hotel - 76 remix Motorway You Don't Know My Name Supersonic Rocket Ship - fan vid - BBC live - band video - live Look A Little On The Sunny Side Celluloid Heroes - live 82 Top Of The Pops Brainwashed - Alt Mr Wonderful Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues - Alt Holiday Muswell Hillbilly - Alt Alcohol - Alt Banana Boat Song Skin And Bone Baby Face Lola Til The End Of The Day You're Lookin' Fine Get Back In Line Have A Cuppa Tea Sunny Afternoon Complicated Life She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina Long Tall Shorty History Sophisticated Lady January 1973 The Great Lost Kinks Album Apr 1973 One Of The Survivors/Scrapheap City (Ray Vocal) One Of The Survivors (single version) Ray's near death experience/suicide? The Kinks Live AT The BBC 1973 Oct 1973 Golden Hour Of The Kinks Vol 2 1973 The Time Song I'm Going Home Nov 1973 Preservation Act 1 Morning Song/Daylight - live 74 Sweet Lady Genevieve - Ray live - live 70's There's A Change In The Weather Where Are They Now? One Of The Survivors - Compile version - edit 1 - edit 2 Cricket - Cricket Money And Corruption/ I Am Your Man - Alt/ext Here Comes Flash Sitting In The Midday Sun - video Demolition - Peel sessions extras Village Green (Overture) Picture Book/People Take Pictures Of Each Other (live) May 1974 Preservation Act 2 Announcement Introduction To Solution When A Solution Comes Money Talks - Peel Sessions - Live 74 Announcement Shepherds Of The Nation Scum Of The Earth Second Hand Car Spiv He's Evil - Hippodrome 74 Mirror Of Love - Band Version - Hippodrome 74 Announcement Nobody Gives Oh Where Oh Where Is Love Flash's Dream (The Final Elbow) Flash's Confession Nothing Lasts Forever Announcement Artificial Man Scrapheap City Announcement Salvation Road Preservation Slum Kids - 1975 The Preservation concerts Providence Nov 30th 1974 Preservation Live - More live footage - Home movie footage Live - Midnight Special World Radio History May 1975 The Kinks Present A Soap Opera Starmaker Tv Play Tv Play 6 of 7 parts Soap Opera tour Winterland 1977 Ray On Wonderworld 2005 Thanksgiving Day Ray live on Conan Obrien Oct 2018 Dave Davies - Decade - interview If You Are Leaving (71) Cradle To The Grace (73) Midnight Sun (73) Mystic Woman (73) The Journey (73) Shadows (73) Web Of Time (75) Mr Moon (75) - Why Mick Avory Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street Rasa Didzpetris Davies John Dalton
Mr Moon Love the intro and some of Dave's guitar parts. Not quite sure what this all reminds me about could be anything jarring like putting Ozzy & Keith Relf in a blender but I agree that overall this is pretty disjointed. I wonder how it compares to another 70's solo project (I have not heard) issued in 1975 by one Mr Moon, who knows?
A Soap Opera Not long after I started working full time I really got into a Soap Opera (the album, not Days of Our Lives). I think it's a coherent concept album though Ray expected a lot from his fans if he wanted them to identify with or care for the dull ordinary lives of office workers as seen through the eyes of a rock star. On the plus side he wrote some good upbeat numbers with plenty of humour and wry asides - and the album has another one of Ray's top shelf ballads. Overall I still have fond memories of this album but it's not one I've played in about 20 years. Let the reassessment begin.
I am surprised at the amount of shade thrown Soap Opera's way. With the exception of "Ordinary People," which bores me, I love the album. The songs are melodic and stirring. Some great rousing singalongs, some laughs, some moments when you shake your head, the great transcendent ending of "You Make It All Worthwhile." Sure, the concept is a bit undercooked, and not to be thought about too much. Absurd moments abound. I have a friend who, since 1975, has been quoting his favorite contradictory lines of dialogue: "I can turn the most ordinary man in the world into a star...Let's see if there's anyone here with enough star quality." But, as was said on some liner notes back in the 1960s, welcome to Daviesland. This record has given me a lot of pleasure.
While it's the weekend, here is a concert of Soap Opera, with video, though black and white and a little less than HD
Kinks - 'Soap Opera': Rock Theater That Works The Kinks' 'Soap Opera' deserves your hi-energy rock-lit review, but the damn thing was so much fun I kept laughing at the right places, forgetting to have profound reflections, and in general boogiein-g my credentials away. So blame Ray Davies, not me, because 'Soap Opera' is a subversive animal - it isn't too profound, nor very original, nor prophetic, nor hermetic - it isn't even particularly spectacular. It was just good, and good-natured, and intelligent - a piece of very funny, humane musical entertainment, which along with 'Preservation' - the last Kinks' production - is one of the two really successful rock theatricals that I've seen. The only observation I salvaged from the scene were first: that the crowd was much younger than your Kinks crowd of recent vintage (fewer guys with pipes, thank God), which may indicate that the Kinks are going to be the first band to go from teen-faves to cult heroes and back to teen-heroes again, and secondly, that even the most casual comparison between 'Soap Opera' and a transcendental rhinestone twinkie like 'Tommy' reveals that rock'n'roll could use a lot more talent and a lot less 'genius.' Because Townsend is really a genius but he has just openers in the talent department whereas Davies is so talented, and so secular, that any mention of genius is not only irrelevant, but like Davies himself, rather amusing. Like a lot of great songwriter-performers, Davies isn't musically sophisticated (for all I know he thinks 440 A is a motel room) but he understands rock and roll as well as any man alive. He knows it is about a band and an audience, the status gulf that separates them and the primitive music that unites them. He knows that rock and roll is like Mexican food. As it improves in quality it stops being what it is. Anyway, that's what 'Soap Opera' is about - another dumb story about being a star, or not being one. Davies, in the role of 'Starmaker,' replaces 'Norman,' an ordinary man, to do research for a 'concept' album, only to become trapped in Norman's dull existence in a Tom Stoppard twist by which it suddenly appears that the leading character is not Starmaker playing Norman but Norman playing rock and roll star. At this point the lead character insists that he is fact Ray Davies of the Kinks, and offers a short oldies concert as evidence. When he looks to the band for confirmation of his identity they reject him, then he appeals to the audience, who, on the night I was there, affirmed his stardom with uncontrolled enthusiasm, quite genuine. At this point, the lead character points out that it doesn't really matter, since 'everybody's in showbiz' and concludes the song in praise of 'rock stars of the past,' leaving Davies in a no-man's land between the audience and the band. For a change, finally, he seems happy there. It has obviously been a long road to get to where he's always been, and 'Soap Opera,' in its devious way, is a send-up of every attitude which separates the two. Every grotesque clich� of rock royalty and the new populism gets a clean funny shot, and it works because Davies doesn't introduce theatrical effects into rock and roll. He takes the theatrical aspects which are already in rock and roll and uses them to his advantage: every variation on the rock rituals of mike handling, from phallus to club to ice cream cone, is used to dramatic effect. Davies' exquisite macho cool lead-guitar choreography becomes the device by which 'Norman' is rejected by the band. There is nothing wasted and there is nothing which hasn't been part of rock theatrics for years. Davies not only understands that rock is more than music, but he understands that theater is more than drama and illusion: he knows (and not many rock composers do) that unlike movies, which overwhelm and seduce the viewer by the power and veracity of the image, theater must invite the complicity of the audience. A subtle contract must be negotiated between the performer and the audience before it comes alive. Finally, he asserts that he is not the 'Starmaker' or 'Norman', but in fact 'Ray Davies of the Kinks' he solves the major problem of rock and roll as theatrical music. Rock depends on a real person singing to real people - the directness of that relationship is the primary source of energy - so when rock is sung by a 'character' there is dilution in the mediation. What Davies does is 'use' that drawback playing a character through three quarters of the show, then collapsing that distance. The effect on the audience was almost chemical - it was dramatic, funny, touching, and so goddamn smart it made you want to hit a wall. I guess you might say that 'Soap Opera' involves Davies stripping away his stardom to reveal his humanity, but it is done with such skill and bravura that he finally reaffirms his own gifted status - there's nothing quite as dazzling as a magician who shows you how to do a trick and then fools you with it, nor anything as humane, since he respects you enough to show you how it's done. On the way home I kept thinking about the opening of an earlier Davies song 'Sitting in My Hotel': "If my friends could see me now, driving 'round just like a film star in a chauffeur-driven jam jar they would laugh." In 'Soap Opera,' he glosses that text, befriends the audience, lets them see in the jam jar and they do laugh, and so does Davies, the tricky son of a bitch. Dave Hickey The Village Voice, May 19, 1975
Self�Preservation A multi�media production starringRaymond Douglas Davies as (himself) ACT IScene INew York City. A City Squire Hotel room. April, 1971. Ray Davies is cowering in a dark corner, dressed in tan slacks and conservative blue blazer. RAY (chewing on a finger nail): "I've just had � a very bad three months, since Christmas really, Finding out things about myself. I tried to stab Dave last month. We were having something to eat after a gig, and he took one of my chips. Got him right under the ribs. It was horrible. I suppose it really means I'm scared. It sounds phony, when it's a nice day like today and we're sitting here having a nice chat, but that's really what I mean. A friend of mine, I went to visit her in England, and she's totally cracked up. And she's the last person � I thought � would ever �Scene 2New York City. Philharmonic Hall, later that night. Dressed in a flowered shirt, a Velvet suit and an over-sized black bow tie, Ray Davies is performing with his group, the Kinks. RAY (throwing back his arms): "We've got to forget what this ****ing world's doing to us!" AUDIENCE: "Yeah!!!" Three sheets to the wind, or else blown by some invisible emotional storm, Davies stumbles halfway across the stage, careening madly out of control toward the spot where Brother Dave is playing guitar. Date calmly steps out of the way and lets Ray fall back into a bank of amplifiers. The amps give way; Ray hits the deck. Unmoved, Dave doesn't offer to help him up. Ray has missed a verse but while lying prone, draws the microphone to his lips and sings � RAY: "I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, oh I'm an ape man!"Scene 3A posh restaurant. Later that night. Ray Davies has gathered all the money he has-$200-and repaired to this opulent roost. He's bought a tableful of wine, and a big meal, and he's sitting there gorging himself, and getting drunk, and crying. A friend tries to cheer him up by telling him that the audience "enjoyed" seeing him fall over. RAY: "Oh, they enjoyed it." Cut to a sleazy pancake place on Broadway called Child's, much later that night. Ray Davies is nursing a welt on his back and crying in his coffee. Somehow, he knows that he will be crying all night, and all of the next day as well. RAY (to himself): "Fool." Scene 4New York. A City Squire Hotel room. Seven months later. Ray Davies is sitting on a snug sofa wearing a neat patchwork shirt and sweater-vest. INTERVIEWER: "You've just signed with a new record company, yet on Muswell Hillbillies you have a song called 'Complicated Life' which sounds so pessimistic. The classic line-'Life is overrated." RAY (parting his hair): "I wanted to call it 'Suicidal.' I wanted to make it like a note before you commit suicide. Tense, strained, fatigued. Resigned to the fact that it's a hopeless task. I'm afraid. I fall apart easily. I've got to surround myself with happiness because I can make unhappiness for myself very easy. I'm brilliant at that. It's building up to something � like an explosion. I said to a friend when I was really over the edge at one point, 'Shall I go to a doctor? Do you think he can cure it?' And he said, 'They can't cure it, but they can teach you to live with it." INTERVIEWER: "You don't think of yourself as . . crazy, do you?" RAY (pauses, then with some pride):"I think that I am totally mad." Scene 5London. White City Stadium. July, 1973. A small festival is in progress. The Kinks are billed below Edgar Winter. Backstage, Kinks coordinator Marion Rainford is standing outside her star's tarnished dressing room. MARION: "He's in a dreadful state. Christ, he's in a dreadful state. He may not show up. Ray's wife and two daughters disappeared three weeks ago. They could be dead for all he knows. He doesn't know what he's doing. He feels that tours have split his married life. He's just in a state of despair. The Kinks don't believe what he's saying. I don't believe what he's saying." Ray finally walks in behind sunglasses on this gray day, his dark brown hair a tangled mess. When he emerges for the show, he's putting his best foot forward, dressed in white badges and blazer. The audience heckles him. He staggers through the set. Some of the loyal fans are trying to sing along, sundancing in the rain. RAY: "I'm ****ing sick of the whole thing. I'm sick up to here with it. I � I quit!"ACT IIScene ICut to a slide show subtitled "Ray Davies vs. Powerman and the Money-go-round, " narrated by Alexander Scourby and featuring photos of the Kinks corresponding to that period in their history under discussion. SCOURBY: "Over the years, Raymond Douglas Davies has met with sporadic success and intermittent failure. In 1967, on the brink of cashing in on their 'Sunny Afternoon' smash, the Kinks were banned by the American Musicians' Union after one of the group's managers took a dispute with a promoter to court. It wasn't until almost three years later, after Ray Davies himself had signed a letter of apology 'and admitted things,' Davies says, 'I never even did,' that the Kinks could undertake their triumphant tour. During this period, Kinks consciousness practically evaporated in America. "Trapped in exile over in England, Ray Davies was almost at will turning out remarkably obscure little songs that received almost no commercial acceptance. Commissioned to write a musical for British TV, Davies conceived what might have been hailed as the first rock opera, a story about a beaten, working-class bloke named Arthur, but when he got bogged down with producers and directors, the Who stole his conceptual thunder with their opera, Tommy. Ironically, Arthur never made a public appearance because it turned out to be, Davies asserts, 'too expensive to be on TV and not expensive enough to be a movie.' Finally, Arthur was redesigned as a stage musical but that show never opened either. "Then, the Kinks rallied. Low on cash, Davies set out to write a hit single, an $7,000 later, with the runaway success of 'Lola,' Ray Davies re-emerged into the real world. Then, more disappointment. A wittily powerful attack on the music business, Davies' Lola vs. Powerman album was planned as an elaborate package. The Kinks' record company, Reprise, balked. The album came out as a truncated 'Part I. "I wanted to do a double album,' Davies recalls. 'It would have told the whole story. They said no, we have to have a record now. It was just � crushing. ' So the Kinks jumped to RCA. There was no chance that their first record for a new label would be a 'Part II. "Meanwhile, a movie about a ***** transplant called Percy, for which Davies had written his first score, had opened and closed in a week. The Kinks recorded an album called Everybody's in Show Biz as a soundtrack to a 50-minute on-tour film they had completed but, according to Davies, 'RCA didn't want to get involved,' and so the promising cinematic experiment died. "Undeterred, Davies began work on his long-delayed Preservation project. Again, he prepared a double album destined to be cut back to an 'Act I,' a mysteriously unsettling work-in-progress. But this time, the Kinks didn't jump labels. Nine months later, 'Act II' came out, accompanied by the first Kinks concept stage show. To this day, many consider Preservation-a pastiche of film, video, slides and live performance-the most successful musical stage production a rock group has created. But the album was a resounding commercial failure and Preservation played only 25 dates in America. Ray toyed with keeping it running in London-we could have gotten Michael Caine to play Mr. Flash,' he claims-but instead, ,he turned to yet another project. "This was a musical for British TV called Soap Opera, starring Davies in a dual lead role. But just two weeks before the telecast, Davies' 50-minute script was cut to 37 minutes; in addition to dialogue, the show's best song, '. Ducks on the Wall,' was deleted. 'I think you're just as well not to have seen it,' Davies says today. "Staying busy, Davies turned to his third production of the year, Schoolboys in Disgrace. Hoping for another double album, he wrote 30 songs for the show; nine selections survived on the single LP that was issued. 'It was just a start,' Ray Davies complains. 'I wanted to say more about when Flash left school and . couldn't get a job because he never finished his classes. He was a 'bright kid but he got led into other things. I had the whole story worked out. '"But there will be no 'Act II' for Schoolboys in Disgrace. 'It's too complicated,' Ray Davies declares. 'There's no point. That's rock 'n roll, isn't it?�Scene 2New York. The Warwick Hotel Bar. December, 1975. Ray Davies is sitting at a corner table, drinking a tequila sunrise, dressed in brown skirt and tan sport coat. He is smiling easily but nervously plays with the shoulder strap of a cassette tape recorder, sad eyes pouring out of a pale face which, up close, seems lined well beyond its 31 years. RAY: "Well, I learn lessons all the time. I like glorious failure, I think it's terrific." INTERVIEWER: "And you've experienced it?" RAY (with a characteristic slight shake of the head and soft voice): "Oh, all the time, yeah. All the time. In the course of doing my work there are glorious failures, like tripping up on stage. It's like my solicitor-my lawyer-said to me, 'Ray, do you like serious music?' And I said, 'I always take my work seriously. ' Preservation I took very seriously. But they consider that l've failed in my work."I like to be happy but-I'm just one of those people-I've got a streak in me. I don't know what it is. It might have something to do with diet, or indigestion (grins) but I get really unhappy all of a sudden. I want to walk and be alone and not see anybody. The only way I can get out of it is to get up and start working. What is frightening is when you can't even work and you just stare at a wall. That's terrible-I've done that a few times. I don't like sitting around."What I don't like especially is when people compare me to people who have made it so-called 'big.' The only reason I haven't is possibly that's the way subconsciously I decided it should work out. It goes back to the old days; that's why I decided not to have my teeth capped. So I'm hard to photograph because of that. As a result, I don't get front pages like some people get. But maybe that's a defense mechanism. Nostalgia, nostalgia-the happier times for me are now. "INTERVIEWER (surprised): "Really? Why?" RAY: "I feel much better about myself. Now, after a show, I feel like I've done a good day's work, like I've actually achieved something at the end of the night. I'm not unhappy-it's just that I'm unhappy that people think that I'm unhappy. I'm really happy! I felt that I was on top of the world the other night. When I was on-stage I was the biggest star in the world. When I tried to balance the beer can on my head. "In the old days, we'd just go on-stage and play the hits. We've done our loose shows, like the Philharmonic, and I like that, but it doesn't really give me a buzz at the end of the evening. I don't think I could have ever toured again if I hadn't been able to do Preservation � do the concept shows." ACT IIIScene INorth London. Hornsea. July, 1975. The Kinks have just finished their Soap Opera tour with seven dates in England. Ray Davies is in his office, on the phone to RCA. He is explaining that he wants to get to work on another theatrical thing immediately because there are certain ideas that he wasn't able to incorporate into Soap Opera. He says he's interested in fleshing out the Mr. Flash character from the Preservation show, going back to his schooldays to reveal the roots of his manic capitalistic hooliganism. RAY: "I want the artwork to be in New York by September. I want the album to come out November 10th!"Scene 2The south of England. August, 1975. Ray Davies, the titles explain, has been writing the new album for two weeks, and will continue to work on it for two more, in a strict routine, six days a week and, usually, a couple hours on Sunday. Early in the morning, he climbs out of bed. The clock shows 8:30 as he dashes out of his country home for the morning newspaper. When he returns, he sits at the table drinking his coffee and reading the paper. Around 10, he takes out a pad, pauses, then scribbles: "Write verse for 'Schooldays' � write verse for 'First Time We Fall in Love' � write instrumental bridge for 'No More Looking Back'� " and a long list of other chores. He walks to the piano. His long fingers alternately stroke the keys and grasp a pencil. Occasionally he stops to pick up a guitar to get a more percussive feel on a chorus. He spends a lot of time walking around the room, deep in thought. Sometimes he laughs, or talks to himself. As the day wears on, he ticks off the 30 projects he's completed. When the clock shows 2, he's off to the pub for a cheese roll and a Guinness. Then he's back, slaving away until 7. He looks at his checklist. RAY: "Oh, I still need one more chorus!" Scene 3North London. Hornsea. Konk Studios. September, 1975. A purple door opens into a cozy converted warehouse replete with fireplace, pool table, built-in bar and pot of hot tea. Deep inside, Ray Davies is supervising the recording of Schoolboys in Disgrace. He's playing demos of the new songs for the band, passing around lyrics, explaining chord, changes, telling the engineer the exact sound he wants for the album. Then the Kinks rehearse, Ray singing along, the band inserting fills and frills, Ray accepting some of their additions, rejecting others. He, compliments Dave for the guitar riff he has created for 'No More Looking Back" but tells John Gosling exactly the way he wants him to play the piano part in the same song. Then they try out "Headmaster," recording three different versions, with the band slowly breaking down the stilted format Ray had constructed for the song. RAY: "This is the last take. If it doesn't make it, I'm throwing it out. It's do or die." On the fourth take, it's Do. Scene 4South of England. Late October, 1975. According to the titles, Ray has been mixing the album for the past month but has finally taken two days off to plot the stage show that will, hit the hardboards in less than a month. He's filling in a chart, indicating at what points in the show he wants to accompany the Kinks' music with film, where he wants slides, where he'll stick with the strength of the song unembellished by visuals. He's marked a lot of ideas with "film" but shakes his head, knowing that he'll have to cut that, back to just two or three sequences to save money. He's just jotted down that he wants to film the "Education" number with Gosling as a caveman, in a manner reminiscent of a silent movie. RAY (writing on his pad): "� close 'Education' with a film of � a rocket ship taking off � and then falling backwards � onto the launching pad!"Scene 5Warwick Bar. December, 1975. Ray's face brightens with a phenomenal feline smile. RAY: "I saw a rocket ship taking off but we couldn't get the rocket ship because the 35mm print was too expensive. But the atomic bomb going off at the end works better. That's an accident but it came about because we had a low budget. Sometimes a low budget helps." INTERVIEWER: "How do you work out the budget?" RAY: "Same as last show. It's out of our pocket. I wrote these songs tightly so they could be done very cheaply. It's not cheap but it's not as much money as, say, Alice Cooper would spend-or big shots like that. I saw some sets that Wagner had made for his 'Flying Dutch-man' things and it was amazing. I tell you, that guy was incredible; he must have been the Alice Cooper of his time. He had an enormous set made just so some guys could ride a horse across the stage. Amazing. Oh yeah, I'm into all that." INTERVIEWER: "Tell me about the equipment involved." RAY: "It's all very simple. We have a Bell & Howell 16mm projector; I'd like to use 35mm because the quality is so much better. Then we have three slide carrousels. After renting our own screen the first couple times, we've found it's as cheap to buy it. We didn't invest that heavily originally; Preservation was an experiment until the first night we did it. Then I realized it could work. "INTERVIEWER: "Are you usually that fanatical about outlining your day's work?" RAY: "Had to for this one. Didn't have time for anything else. Songs don't come to me, I go to them. I think that's the way I work normally but I really went over the top and charted it all this time. It was as if I commissioned myself to write it. I get a lot of my ideas together on the train. I don't have time to go off to the Cliffs, to Cornwall, with the wind blowing in my hair, thinking of words. Divine inspiration doesn't work." INTERVIEWER: "Did you attend a school like the one in Schoolboys?" RAY:"No, but they were strict and we did have to wear uniforms � but there's no more looking back' now, you see?" ACT IVScene ILondon. Muswell Hill. Late 1950s, or is it early 1960s? A small, two-story, three-bedroom, working-class brick house. Raymond Douglas Davies and his kid brother David Russell Gordon Davies are climbing out of bed to get ready for school. The clock shows 7:30. They visit the bathroom, then slip into their wine-red school uniforms and strap on their red and orange ties. Then they sit down at the breakfast table for some cereal with their mum, and sisters Gwen and Peggy. Slowly the family dissolves, Peggy leaving for work, Gwen for grammar school Raymond and David leave around 8:30, with separate friends. Ray's friends have that clever look about their eyes; Dave's seem a little more rebellious-looking. In their identical red uniforms, everyone's equally fashionable but the Davies boys project a more working-class profile than their upwardly mobile comrades. With his two buddies, Dave walks about two blocks before he lights up a fag. Ten minutes later, Raymond arrives at school with his friends. The sign reads: "William Grimshaw Secondary School" After checking into homeroom, Ray reports to the hall for assembly and a half hour of religious lessons. Then, it's back to the classroom. At noon, Raymond is finally released from bondage and hurries home for lunch with mum. Where's Dave? He's over at his friend George's house, playing hooky-playing his guitar. It's one of the first times this has happened but the look on his choirboy face indicates it won't be the last. He's telling George about how he's tried everything to get out of class, even wrote a letter once explaining that because of a dubious "mastoid" in his ear he would have to go to the hospital for a check up every Friday. Meanwhile, Ray returns to school at 1:30 for an afternoon of boredom spent doodling, thinking up short stories, envying Dave for his brashness and remembering the day he had skipped school to tramp on the fresh cut grass at the local cricket field. School breaks at 4:10 and after some sparring in the playground, Raymond returns home for 6 o'clock supper. After-wards, he and Dave tune in some pirate radio music and play some of Dave's records: Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, Chuck Berry. Then Dave joins his pack down at the coffeebar while Ray leaves the little brick house for parts unknown �Scene 2Warwick Bar. December, 1975. Ray is lighting a cigarette. RAY: "Well, I'll tell you. When I was a little boy, people said I would get very old by the time I was eighteen. I used to worry a lot when I was a kid. I'd age physically just because I thought a lot. I wasn't too knocked out by school. I decided what I wanted to do quite early-I wanted to get out, do art, and write stories. I was good at spelling; mathematically and academically I wasn't that hot." INTERVIEWER: "What did you get into at art school?" RAY: "Drugs? Everybody had drugs there, and that was '62-'63. And so actually, when I came to rock 'n. roll in the mid-'60s and people started talking about drugs, I thought it was really out of date (chuckles). I'd gone on to drinking by that time." INTERVIEWER: "Some people think you took a lot of acid to get through those years of exile, '67-'69." RAY (pauses, reflects, but not simply for effect): "I know a man who-before they banned the use of LSD in hospitals -a middle-aged man, who had something on his brain. They gave him LSD and he walked down the street telling people what a great time he was having. It's a shame it's been driven into little corners. But I think that's the � story of things, really." INTERVIEWER: "What inspired 'Jack the Idiot Dunce' on the new album?" RAY: "It was based on a real person in England who failed all his entrance exams but didn't try to commit suicide -he just got kicked out of home. I was amazed when I heard that; I didn't think people did that anymore. He turned up at a relative's house. He said, 'Can I stay here? My father's thrown me out. ' Like Victorian times. His father really had big ambitions for him and he just didn't make it. But the guy who was a dummy in school ended up a rock 'n roll dancer and a world famous � character. "I was like that-bad in school but a dancing fool. I guess you could say Jack was me." Scene 3New York. November, 1975. Outside the Beacon Theater following the Kinks' premiere of Schoolboys in Disgrace. A young man and woman pass by in green uniforms almost identical to those the Kinks had worn in the show. There are a lot of "God Save the Kinks" buttons sticking out of sloppy lapels on second-hand jackets worn by a majority of the good-naturedly drunken, at best middle-class, post-teen crowd. Even the young girls seem amiably out-of-it. It's Friday but it's not Date Night; scarred faces and beer bellies pass in review, heading for the woodwork they crawled out of. You don't see these kids at any other rock concerts; one senses they don't have much bread and the money they do have is blown on steins of Bud or else stashed away for tickets to the next Kinks show. JoAnn Krupinski and Steve Rowe seem to know each other. He goes to school on Long Island, wears heavy glasses and is a little tall for a Kinks freak; she hails from Jersey and has a huge gap in her front teeth that she was going to hate fixed until she met Ray Davies. They're both "working on" books about the Kinks STEVE: "Guess I love the music, the words, the performances-what more can I say? It's great to see them alive and well after all these years. They're an institution. One of the survivors." JOANN: "Ray talks about life, and there's no way to get away from life-except to die." STEVE: "He's like the epitome of the common man who's become successful. You can get emotionally involved with his music, not like with Machine Head, Deep Purple, you know? It's a blend of modern rock and oldness, maybe some-thing out of Dickens." JOANN: "Victorian. When he sings, I feel like I'm somewhere very old-fashioned. He's English but he touches everyone. It's heavy but it's still fun." STEVE: "There's a definite human quality as opposed to a lot of other groups. I identify with his attitudes on life-his romantic vision, his cynicism. He talks about dullness and a boring life; I can relate to that. I've been hanging out at the hotel taping interviews with the people in the band." JOANN: "I've saved up $2,000 so I can fly to London next year to do some re-search." INTERVIEWER: "How do you spell your name?" JOANN: "Jay oh capital ay en en. John Gosling told me, 'That's. the way English girls spell it. ' I said, 'That's the way they spell it here too!" ACT VScene IHollywood. December,, 1975. The offices of manager Skip Taylor, which its occupants insist on calling "Flo & Eddie Mansion West." They're sitting around shooting the bull with a couple of Eagles when the talk turns to Ray and his production work on a 1969 Turtles album called Turtle Soup. FLO: "We spent 20 days altogether working on the record. Ray stayed at the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel and drank a lot of beer and liked to read Playboy a lot. Just an average guy. We saw-suck-sought him out. We got his number and gave him a call. We introduced ourselves and he knew from us. And he said, 'yeah,' not a moment's thought." EDDIE: "Only trouble was, White Whale Records didn't know from Ray Davies. So we had to convince them that we weren't jumping off a cliff. We played them stuff like 'Waterloo Sunset' and 'Autumn Almanac' and they were going: 'Who is this guy? Why does he sound like that?' And then we let him totally influence our music." FLO: "Last time we saw him, last summer, he seemed just bent on his own career. Konk Records is kind of in a slowdown so he's really just trying to get himself going. We still buy every album of his that comes out and pick out the best parts and still believe that there are very few people with his vitality and sense of humor. What his albums lack in commercially they expand in eccentricity. He hasn't cared for 10 years whether he sells records, and for that I applaud him. He's a good guy and he knows what he's doing. He's a genius, he's obviously the middle-class genius of the '60s, the '70s-and the '80s too." Scene 2Warwick Bar. Ray has leaned back and relaxed a little, speaking more easily as the drink takes hold. Another cigarette charges him up; the future looms ambivalently, a heartbreak behind every bright light. RAY: "What I'm really interested in doing now is shows for other people. I have all the equipment. I'd help stage it and if they wanted me to write a few things for it, I'd do that too. I'd like to get some-body's book and make a musical out of it. I'd like to work on a musical outside the Kinks and outside me as a performer. For instance, I'd like to stay around in New York and just get a show together. I should do that really, but I keep getting involved in these silly contracts and things (laugh). The next Kinks show, I'd like to use slightly different equipment, get into more ambitious things. "I'd really like to do one thing where I had more than $3 to spend on something. If we were booked into Madison Square Garden, I'd write a show to fill it. Everybody else can play there, why can't we?" INTERVIEWER: "Get into more acting?" RAY: "Well, I don't mind that. I like character parts. I'd like to play a bishop or, an accountant or a monk � Beethoven Jesus. I'd still like to develop Soap Opera into a 13-part soap opera on TV. I wrote a lot of Soap Opera in America, from watching television. I'd watch a guy on some show and say, 'Oh, he could have made a big deal out of that line!' "I'd still like to make an album that worked entirely in the studio. I want to do a special projects album. Got lots of ideas that aren't necessarily involved in the band, and for my sake, and their sake, I should do them, otherwise, I'll end up doing a Kinks album that isn't really a Kinks album. My songs would be different . ; my songs are cast for the Kinks, so for other people I would cast them differently. It certainly would be good exercise for me as a writer. . Writing's where I'm at, still." INTERVIEWER: "What about your next concept show?" RAY: "I really haven't got it clear yet, I'd sort of like to do a musical Jaws (laughs). I've got a lot of things I want to say, it's just that I'm finding new ways of saying it."I'd like to find out more about physics, science. I'm quite involved in all that. It's funny, I'm getting interested in these academic things. You're sitting there and then you're gone and all those little things that make up your body have gone with you, your molecules and things. Like sometimes when I'm at the studio and think I've made a good track, I'll stick a rough vocal on in case something happens to me before coming in the next day. INTERVIEWER: "Even though you're fatalistic, do you think you can accomplish all these things?" RAY: "I'd like to-I'd really enjoy it. Perhaps � when I die � I'll put on my gravestone: 'Well, I've wanted to do this for a long time."Scene 3New York. December, 1975. An apartment somewhere. The lips of a shadow on a white wall are moving. The shadow belongs to Someone Who Knows Ray Davies Well. Actually, it's an actress who is reading the words from a script comprised of statements made by several people Who Know Ray Davies Well. SHADOW: "No one really knows him well. With Ray, I always felt it would be intrusive to ask questions. The only other one I ever met like him was James Taylor but James told me a lot more about his life than Ray did. I didn't eveninto a 13-part soap opera on TV. I wrote a lot of Soap Opera in America, from watching television. I'd watch a guy on some show and say, 'Oh, he could have made a big deal out of that line!' "I'd still like to make an album that worked entirely in the studio. I want to do a special projects album. Got lots of ideas that aren't necessarily involved in the band, and for my sake, and their sake, I should do them, otherwise, I'll end up doing a Kinks album that isn't really a Kinks album. My songs would be different . ; my songs are cast for the Kinks, so for other people I would cast them differently. It certainly would be good exercise for me as a writer. . Writing's where I'm at, still." INTERVIEWER: "What about your next concept show?" RAY: "I really haven't got it clear yet, I'd sort of like to do a musical Jaws (laughs). I've got a lot of things I want to say, it's just that I'm finding new ways of saying it."I'd like to find out more about physics, science. I'm quite involved in all that. It's funny, I'm getting interested in these academic things. You're sitting there and then you're gone and all those little things that make up your body have gone with you, your molecules and things. Like sometimes when I'm at the studio and think I've made a good track, I'll stick a rough vocal on in case something happens to me before coming in the next day. INTERVIEWER: "Even though you're fatalistic, do you think you can accomplish all these things?" RAY: "I'd like to-I'd really enjoy it. Perhaps � when I die � I'll put on my gravestone: 'Well, I've wanted to do this for a long time." Scene 4Warwick Bar. Ray's getting ready to catch a movie and it seems appropriate that the movie is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In the meantime, he's acting a little giddy. RAY: "I'm not a great drinker. That's why I get drunk. One drink and I get tipsy. I like pubs but that's only because I like the people who go to pubs. But I'm really professional. I work 24 hours a day. That's why sometimes I like to say, 'I'm doing nothing tonight, I'll be a zombie. ' I'll read a book, watch a film."He leaves the table to telephone some-one named Yvonne. It seems appropriate to finally ask him the Question. Ray has said that he likes short women with long legs but he has also declared that his "ideal date" would be Chartlon Heston. INTERVIEWER: "Ray � are you � gay?" RAY (laughs, then quite seriously): "It's like my agent said to me after we put out a song called 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' in 1966. My agent came up to me and said, 'Ray-are you queer?' I didn't know I was writing that sort of song. I don't mind gay people, people who aren't gay, people who are unhappy, people who are happy-they can all come to our shows. Don't have to be one type of person to like our band. We even have animal lovers coming." INTERVIEWER: "But with 'Lola,' and the limp wrist, and that stage routine-'Isn't this just the greatest ass you've ever seen?'-weren't you encouraging that image?" RAY: "Well, it's had a hard time lately, it's not at its best, but it's still a pretty good ass, pretty good ass. Haven't had much chance to keep it in shape." INTERVIEWER: "But your persona �" RAY:"I don't think it's necessarily gay. I think on certain occasions, the character may be so in love with himself that he gives that appearance to an outsider. Conceit really. It's just � ." INTERVIEWER: "Just?" RAY: " � my wrist is loose. 'Stay loose,' as they say." Greg Mitchell, Crawdaddy, 1975
I can guess why people think this is the worst Kinks albums of the 70s - it's pretty lightweight musically and lyrically, the spoken word parts are terrible, the story does not make much sense and the stage show looks embarrassing as hell, plus everyone in the Kinks seems to hate it (though I'm not sure what Ray thinks about it). However I don't agree! I actually kind of like this album, even though the criticisms are all valid. It could be the fact that, coming after the Wagnerian - in terms of length and seriousness not musical quality - Preservation this album is just lighter in tone and sound, even though it's arguably about mental illness when you get down to it!
Isn't that what all headmasters claim? As for "Web of Time", I luv it. Then again, I see to enjoy Dave's stuff more than what is perceived as normal.
This just in: Soap Opera much better than either Preservations shock! Like Sir Mark I've looked upon this record as one of their 'worst' for quite some time but this summer something just clicked and I find it really rather good. Still lower tier Kinks.
One of the reasons I joined this thread was to pay more attention to the Kinks 1970s albums as I was not tuned in when it was actually happening. I have the CDs but I have not spent the time with them that I have with the work of the other iconic bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Soap Opera is probably the Kinks album I know the least. In fact, until I read up on it last week, I had no idea that it started as a teleplay starring Ray Davies called Star Maker on Granada TV. I know its reputation as being a weaker Kinks album but we will see what everyone (and myself) makes of it.
are you talking about Do It Again? If so, it definitely got made. It was broadcast on our local PBS station years ago. It wasn't widely aired which is a great big letdown as it's a fun film. I should reach out to the filmmaker and see if he can get it put on Netflix or the like.
Soap Opera initial thoughts: This is the first Kinks album that I found myself thinking, “boring.” Not initially, as it starts off with a good song…and I was delighted, assuming the streak was going to continue. But then I quickly lost interest (until I split my sides laughing further on in). So I do look forward to our deep dive. How will I feel at the end? Mark, I really appreciate the amount of time and work you put into this. Today’s preliminary set-up must have been especially time-consuming. And I read it all with great interest.
The two articles are copy and paste from the kindakinks.net site.... it probably looks like more than it is
The unkindest kut of all in this version is around 45 minutes in when the cue appears for 'Ducks On The Wall' and then the film just cuts to the next bit!
Well, you search it all out and always present various album covers, liner notes, etc. All so we can instantly get up to speed. It’s appreciated.
I have to say I find the Starmaker teleplay kind of underwhelming.. I think it worked better expanded (well they added in 'Underneath The Neon Sign' and 'Ducks On The Wall' plus 'Sunny Afternoon') into the stage show version, plus on stage Ray could go over the top more and ham up the faintly ridiculous scenario and thus bring it across better in spite of how slight it is. As a teleplay musical, it's got one foot still in a more serious drama and thus it's hard to take seriously or care about much. The TV version is so brief: The Starmaker decides to become Norman, does one (ONE!) days graft at the office/pub and can't take it, so then he either buggers off or (as Norman) accepts his fate as a Face In The Crowd, but at the end of the day folks, 'You Can't Stop The Music'. So what, really? I think the extra songs in the stage version (plus 'Holiday Romance' which was only on the LP and I suspect may have been a stand alone single later shoehorned into the concept to make up numbers) help the story breath and give it more heft and colour. I actually love the 'Soap Opera' album but I've always kinda found the TV version lacking for these reasons, less than even the sum of it's parts. I won't deny it uses some very interesting tele-theatrical staging though!
