The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

I remember "Brother" from the Winterland 1977 broadcast. I believe Ray introduces it with a comment about it being another song that will have people speculating on Ray's sexuality! Probably my favourite moment in this song is the "relationships" and "sailin' ships" word play which just makes me smile. Musically, it is a pretty conventional ballad for the time (was this the Kinks inventing the power ballad?). At times I hear echoes of Pink Floyd (not the song "Echoes" but perhaps the ballads on Dark Side Of The Moon). I have to say that it is a good vocal from Ray and the intricate vocal harmonies might rekindle talk of the Beach Boys. I find it hard to believe Ray would have written a song called "Brother" and not thought about Dave. Yes, its message is pretty universal but I am sure thoughts of Dave are mixed in there.

 

Sleepwalker

First heard (& also importantly seen) on a VHS Tape of SNL from 1977.
Initially of course i loved these (known to me) Pye tracks from this broadcast however very swiftly i came to dig Sleepwalker through this "performance!"

I enjoyed Ray and the band's contemporary live act and the rocking sound but perhaps even moreso the edgy quicksilver fills Dave added to the stew of Rays good, catchy song!

Some time later I heard the studio cut and was a little disappointed in the sound and production that I was not used to.

That said Sleepwalker is still one of my favourites on the LP even if say, aspects of the chorus and outro seem a bit simplistic and the sound slightly anemic in comparison.

I of course gave extra points due to my own lifelong insomnia and could certainly relate to Ray's endless night ruminations as he restlessly looked to partake in all manner of activities!

 

Brother
I also used to think this was a rare case of Ray expressing affection for his brother. As if! Instead, the detached and enigmatic lyrics are more about brotherhood, which I find less engaging. This song-by-song discussion has reinforced my view that Ray's finest ballads are those where he is being personal and showing some fragility - which isn't the case here. Lyrics aside, I agree that this is a well-composed slow number. I'm not that comfortable with the strings but I understand why they were put on (isn't it another case of The Long and Winding Road?). So this doesn't cross the line as a song I love but it sits on the album as refreshing respite from the louder songs around it.

 

"Brother"

I don't mind this track - it could be the first ever power ballad. Much like the rest of the album, though, I'm not really feeling a personal connection with it. The lyric seems like a kind of generic "we're all in this together" sentiment to me - ideal for the arena stage and getting lighters into the air, but a bit distant emotionally. Ironic that having written most of the previous album about his brother's schoolboy exploits, Ray now writes a song called "Brother" that seemingly has no connection to said brother.

It's perfectly fine to listen to, though. A strong melody line, good vocal from Ray and the music underlines the "this is the centrepiece of the album" importance of the track.

 

Very good

 

Mary Woronov strikes me as being a difficult person to turn down!

 

Not a big Brother fan here, but no harsh detractor either. There are some cool parts, some beautiful soaring moments (“but we shouldn’t feel afraid”), some excellent chord changes (“there’s so much that we can say”), some nice laid back guitars. It’s a bit overlong but Ray sings it with heart and craft and I agree the last minute instrumental coda is the best part, with great lead guitar doubled by great dramatic low piano work, so I would never want to let go of it, I'll keep it at 5'29''. I think they do have actual strings in that section, so I don't understand why they'd used the jarring synths ones before that. Don't get me wrong, I don't oppose synths out of principle but this here makes me think of Dylan and the Band’s Before the Flood. Some stunning stuff on there, all but ruined by Garth Hudson's organ sound (and how it’s mixed too loud). Interestingly, you underlined the accented three tone runs hook. I think it's meant as a direct quote of You Make It All Worthwhile, Ray's big "home is a happy place" statement. And it's certainly no coincidence, just before saying he’s « going to stay » and « wouldn’t leave anyway. » It's true the lyrics are surprising because they’re not about Ray and Dave, except I agree with @stewedandkeefed they almost get there in some places. My guess is this ambiguity is also deliberate, but ends up making the song sound too vague for its own good. I think it can be seen as a yin/yang balance song with Mr. Big Man. That one was all nasty and mean, this one is all universal love and brotherhood of man. The whole record is structured like that, made of sister tunes going in pairs. Sleepwalker/Full Moon (vampire/werewolf). Life on the Road/Life Goes on (the life you choose/the life that hits you) Big Man/Brother (foes/friends). Juke Box Music/Stormy Sky… Ahem, well, ok, maybe not this last one… You got me, better throw this theory away!

 

Thanks, i didn't even know i was being funny to boot!

 

I’ve refrained from commenting much on the Sleepwalker album tracks so far as revisiting them hasn’t added to my appreciation of them and I haven’t been able to think of any interesting critical angles on them.

I will say that ‘Brother’ is the first song that’s shown some previously unsuspected qualities on a relisten, on a song that I’ve always dismissed as being among the worst most un-Kinks like offenders in terms of lapsing even beyond AOR into pure MOR Hospital Radio music.. and it still is that in a lot of ways… the lyric in particular is I have to say perhaps Rays least distinguished and workmanlike since 1965, it’s so Pod Person Ray in terms of its utter generic ness and bleh … AND YET… and yet I have to now admit that that is a damn good melody… subtle but once you get it you realise this isn’t just a piece of shlock, as hard as the lyric and general vibe is trying. Damn Ray, you (kinda) got me once again!

 

Brother.

There's something about this song that just doesn't ring true to me. This strikes me almost as a writing exercise by Ray: write an something anthemic about brotherly love... or something. For a start, do I believe Ray when he's singing about brotherly love and peace to all mankind etc? Well, not really, I mean he did write "Supersonic Rocket Ship", but that had a light, playful feel, whereas this is unconvincingly (to me anyway) earnest and portentous. Musically it's pretty nice but, even then, has a kind of manufactured feel. Like everybody so far, I hoped this would be about Dave! As it is, I find it insincere and manipulative albeit very skillfully and professionally done.

 

Brother:
This is a strange one coming right after the title track. Doesn’t make sense to me in terms of flow.

As to the song, it seems like a cross between The Kinks and Elton John. Initially, Kinksian and then I find myself expecting Elton to start warbling about keeping the sun from going down. Perhaps it is the latter that caused Clive Davis to suggest making this song the single?

I didn’t like it at all upon first listen but have clearly become hardened by repeated listens as I can now tolerate it…until the strings come in. My verdict? This should have been a song that Ray shopped out to another artist.

2 for 4 on the album countdown.

 

In the book Ray claims he turned her down cos she was ‘too New York’! The whole bit as he describes has a bit of a Carry On vibe, with Ray in the Kenneth Williams ‘terrified of assertive women’ role.

 

About the fact that Ray ducked singing about his actual brother in this song, I'm reminded that it was Blondie Chaplin and Rikki Fataar who wrote a moving song about brothers when they were in the Beach Boys, none of the Wilsons managed it!

 

She is a bit scary. But in a good way.

 

Brother: I also remember with Mendelsohn's book, how much he hated Ray's new "ballad" voice, which was more breathy and purposely emotional. It doesn't bother me at all, but I know what he's talking about as we haven't heard that affection before. I can hear him leaning towards it at the start of this song, although I think RnR Fantasy was where it came out more fully. I've always loved "Brother": a great build to this song towards the coda, some good background vocal work going on there. This isn't really that far off from something like "Artificial Man" from earlier, but I can hear how much more directly commercial this sounds. One thing I did notice in Americana was that Clive Davies was obsessed with getting this song right, perhaps sensing Ray could have a Nilsson-style hit with this. But that never happened. It's still a memorable song for 70s Kinks fans. Of course, everyone thought it had to be about Dave because of the title, but the lyrics don't really support that complicated relationship.

 

I will always defer to "Goodbye to Love" by The Carpenters in that department, that berserk, at the time totally out of place guitar solo towards the end of the song. For me, that planted the idea that you could cut loose on "rock" guitar in a big, sweeping ballad. I also think "Maybe I'm Amazed" leaned in that direction. It's an interesting topic as I'm sure there are numerous examples throughout the 70s before it became a thing.

 

Brother

You know, I tried, I really tried to settle into this big song. But it's just not happening.

There are good things about this track. Ray's heartfelt, unironic vocal. Dave's harmonies and guitar layering, especially towards the end. The song's theme, which works at a universal level and at a Kinks level. Ray singing over himself around the middle of the song is a nice novelty.

But if you add it up, it still doesn't result in a very memorable number. This is one of the very few Kinks songs that can be described as "dull". It's not cover-your-ears-and-run-for-the-exits bad. It just lingers there in the background like wallpaper. It sleepwalks.

I know the term "AOR" means different things to different people, but when many of us talk about what we feared the Arista years would become, "Brother" is Exhibit A for the prosecution. It sounds like a bad 80s power ballad.

Fortunately, Exhibit A for the defense is coming right up...

 

There was a quote in the Jon Savage biography (which I don't have to hand at the moment) from Ray about a conversation he had with Clive Davis about "Brother". Davis considered it "the most high-spot cut, with the most crossover potential" and wanted to add a big string ending similar to the end of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (which Davis claimed to have "virtually produced") so it could be released as a single. Presumably this never happened?

 

"Brother" was one of the songs that stood out for me when I first played Sleepwalker and it's still one of my favorite songs from the album. I read that Ray wrote this song after Clive Davis asked him if he could write A Big Song like "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". Even though it lacks the soulfulness of that song, it does have a bit of majesty of its own. As for the lyrics, I always thought that it was about people leaving the U.K. in the 70s, but the protagonist is determined to stay and ride the craziness out with like minded souls, a "spiritual" brother, you might say.

On another note, seeing Ray's picture on the back cover w/his hands reminds me how long his fingers are. It looks like he his spiders for fingers. Is this an advantage in playing guitar? Are Dave's fingers just as long? Perhaps the musos among us Avids can enlighten me on this.

 

Longer fingers are better for playing!

 

Brother: Back in the day, this was my least favorite song on the album (but clearly, I am no Clive Davis, so what do I know?). Too slow and mopey for a hard charging teen when there were bands like Acca Daccca, Blue Oyster Cult, Lizzy, UFO, Rush and Aerosmith and the like to blast out the windows of my Toyota Corolla. Revisiting it these past few weeks, it has grown in my estimation. I can sorta see the Whole Bridge Over Troubled Water comparison that Clive made. Still slow and mopey, but those insidious Ray melodies really are just undeniable. Dave steps in at just the right point with a minute to go with some beautiful guitar work. Not much else to say, it might still be my least favorite on the album, but every album has to have a weakest song even if you like every song on it (I am looking at you, Given the Dog a Bone). On this one I will be excited to see if you all think I missed the boat and can dissuade me that I missed the magic.

 

In my personal musical history, the whole Sleepwalker album is a second-round listening experience. I already had a whole set of musical references, which means a number of songs had already received the once-in-a-lifetime honour of introducing me to the most common chord progressions and musical artifacts. No matter how commonplace a 4-chords song is, if it's responsible for your first discovery of this particular set of chords, it will sound fresh and new to you, and the songs that come after that will sound derivative.

Why am I saying this ? I don't really have a "mother" song in mind as far as Brother is concerned... But I realise that I invested a lot of time into trying to appreciate this album the same way that I relate to earlier musical discoveries. And as time goes forward, it's beginning to pay. Brother is not a song that I should really like, and I didn't enjoy it much in the beginning, but it's linked to so many moments of my life, in a Proustian way, that, as I listened to it this morning, I realised I loved it almost as much as my row of first-round musical discoveries. As they recede in the past, the oldest geological layers of music experience tend to merge and solidify.

I read Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu when I was 37, upon meeting my present-day wife, who made it a requirement to date her. Spontaneously, I wouldn't have read it past the first pages, as I like litterature with interesting characters and Proust couldn't care less about characters, but I don't regret it. The effects of time on us are the most difficult thing to convey in words : you really have to get old to fully understand what it is to be old, you really have to have a kid to fully understand what it is to take care of one of those 24/24, 7/7, year after year. Part of the mystery is the way repeated experiences in different contexts subtly combine together in your mind to produce rich harmonics of reminiscence, when triggered by a zillionth repetition of the same experience. Si it is with songs, among other things. The first time is unique, and you will never find the same fresh feeling of discovery again. But the zillionth time is also unique, though different, and the effect cannot be synthetized any other way than going through the motions a zillion time.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant, but that's how I felt this morning when listening to Brother and realising I really liked it, and heard it in a way I had never heard it before, though I know all of its graces by heart, to paraphrase French songwriter George Brassens.

I had always assumed it was about Dave, until I read Mark's review. I agree that it's difficult to make precise sense of the lyrics. For a while I thought about Boat-People, but this started the year after, and it would not fit either. I can still welcome the words as an impressionistic collection of thoughts and feelings around the mysterious and silent connections one can experience at times with total strangers.

The song starts pretty much like The Fool On The Hill, by the way, with a repeated 6th major chord on the piano. I only realised this this morning.

I think I read somewhere that Clive Davies insisted upon adding strings and a coda because he thought this would be the new Bridge Over Troubled Water. I guess it shows that these guys musical ear needs a bit of training.

Edit : I see Avid markelis made the Bridge point too.

 

Jumping back into the thread for a bit while I have a minute -- I still haven't warmed up to Brother, and I find the Bridge Over Troubled Water comparisons a little crazy (but as markelis said, I am also not Clive Davis!) BOTW is this tender, direct lyric shared between two people that takes on a level of grandness and universality due to Art Garfunkel's magnificent singing, IMO. I get how Brother is going for the same sentiment, but it feels artificial. How does Ray organically write a song called Brother that doesn't seem to be about Dave at all? I mean, you can make some tortured readings of the lyrics and have the message be anything you want, but this just feels hollow to me.

I mean, compare Brother to God's Children. There's some similarity in the sentiments there, but God's Children feels like it's from Ray's heart, whereas Brother feels like it's from Ray's brain. There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't elevate the song for me. That said, I should be clear, it's a perfectly pleasant song with a nice melody and vocal (though I think it's a little overlong).

That said, talking about this song today adds a bit of poignancy to the thread; I'm certainly feeling a Brother-ly spirit with all those in Ukraine. It's so easy to take peace for granted.

 

I think this bears out my initial feeling that this song sounds like it was written-to-order.

 

Referencing our prior discussion about a ‘commercial’ sound. It seems as if both Davis and Ray knew what this meant. And that it is a commonly used and understood term even within the music industry.

From the above three posts it seems clear that Clive Davis and Arista are taking a hands on approach and have a keen interest in the promotion of The Kinks. (My pet peeve with RCA being that they didn’t appear to do much promotion at all.)