Yes, I was in attendance but cannot remember which night. No raincoat and, as far as I can remember, no spraying of alcohol around the front rows.
"You Can't Stop the Music" I am in agreement with the majority. This just feels like the song that plays as the credits roll. I think the album could have ended on the last song, and they could have made it longer! However, I have no problems with this final song. It's my least favorite song on the album, so it's not necessarily ending on its highest note, but it's not a bad song. This is a great observation. It does sound like Tom Petty in the mid 80s. Ray is again ahead of his time. Maybe Ray should have been one of the Wilbury's! Speaking of the Van Morrison comparisons, he also put out a live album in 1974 called It's Too Late To Stop Now. A similar sentiment to the title of this song. I have even a higher respect for Soap Opera after going through it with all of you. I stated after the last album that we were now descending the mountain and that top tier Kinks was a thing of the past. I take that back, and think this album still continues what is my favorite run of albums in rock n roll. I have said before that the run of albums up until Schoolboys In Disgrace is the most impressive in my collection. While I still like the albums after Schoolboys In Disgrace, they start to slip and I start to skip some songs. Something changes when they move to Arista, but we still have one more album that is nearly flawless in its execution. I'm thrilled that Soap Opera was so well accepted and loved by many of you. I love this record! I understand why Ray went off the deep end and maybe wanted to retire from the music business. Imagine writing all these great songs and albums, and not getting much respect or appreciation for them? I also see the Arista years as Ray giving in a bit and doing more what others thought he should do. I'll get more into that when we get there!
It's really fascinating to look at this album – and its failure – from this perspective. The fact is Ray was not playing the game. He was changing styles all the time, changing the rock group format (horns, female singers, female actresses, underpants), the rock concert experience, the rock songwriting, the frontman personae, the artistic and personal balance between the frontman and his band… In the first half of the seventies, not only was he not playing the game, he was mocking it or undermining it in half his records of that era (Lola/Show-biz/Soap). You had to be an unconditional fan to follow him in his idiosyncratic extravaganzas. And even then… Truth is, I would never introduce the Kinks to anyone by making them listen to Soap Opera. As I said before, I never even put this record on when the family’s home, because I hate hearing them sigh or seeing them leave the room with appalled looks on their faces (and that’s what June Ritchie will do to the uninitiated). But I usually urge anyone with a positive appreciation of the band to go and listen to it the first chance they get… And I’ve yet to experience anyone reproaching me with it. It has nothing but good songs, some of them great (personal favorites: You Make it All Worthwhile and Have Another Drink, but (A) Face in the Crowd, Holiday Romance and Ordinary People are not too far behind), all tremendously entertaining. So why did so many people reject it at the time? Ray was challenging his fans at every turn, like a true prima donna and egotistic maniac. You had to love him no matter what, you had to endorse his self-indulgent detours, you had to run behind him as he followed his muse and fancies. Neil Young, Lou Reed or Dylan were probably also a bit like that but acted like they couldn’t care less if people still loved them or not. They seemed almost happy to be abandoned by their fan base or to confront the self-righteous critics with a defiant “too bad for you, you didn’t deserve me anyway” attitude. And of course, that was enough for most critics and a lot of fans to decide to stick around… Ray was quite different, it seems to me. He would arguably be even more challenging and disconcerting in his artistic choices but he felt he should be admired for them in return. He couldn’t help but act like he deserved to be better recognized and appreciated. And this attitude probably proved counterproductive. It’s like in real life relationships: some people show you they don’t need your approval and couldn’t care less about what you think of them, and usually they get the upper hand in the relationship. Some others are too demanding of affection, attention or endorsement, and end up with a lot of backs turned to them. It may be unfair but it is inevitable. And as far as Soap Opera is concerned, it wasn’t that unfair anyway, because that record was indeed mocking the very essence of what rock music and rock culture represented to many people at the time: political awareness, rebellion, liberation, coming of age, role models, intellectual leaders, counterculture, sex, all of which Ray casually and affectionately takes the piss at with a wink and a shrug, like it’s not that big of a deal, nothing to write home about. Of course, he was proven right, to some extent. We now know the “revolution” was cut short and that rock mythologizing was a marketing tool. But in 1975, with the Punk movement waiting around the corner, I can understand why such a relativist attitude could be a huge turn off to many. I mean, if you expect rock’n roll rebellion but get songs (+ dialogues) about drinking, neon signs and shepherd’s pies, while the You Really Got Me guitar pioneer is having fun mimicking duck quacking on his instrument, there’s a chance you’ll ask for a refund and return the LP… I definitely can see that. The nice upside is that in 2022, you’ll find an original copy of the same record for 10$ in most used record stores and easily repair that original mistake you made some 47 years ago… Last year, I did replace my old French twofer Opera/Disgrace with a couple of proper UK originals, and I must say I feel quite good about making that move. Tomorrow, my wife will be spending the day with her father who just underwent a medical intervention, and I can tell you that June Ritchie and some wah-wah duck quacking will blast through my speakers.
Has anyone pointed out that June Ritchie made her film debut in "A Kind of Loving", which was based on a novel by Stan Barstow, one of the 'angry young men' writers namechecked in "Where Are They Now" ?
Can’t Stop the Music: As a stand-alone song, it’s great. I love Dave’s uncharacteristically lengthy guitar solo. Its not often Ray lets his younger brother rip. I struggled to understand how the song fit or enhanced the story line, although our headmaster’s analysis did provide a rational explanation, but I guess I just don’t care that much about the story either way, I care about the song, and I like this song. Overall, I’d say it’s just a nice rocking closer, even if the connection to the overall story is tenuous at best. As far as the album itself, once again I am left pleasantly pleased. For a record held in such low esteem by the critics, general public and even many kinks fans, I thought it was great through and through. It may not vault ahead of the obvious kinks albums in the rankings, but it’s far from the turkey the history books make it out to be. I thought every song was good to great (other than my issues with the dialogue interspersed into YMIAW) although I am not sure that any one song rose to the level of a true Kinks classic. I do think this was the more enjoyable listen between Soap Opera and Preservation Act 2. Preservation Act 2 had consistently good songs, as does Soap Opera, but Soap Opera was just an easier listen. The songs flowed well and were mostly upbeat. Act 2 really has a heavy, negative, dour feel that detracts from it a little bit for me. I like the songs but, as a whole, it kind of brings me down a little.
We can't stop the music This song is reminiscent of many other songs, and many titles have been mentioned, but strangely the first one that came to my mind is Salt of the Earth. I must admit both songs bear little ressemblance though, but the general sound and atmosphere of the first bars of We Can't Stop The Music lured me into believing I was listening to a song sharing the same anthem-like attitude as Beggars Banquet's brilliant closer. Which explains why I was so disappointed in Soap Opera's last song. But once you acknowledge it's the soundtrack to the end credits, it's OK. It's interesting to see that, as a single, it was paired with Have Another Drink, with which it shares a similar acoustic-guitar-driven beginning and a position at the end of each side. They're also my least favorite songs on the album, and ones that I felt didn't do their side-closer job satisfactorily. (Is there such an adverb ?) So I've decided to playlist the album without these 2 songs, and I will see how it works. I like this album more than before, but I still feel it's a step down from Preservation. The sound accounts for part of my disappointment, but the songwriting is a bit more lazy too, in my opionion. I'm not sure the relative lack of success these albums met had much to do with the changes in artistic directions. I believe the early 70s were a time when you could really meet success with pretty much any style whatsoever, if the planets were correctly aligned. And Ray's projects at the time were not that different from other successful acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Elton John (1975 is the year of Captain Fantastic), Frank Zappa, 10cc... I've already said it, I'm not sure there is always a definite and knowable reason why records sell or don't sell. The market is wide but not infinite, new acts are on the rise, and after all the Kinks did sell records, enough to stay in business for some 20 more years and make a comfortable living out of it. But if I was asked to name 1 reason, I would go for the visual identity thing. Vinyl is a large object, with a large image, it sticks to the music, and trend-setters who don't necessarily listen very closely to the music will be rebuked by a (commercially) inappropriate image. And if I look at the successful artists of the early 70s, they mostly had interesting cover arts, even if some may seem dated nowadays. Visuals were obviously an important thing to buyers at the time. A few years after, the 80s would throw the world into this entirely inexplicable frenzy of visual and aural bad taste that nothing short of an extraterrestrial secret invasion may account for; also, music shrank to CD size, so cover art was not so important anymore. Things became different then. But back in 1975, it might have played a significant part in the relative lack of success encountered by the Kinks' RCA albums.
"You Can't Stop the Music" - Ray is usually good for a rousing finale (even if it's about demolition or marching down salvation road), and he comes through again here. I agree that it feels less inspired than the others and has little to do with the plot, but it's enjoyable enough on its own terms and consistent with Ray's previous themes. The Kinks Present a Soap Opera - I like the album lyrically. I worked in offices my entire post-college career (with some travel), and it actually suits me, but I did have some jobs that were boring and soul-killing (and others that were stressful), so I definitely related to that (I've written songs with similar themes). The analysis by our Headmaster and others helped me appreciate the plot and multiple themes going on. I came into this discussion with three songs on my playlist: the first and last tracks, and "(A) Face in the Crowd." I don't know why, but I just haven't warmed to the album music-wise. Some of the songs ("Rush Hour Blues," You Make It All Worthwhile," "Underneath the Neon Sign") come close to hitting the mark, and I kept giving those a try, but they just don't get there for me. The only song I added to my playlist was "Ducks on the Wall," and I had to trim some of the repetition out of that. I couldn't get through "Ordinary People" more than once; my appetite for 50s pastiche is limited, and I'm saving those tokens for the next album. Overall, it's like a musical play that I found moderately entertaining while in the theater, but I don't feel compelled to buy the soundtrack. The next album is a step up for me, however.
I like your take on this. I will admit that I've only seen 'Brazil' once, well over twenty years ago, so it obviously left an impression on me but maybe one that would be open to movement if I watched it again. But Norman...poor Norman, with his shepherd's pie!
You make a really interesting point about the importance of cover art - especially in the 1970s when albums were big and video clips of pop artists (excluding singles-oriented appearances on Top of The Pops and the like) were rare. I’ll exercise some spare brain cells over the weekend thinking of albums from that era where the brilliance of the cover art compensated for unexceptional musical content within. I can think of a few in my collection already.
A Face In The Crowd So the final bow for normal Norman who has to Face himself and not a moment to soon for poor Andrea and her rejected pie. Gosling's piano is the standout here with this gentle self effacing admission as Norman faces the mirror of not love but truth.
I know a few chef's recipie's have been put on the forum in relation to Keith's choice of dish but i can't recall just where.
Allan McDougall, the press agent in question, is quoted thusly, ‘I can’t remember what the Kinks song was, but I’m pretty sure that the Donovan one was ‘Atlantis’. It isn’t real clear in my memory - I’ve tried to block it out since it was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life! Ray said, ‘Would you stop the car, please?’ I did, he got out and disappeared into the Soho mist. I didn’t see him again for four or five years. Their managers called me the next day and said, ‘Well, the association is terminated.’
I've got to mention at this juncture that around 20 years ago (with all the talk about the Stones fitness regime and how they got fit for touring) an Australian comedy show featured a Keith Richards fitness trainer treadmill that came fitted with an ashtray!
Reminds me of the story of a disgruntled Bob Dylan getting his driver to stop the car and then ordering folk singer Phil Ochs to get out!
You Can't Stop The Music Ok but pretty generic and I don't get the expected raw emotion from Ray's voice however it seems to be more obvious and plentiful in the guise of Dave's lead guitar. Also I think it musically may have been a better fit on another Kinks long player but as others have said this is more than fine taken as the credits roll and the curtains close, especially on the live show where I would like to be a face in the crowd!
Soap Opera Up until this thread hit this LP all I knew of it was an underwhelming sedate vision of a snatch of Starmaker, the general critical view of the album and the pretty nondescript cover art. Whilst I know what I know of the Kinks and particularly certain points of their careers there are so many periods and albums where I have only scratched the surface it that. That's where @mark winstanley and all of you avid, Avids handily come in to guide and help me fill in the jigsaw to give me a more complete overview of the Kinks career. This is a better album than i expected it to be with a clever overall thematic idea with particular emphasis on the clever end reveal. There are good songs and moments scattered throughout even though i sometimes want the band and Ray to lose their heads, loosen their grip and give me more to sink my teeth into than perhaps the story will allow. That said nothing would now stop me buying a nice copy on vinyl if I came across it!
Probably didn't mention it when reviewing the studio cut but this has me thinking of Van Morrison's influence which is no bad thing!
