The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

It would be interesting, I don't have any of their stuff... and of what I heard only really liked one of their songs

 

You had originally responded to my Layla reference. But I certainly wasn’t saying the songs resembled each other. Just little bits of the lead playing.

 

"Sleepwalker"

Finally, a catchy verse melody that only the Kinks could have written. I had almost given up hope at this stage of the album. The chorus is a bit weaker in comparison, but I still have it in my head for days now, what more could I ask of a Kinks song. I especially like the part where Mick Avery plays the rhythm straight riding on the ride cymbal as the guitars proceed with their faux-funk rhythm, that gives the song a much needed release during the chorus.

What actually startles me is Ray's vocal range here. When did he begin to sing so high? Is he one of those few singers whose voices actually go higher with age (like Jon Anderson on "Going For The One")? Or is it part of his rejuvenation process?This range also makes him sound less serious, almost cartoonish. It's also interesting that he choses to sing one octave lower in the video posted above and that works quite nicely with Dave handling the upper octave as usual.

Lyrically it is superficially about insomnia, but I remember reading somewhere that it's actually about Ray's uncanny ability to feed off people's stories for his own songs. Maybe it's both, or more precisely about Ray walking the nights into bars getting drunk people to talk and talk, then going home to write songs about them.

Overall I like this one a lot right now, and that is probably because it gives me the much needed melodic candy that I was craving for during the first two tracks. I was never too impressed with it on the Come Dancing compilation tbh.

 

I'm sorry to say that "Waterloo Sunset" never made the US single charts at all.

 

Yeah, we should stop with the “too commercial” thing, don’t you think ? It just doesn’t add up. If we don’t like something, that just can’t be the actual reason. I think Sleepwalker is super commercial and very good and that Mr. Big Man is (a bit less) commercial and not so good. Songs can be commercial and fabulous. In many cases, they should be commercial and fabulous! It’s not called “pop music” for nothing. I will never blame a pop band for being commercial. Remember, when we were discussing the RCA years, we would lament that some great singles such as Sitting in the Midday Sun, Mirror of Love, Holiday Romance, I’m in Disgrace failed to make it up the charts. It seemed unfair because we thought they were commercial enough, and deserving to be popular.

This is the Kinks we’re talking about, after all. A VERY commercial band, used to have tons of hits, at least two or three every year for a long time. Ray even used to write them as hits. On purpose!!! Even some that didn’t chart too well (Starstruck, Wonderboy, Victoria) are 100% commercial pop. The Beatles were commercially-minded. Tons of hits, written as such. Same with the Beach Boys. The Stones were commercially-minded. Big time. With hugely commercial singles everywhere, all the time, on every damn LP they released up to the nineties! And when they failed to write enough of them, they recorded covers to make sure one more hit would happen anyway (Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, Harlem Shuffle). Even the Who. As long as Townshend could manage to do it, he did it (you bet he did). There’s a fantastic bit in Little Steven’s recent autobiography (highly recommended), where he explains why he calls the sixties a “Renaissance”. He says: in any art, whenever the best stuff being done is also the most popular, it’s a Renaissance. I love it, I think it’s extremely accurate. Interestingly, in some ways, 1977 can be considered the year when it ceased to consistently be true, at least as far as “classic rock” was concerned.

 

Nice post

I think, but could not find confirmation, that Hendrix once said "it's no crime to be played on a jukebox"

 

There's lots of ways to be commercial.

 

Sleepwalker

I used to love this song.... largely because I was a natural insomniac and it spoke to my inner night owl.

Something about the odd mix of catchy pop melody and slightly sinister lyrics also worked well.

This is, however, one of the songs which has fallen a bit from the love of my college days. Still a good song, never a skip, but not one I really look forward to at this time.

 

Wow, I go to bed (after reading a chapter of Mel Brooks' autobiography that finally came available in my library), wake up, go food shopping, finally get on here and I see my fellow Avids fill up more pages of this thread. There's even some stuff about the Kinks! I know that this thread covers most of the Earth, but, jeez, do any of you guys sleep?

Speaking of sleep (ain't I a clever one?), "Sleepwalker" is a nice pop ditty that made it just halfway up the single charts at #48, not enough for Casey Kasem to announce their return to Top 40 hitdom after nearly a decade in the wilderness on American Top 40 (that won't happen until next year). It did get played on FM radio and the publicity on SNL ( it was on 2/26/1977; the host was Steve Martin, right on the cusp of his breakout in popular culture; any Avids that have Peacock can watch the entire show w/the Kinks as there were musical clearances when it appeared on DVD, unlike the later seasons ) and Merv Griffin was such that it helped the album get to #21. So Mission Accomplished. As w/Ray's songs, there's always a twist. Is our Sleepwalker merely a victim of insomnia in The Big City or is he a vampire or killer? I was thinking about the Manson Family's habit of "creepy crawling", where they would break into a house and just move stuff around to put a scare into people.

 

While I haven't slammed the Kinks for going "commercial" here, I don't generally take issue with that term as a pejorative. In context as I see it, commercial as a pejorative doesn't merely mean charting.... to me, it means a deliberate attempt to chart by pandering to the lowest common denominator rather than trying first to make great art and if it catches on, that's a bonus.

In that sense, even if those great Kinks songs had become million sellers, the "commercial" label still would not have applied.

 

They were great when they were Jefferson Airplane (another one from my grandma), although for me it was picking and choosing the songs I liked, not really whole albums. I also like them a lot as Jefferson Starship (No doubt those that are not liking this era of the kinks may have a liked Jefferson Airplane but probably wouldn’t like Jefferson Starship). Once they became starship, I lost interest.

 

Using my trusty top 100 albums list as a handy guide, I see two lps: Elvis Costello ‘My Aim Is True’ and Jackson Browne ‘Running On Empty.’ The lowest 70s year is the following, ‘78, with only Dire Straits’ self-titled debut.

Yes, I think so. I haven’t been using that ‘gone commercial’ term (I’ve mentioned FM radio…but that’s literally because that’s where I heard the only tracks I know) but I still have an idea what someone is saying when they do say so and so ‘went commercial.’

I managed to put in a plug for Free so I’m happy.

Now we’re into the heavy philosophical stuff. Bands can be huge commercial successes in a variety of ways. A stratospheric hit album, consistent selling albums, charting singles, concert sellouts. A hard topic to address.

Me, too. There was a time when I was awed by all the talent in The Airplane (See ‘Flight Log’ for a superb compilation) and early Jefferson Starship and solo albums. (Later, I went through the same feeling about Crosby, Stills & Nash).
Gotta add these non-Kinksian extras to keep @DISKOJOE on his toes.

 

Did they go commercial?

 

I think for their specific locality in the US they were already commercial in the sixties.
Starship was just a completely different band....

 

Sleepwalker

"I'm making observations/and character simulations."

I like what @pantofis picked up, the idea that Ray is a vampire who sucks stories out of the unsuspecting. & even though this LP doesn't have a bunch of voices & sound effects & snippets of dialogue (tho we do have a spoken monologue in this song), this album seems to be filled with characters, narrators who are both Ray and not-Ray, Starmaker and Norman.

Agreed with @mark winstanley that Sleepwalker completes a stunning trifecta of great songs on side 1 of this LP. In fact agreed w/ his entire analysis of this song.

Re "art vs. commerce," I've been laboring in a commercial-artistic field for a number of years, & there are always lots of forces at work when I'm creating something. What I absolutely need to say; what the market demands; what audiences respond to and might be on the verge of being ready to respond to; my own ambitions and insecurities. When the weight of combined circumstances has demanded that I work within a genre, my measure of success is equal parts "have I honored the genre?", "have I tried to nudge the genre in a new direction?"; and "have I done those things without restricting, censoring, or betraying my [for lack of a better word] muse?"

Klimt did portraits of rich people; Rilke wrote poems for his benefactors; Kubrick did a horror film. To me, the question isn't "did they sell out?"; it's whether or not they were able to bring their personal, unique, idiosyncratic voices to the things they did to satisfy the market. & so far on this LP I don't see any diminution of Ray's authentic voice or artistic instincts.

 

Somewhere upthread (downthread?) there was a brief discussion of the Beach Boys more obscure albums (e.g. Holland), comparing them (I think) to the Kinks' RCA years. With Airplane/Starship (or Slick/Kantner) there's Sunfighter, Baron Von Tollbooth, and Blows Against the Empire. Also early '70s. & also kind of all over the place & brilliant.

 

I love this.

Art is often seen as some obscure thing, because we overthink everything.
There is art everywhere, whether accessible or inaccessible.... and only the person in front of it can interpret their response.

As far as commercial goes....
To me, taking it to the extreme for emphasis, if someone records their music, or plays it to a crowd, it's commercial, because you've thrown it out there for feedback or some form of reward, whether that's emotional, financial or whatever.

If someone specifically curates a painting or a song in a specific way to appeal to a specific group of people, it is still by definition art, because the maker can't help but put a part of themselves in it.
Whether it is to appeal to the underground, or the mass market, makes no real difference, it was still created with an audience in mind, so it is therefore by definition commercial.

I guess the question is really, is it contrary to who you are?... or is it opposed to your inner self? or whatever.

I just hear Ray doing what he has always done. He just has a different desk, and so there is a slightly different sound .... somewhat like someone who generally uses oils, using acrylics.

Something like that anyway lol

 

I agree. I love Baron Von Tollbooth. Also, when Jefferson Airplane turns into Starship you should turn your attention to Hot Tuna instead. That's where a big part of the Airplane talent went. Jorma Kaukonen is one of the great guitar players who is not only technically proficient, but plays with more style and grace than most guitar jammers.

 

Yes, this is what I was referring to.

(Just reminded of taking Sunfighter over to a friend’s house back in the latter 70s and putting it on. He hated it, was repulsed by Grace Slick’s vocals. I mentioned this to him a few months back and he had no recollection. But it left an impression on me!)

 

"Sleepwalker"

I really have no problems with this song. It has some good lyrics and is a catchy tune for a single. Watching them play it live makes me appreciate it more. Listening to it on the album, it just doesn't do much for me. There is something about it that recalls the often ridiculed 90s band Spin Doctors. Sorry to put this thought in anyone's head! It's not a bad song, but I can't muster up much enthusiasm for it. Where and when I listen to it has an effect on how much I enjoy it. Most of the time, I feel it is mundane and I want to skip it, but other times I can bop my head and wriggle my backside. It's ok, but it's not making any Kinks playlist of mine. The opening does have some resemblance to "Take The Money And Run" and now I also really hear parts of the "Volunteers" riff, but I think that's a much better song.

Back to Baron Von Tollbooth, the opening two songs are among my two favorite songs with Grace on lead vocals. She also wrote the lyrics for both, and the music for the second one. There is great music on every Jefferson Airplane album. The compilation 2400 Fulton Street is a good starting point if you don't know what to listen to first. That's the album that initially got me into the band.

 

Sleepwalker acetate, with extra verse.

Ray could be singing "gay" or "game."

 

Immediately following is another tv show performance (Merv Griffin? Mike Douglas? I forget their faces): Sleepwalker and Celluloid Heroes. I think mimed? Or maybe playing but with a backing track? (On Celluloid Heroes, for instance, I can hear female backing vocals).

 

Avid Zeki sez:

Gotta add these non-Kinksian extras to keep @DISKOJOE on his toes.

Ha, ha, ha. One of the first albums I listened to getting into music was my brother in law's copy of The Worst of Jefferson Airplane. I have a copy of that, 2400 Fulton Ave. and Surrealistic Pillow. That's all the Jefferson Airplane I need.

Avid Vangro sez: Did they (Starship) go commercial?

Just take a look at this:

 

Thanks, what a shame this was cut, it adds a lot of depth to the song and ties back to the chap we met in the opener that walked the streets at night. I also like how it wraps up quickly.

 

Sleepwalker:

This one is neck and neck with jukebox Music as my favorite on the album. I’m not sure that that will change, but we’ll see. This is one of those songs that the introductory drumming alone is sufficient for me to immediately know what song it is, quite memorable in my book. I love the lyrics, I know it they are a far cry from Ray’s normally insightful and meaningful observations, but I have no issue with him lightning up and providing us with a good old fashion rock ‘n’ roll number.

This may not be my favorite song of all time about insomnia, but it certainly would be close. During my three years of law school, I would habitually study at the library until 11 or 12 at night, go home and pass out until about three in the morning, then wake up in a panic and run the streets of San Jose California with the top half of a hockey stick in hand to ward off attacking dogs and, God for bid, people that might’ve had bad intentions. I made a great mixed tape during this period that had a lot of songs related to insomnia and pressure, and needless to say, Sleepwalker and Sleepless Night both made the cut, as well as Pressure from Low Budget. Brain Stew by Green Day was also on there, another killer track about insomnia.