Jukebox Music: A classic from the moment I heard it on the radio. When the song breaks down to acoustic strumming at 3:32, that's one of the moments of the 70s for me, when Dave comes in with that keening, high vocal. For me, that's his best vocal moment with the band, and that sound is a sort of 70s landmark for me, much in the same way that synth/piano/drum pattern is at the start of "Baba O'riley." The song is endlessly listenable, sounds as good now as on the day I heard it as a kid. If wanting to have a hit and pushing himself in a different direction resulted in something like this, Ray was onto something good. I hadn't made the connection before, but lyrically this is a predecessor to "A Rock'n'Roll Fantasy" - detailing a fan obsessed with rock music which, at the time, was a far more powerful cultural force. I recall interviews with Townshend discussing rock as almost a form of religion, and this was taken quite seriously. Oddly, Ray frames that passion for the music in dark overtones. In this case, the woman's love for simple rock music appears to be endangering the relationship with the song's protagonist. In Fantasy, Dan the Fan seems a bit nuts. The Kinks are glad to have him as a fan while recognizing he's a little too far into the band. This is why I was so taken with Ray and his lyrics: a piece of music like this, set to lyrics that warn you not to like it too much!
Yeah, this synth sound is jarring. About the way drums are mixed, it’s indeed an issue I have with the whole LP. On this specific song, I think it’s at the same time less pronounced (it's by far the most explosive, propulsive tune on the record) but still problematic, at least in the big “double solo” (guitar and drums, starting at the 2'35'' mark) on which the mix gives the impression Mick and Dave don’t quite play to and off each other as well as they should/could (this section is also marred by the synth sound, by the way). It should be a glorious moment, but the mix blend is clearly not right in this section. I certainly don't see overthinking there ! That's the fascinating thing about the chorus. It's certainly addressed to the fangirl, by bystanders or friends (and the songwriter), trying to get her out of her rock’n roll fantasy (indeed, @fspringer), to convince her not to take every song too much to heart etc. That’s the song's theme, no doubt. But yeah, it could also be ironic in describing the song itself and addressed to the listener. Or even be seen as a self-message from Ray to Ray, about the art of pop writing itself. It’s only music, right ? Shouldn't make such a big deal of it! Maybe it should stay just that, music, pure throwaway entertainment. Maybe we shouldn’t put too much into it. The girl, the songwriter, the listener, the fans, and us, some 45 years later. Maybe we should stop the thread right away! It’s only juke box music, after all. What’s this song by song nitpicking nonsense anyway??
Juke Box Music Iam inclined to not wait a full day to post a 4th time in a row though not because i know exactly what i am going to avidly write! After first buying the CD many full moons ago, this was the 3rd track that caught my attention though initially i wasn't sure it had enough going for it besides the great lead hook. Around 3.30 (Earlier on in the single mix) we get some fast circular acoustic strumming eventually embellished and entwined with some fitting electric guitar work. In the intro we get some urgent and propulsive electric chordal work also buttressed by some choice lead guitar lines. All of Dave's work i have described (sans the main melodic lead hook) to me screams Pete Townshend, particularly Quadraphenia era Who and more specifically the track 5:15! I like Ray's vocal throughout and enjoy his higher register as I find it fits as it did on Sleepwalker and adds an apt urgency. Dave's high vocals are a bit strained at times and it does take away a little from my enjoyment but this thing still rocks for much of its duration. I had never read the full lyric closely and though it's pretty repetitive it has a bit more of a story to it than meets the eye. We all want music to be transportive and take us away from the humdrum everyday and the lyrics can be and often are a key part of that though I guess for this lady they remain so long after the music has been switched off! I could superficially say that in part this is a lyrical dry run for a grand song on the next album that looks far deeper into the relationship between a favoured artist and their most "Avid" listeners or might that prove to be a bit of a fantasy on my part? Edit: Posted only having read our headmaster's review and I will add that I prefer the single version as it's a better length rocks from the get go and sounds like the opening guitars at least are eq'd higher!
Yea, I really enjoy these albums, personally, but i said way back on the thread that i think it would have been better (even better) if Ray had found a producer he could have worked with. I'm not really sure who. To some degree, Bob Ezrin seems like a logical choice for the second half of the RCA years. The Arista years though.... I don't know? Rundgren, Visconti, Kramer, Thomas-Baker.... I'm really not sure.... but I think it wouldn't have left Ray spread so thin, having so much to do, and it could have given the albums a more balanced sound across the board. It all comes back to the idea that as brilliant as Ray is, it is never a bad idea to have someone to bounce ideas off, and help to see the things you miss, while trying to cover so much ground, writer, lyricist, singer, guitarist, frontman, mixer, recorder, producer etc.... very few artists manage to do all those things perfectly at the same time. Prince may be the most famous, and possibly successful, but I think even he could have used some objective interference sometimes
I can't say I'd ever before really noticed the synths that others are talking about in these tracks. But going back and listening to the solo in "Juke Box Music" now, I can clearly hear the synth. Overall it's still the guitars that are mixed way louder than any other instrument, so I suppose that's why the synths have passed me by before.
I never paid attention to the words before, I didn't suspect it told a nice little story. It makes me appreciate the song better. This song has never been a favorite of mine, but I listened to it this morning again and really enjoyed it. Once more, though, for the 4th time in a row, the verse is vastly superior to the chorus. It's a problem I have with half the songs on the album, and with many Ray songs. Usually, songwriters tend to write lazy verses to concentrate on the chorus, but Ray has a habit of doing the opposite. Fortunately, the arrangement and joyous playing transcend the song. I don't hear this mixing problem, I ascribed my discomfort to the use of reverb, but maybe it's the drum thing. I don't want to delve too much into it, in case I start hearing drum mixing problems everywhere !
i very recently got into "emotional rescue" and it's very good. if you weren't around at that time , it was a very decadent era and the stones were right there!
Jukebox Music: Another FM radio nostalgia song for me, tugging away at my heart strings and taking me back to the latter 1970s. This is the track I initially considered a no-brainer playlist song…and then as the days passed by found myself becoming hesitant to give it such status. I listened again moments ago and was on the cusp of putting in onto my list but can’t do it. Ray wrote the lyrics to ‘Celluloid Heroes.’ He penned ‘Oklahoma U.S.A.’ Despite beginning an entirely new playlist for the Arista songs, I can’t do it. It’s a ‘no’ for the playlist though a thoroughly enjoyable song. I’m often a sucker of lyrics describing rock/pop music fandom but expect a bit more than this from Ray. (See Wilco’s ‘The Lonely 1’ for a masterwork.) No movement. 2 out of 5 songs on my (preliminary) playlist.
it's funny and i am just speculating here , but it seems that with the kinks our favorite era is the one where we first heard them "in real time" so to speak. thus for me it's the early 70's and muswell hillbillies. i think the arista years suffers (for me at least) in being in sort of struggle with musical trends of that era. just speeding up a song did not make it punk rock. the kinks were totally removed from that scene in a way that the likes of lou reed , david bowie , an iggy pop ( three faves of mine) were not. the rolling stones also didn't quite fit in with punk but they were gnarly enough and big enough to kind of not have to care. i listen to some songs on sleepwalker and they start out ok but i get lost in the production and the style of the music. it just does not click for me. i will keep plugging away here and there to see if some sort of lightbulb goes off. and of course i want to remind folks that the kinks up through preservation act 1 remain my favorite group of all time. and i really like the solo ray stuff as well.
This is astute. You say it, and I can think of several examples from the 70s/80s immediately (they're weird examples, but He's Evil, Education, Definite Maybe, Labor of Love... the list goes on, especially as we get to the tail end of the band's career). That said, I know it's all personal taste. The common flaw I find in these choruses is that they're repetitive and simple. Ray puts a lot of value on repetition as a means to drive a point home (or just as something silly, like the career long thread of Banana Boat Song), and that probably resonates with others more than it does with me. Anyway, that was a weird place for me to start this comment because in general, I love this song. How do these guys take singing a scale and turn it into an interesting vocal melody?? It's brilliant, and even if the chorus isn't quite as fun, I still like it. And as others have said, Dave really lets loose here (vocally and instrumentally) and it is glorious. I'm decidedly not the biggest Dave fan, but when he metamorphoses into Dave the Rave and harmonizes with his brother, it's one of my favorite sounds out of the Kinks. The live version where Dave takes the verse vocal is very nice too, though I think I prefer Ray on that part.
Including the number of songs he's written on the theme of repetition and routine, one of which is called "Repetition"...
I don’t totally agree: yeah The Kinks weren’t totally part of that scene and definitely weren’t anywhere near as totemically name dropped by punk era hipsters as those three, but I wouldn’t say they were completely removed from that kind of proto punk/glam thing either: definitely not in the US in the early 70s where they were were quite often mentioned within the same breath as a similar Kooky and outre prospect to Lou, Dave and Mr Osterberg. What I do find slightly odd/frustrating is that The Kinks kept up the quirky thing through to 1975, and on tracks like ‘Second Hand Car Spiv’, When Work Is Over’ and ‘The Hard Way’ sounded competitively latently new wave, but then in the eye of the hurricane of punk proper (1976-78) is when they chose to go pure AOR, and THEN they kind of did their punk catch up records, and as good as they often were, I agree there was sometimes a flavour of inauthenticity and second guessing quality to that stuff that wasn’t there in the first half of the 70s when they were following their own freak flag as far as it went.
Not really, I recognize that stretch from Face to Face through Muswell Hillbillies as being the real deal, and I was a toddler turning into a grade schooler at that point. When I went back as a fan in the 70s and discovered those full albums, it was breath-taking at times. I still remember hearing songs like "Afternoon Tea" and "Young and Innocent Days" for the first time and being in awe. I already had a primer in many of the hits (and effluvia) from Kronikles, but there was so much for me to discover from the past. (The concept album years ... I thought it wise for me to sit out the discussion!) Now, my emotional/life connection to the music goes from Sleepwalker to Return to Waterloo/Think Visual, and that's a pretty good run that I will always treasure. But after that, there are still more than a few great moments, Ray solo or with the band. Obviously, I recognize the emotional connection we make to music as teenagers and young adults lasts a lifetime and serves as a basis for memory, even in the music itself, much less the memories associated with it. And as I get older, I also recognize hanging onto your memories and emotions becomes crucial. But I can surely recognize, I simply wasn't around for the first big fireworks display!
Juke Box Music I love this track. It has long been one of my favorites and is by far the best track on the album (in my opinion). Great guitar from from Dave. Great back and forth on the vocals from Ray and Dave. It was only over the past couple of years that I became aware that Dave had sung lead on parts of the song. That live version posted is incredible. This was all over the radio when I was a kid. It was always welcome, and remains so for me.
"Juke Box Music" is another standout song from Sleepwalker, which did get plenty of FM radio airplay, at least around here in the Boston area. It has good hooks and great vocal interplay between Ray and Dave. The lyrics have that " don't take this stuff too seriously" vibe to it. It's a standout song from the Arista Years for me, more than the title song itself.
I was around that time and it was truly a very decadent era, especially for the Stones. Although most of my Stones albums were from the Brian Jones era, I did get a copy of Some Girls and liked it, although I did trade it away and didn't get another copy until I found a CD of it while thrifting.
Thanks to @Fortuleo , I've no need to go into detail on my thoughts today. Perfect post for me. I will compare/contrast this with another similarly great song on the next album when the time comes.
I probably line up with this. Entering with One For The Road opened the gate for the late seventies, early eighties albums, and they settled fairly quickly and comfortably.... once the sound of each album was digested. Going back to the "classic" era, initially left me a little on the fence about it, leaning towards the "singles band" in the sixties mentality, but as I've found with seemingly just about all Kinks albums, they seem to require a "warming to" period, where you get a feel for what they were doing on any given album. Being used to the later years, and growing to love the "classic" years, to me, sort of opens the gates for the RCA/showstyle albums, and essentially that's how the thread has worked for me, in piecing it all together. I've read a lot of comments about melody/melodic construction etc, and I don't hear the alleged drop off, I just hear a slightly different style of music, that has slightly different styles of lyrics and melodies according to the context of that music. To me, for example, the song Low Budget would sound terribly odd with a melodic structure like .... idk .... Waterloo Sunset.... In real time, as in when I was a pup I bought One For The Road, Low Budget, Give The People What They Want and State Of Confusion...(roughly in that order) and initially it was the rock feel that I liked.... to the point where State Of Confusion didn't really appeal to me initially, because I felt like it only had a couple of songs I liked... but that was yet another album I needed to allow to absorb.... It is interesting to me that, I came into the music buying world in 79/80, and so I have no problem with 80's sounds, in fact I like them (i was familiar with the sounds of 50's through to 70's music from my parents stuff, radio and music shows), and to a large degree, it seems like the developmental period for the eighties sounds (in the more broad industry sense, not specifically the Kinks) starts coming together in this late seventies period. It also seems fairly apparent, from the board in general, not particularly/specifically here, that most fans of sixties music have a cut-off period somewhere from 76-83, because they were never able to warm to the sound of the new era (from the threads I've done it is, generally speaking, pretty much this period of time where all the great divides in fan bases occurs - we saw it with Seger, and I saw it with Rush, Heep, Queen, Genesis, Acdc, the Who .... and in every case it happened over this period, where the eighties sounds and styles started coming in) in some cases it was just artists declining in their songwriting, and I guess some adjusted poorly, when they didn't really need to adjust at all, but most of the artists I mentioned never really dropped off for me, they just slowly morphed into newer version of themselves.... Anyway, I guess what seems to come of all that to me is that it is easier, generally, for people to go back in time, than forward, in our era, because we grew up hearing the earlier variation, rather than suddenly being confronted by the later variation as it were.... I don't know that may be just waffling, but just a thought... I'm not afraid to look stupid in my ponderances lol
Nice post. You’ve said “generally” so I can go along with that. One additional thought that might be an age thing. It’s taken me a long, long time to accept that groups/bands/artists can continue on and on, much less have half century careers (with one brand name). An individual artist like Dylan? Okay, I guess I’ve always accepted that he’ll be doing his thing but I can recall seeing albums and thinking, “wow, these guys are still around?” Now, of course, no one bats an eye: Jethro Tull Releases 52nd Epic; Sounds Like Tull! Meaning, to take Uriah Heep as an example, fans like me figured they’d long since had their run. Continuing on into the 80s would throw us for a loop. In my case, I’d long since moved on.
