Yea for sure. Nothing in that was supposed to be a criticism of anybody, or how things were or are.... I know from my experience, that somewhere in the late 90's, early 2000's, I dropped out and fell into the "they don't make music like they used to" zone.... but I ended up being drawn back in by a few albums, and now feel a lot less that way... When it comes to music, I think "generally" is something that goes without saying, but for purposes of not being misunderstood, needs to be lol
That is a really interesting quirk of modern music... I still find it odd to consider bands as brand names, but at some point, that is what happened.... and I'm not really sure how to feel about it. The fact that a band like the Rolling Stones is even still together is bewildering in many ways, and it seems so weird that they have recent albums. I bought that new Tull album, and I like it quite a bit
“Juke Box Music” Ha ha. I also looked this up because this song makes me think of it. There was jukebox fever in the late 70s and early 80s. Happy Days were here again! My close relatives had a 50s jukebox with hundreds of 45s to choose from. This Foreigner song was in heavy rotation. Not by my choice, but it wasn’t my jukebox! My cousin still has the jukebox, and I can almost guarantee that the Foreigner song is still on it. Maybe that's part of the reason I am not so "Hot Blooded" on this Kinks song? I can’t share in all the praise for today's song. I already figured this would be a favorite for many of you. I’m generally going to go with an unpopular opinion on the remaining albums on songs I suspect will be album favorites. It's another song from this album that I just can’t get excited about. It goes on too long, and I’ve already mentioned I’m not a huge fan of Dave’s playing on this record. "Just one guitar, slung way down low. Now he needs to keep on rockin', he just can't stop." It's a song that I feel I am supposed to love if I am any sort of Kinks fan. There are parts about it I like, but in the end, it comes up short for me. It’s not making any playlist, and is not in my top five from the album. If it was a minute shorter without all the Dave jamming, it might be considered. As it is, I always want to skip it before it’s over. That's not a good sign. I do like the guitar strumming and it also has a nice bass line. It's an ok song, but it's only "Juke Box Music".
An off the top of my head example, Paul Weller bands: The Jam, then he changes directions completely and The Style Council comes into being. This way, for me anyway, there’s no shock at a big sound change. It’s not The Jam that sounds completely different. It’s, “have you heard this new band, ‘The Style Council’? More palatable to someone like me.
Juke Box Music I've always interpreted the lyric as @Fortuleo suggests -- "Ray" is telling the story of the lady, while "every guy" is the narrator of the "it's only juke box music" section of the song -- alternately seductively persuasive (love that Ray voice) and desperately urgent (LOVE that Ray/Dave combo) -- come on, girl, tear yourself away from the juke box, don't get lost in your rock and roll fantasy, just dance. But I feel like the song's "real" narrator is on this lady's side. She's a combination of Dan the Fan and Angie Baby (You live your life in the songs you hear/On the rock n' roll radio/And when a young girl doesn't have any friends/That's a really nice place to go) -- to her, the music is more real and vital and seductive than the random guys in the bar who want her to prance and flirt and dance like the other girls. She's a very Kinks-ian heroine, a loner, a "mystery," a girl who's much more at home in her fantasies than in the real reality. So the guys can tell her over and over and over (yeah maybe it's a bit long there at the end) that it's only juke box music, but they'll never drag her away from it & into their mundane-ass world. As much as Ray may have been thinking of or obliquely referring to "selling out," I can't believe that he's saying this lady "shouldn't take [the music] to heart." Ray always aims directly for the heart, and he's in the middle of doing it here. Musically, I'm immediately drawn in by the sweeping, Townsend strumming, etc, but it's really just a prelude the straining, rough, jagged harmonies that begin at "it's all because of that music." Kills me. Maybe the song should end like Angie Baby -- with all the guys in the bar getting sucked into the juke box, never to be found. Side note: There've been studies on how music that we hear at a certain age stays with us, and there were *objective* factors going on in the pop music biz & w/ production techniques etc that differentiate let's say '65-'75 rock and roll from what came after. Personally, probably just to be contrary, I've gotten more musically adventurous as I've aged, which includes both going back to stuff I dismissed when I was a teen (uh, disco, uh uh uh REO Speedwagon) and getting into new sounds/artists/eras/genres.
Today in Kinks history: Released on February 25 in 1966, ‘Dedicated Follower Of Fashion’ became a top 5 hit for The Kinks. Written by Ray after an argument with a fashion designer at a party about the daring and rapidly changing mod trends of 1960s London.
Brilliant insight, you're absolutely right I think. Bystanders and friends insist, they want to bring her out of her transe, but the songwriter implies that she has every right and every reason to connect with the music and stay romantically lost in it. Agreed also on her "kinksian" quality as a character. She reminds me of the 10 years older lonely dancer known to us as the Little Miss Queen of Darkness. Same age as you (I think) ; started to buy records at the exact same time ; suffered all the way through the 80's because I hated the sound… I'm happy to make @Steve62 happy: I disagree strongly with you, my fellow (late) countryman. Specifically about this track : I love the chorus, I find it unexpected, different, catchy, hilarious, splendid, an irresistible upbeat follow up to the moody No More Looking Back one. But also regarding Ray's writing in general. Some of his choruses are supreme. Oklahoma USA? One of his best songs, the chorus is otherworldly. Sitting in My Hotel ? Sublime. Picture Book, Do You Remember Walter, All of My Friends Were There? Brilliant, brilliant and brilliant. Situation Vacant, Harry Rag ? Autumn Almanac ? Come on… Waterloo Sunset and Sunny Afternoon ? One is allowed to love the verses more (maybe I do), but man, these choruses are something, don't you think ? And I'm not talking about the countless songs where the complex song structure makes the chorus/verse (and bridge) distinctions inoperative. I never could decide which part was the chorus in Days, but whichever it is, it's not vastly inferior to anything! Tired of Waiting for You ? Dead End Street ? Village Green ? Alcohol ?? You Make It All Worthwhile ? I'm in Disgrace? Hot Potatoes ! «La-lalalalala, potatoes !» That's what I call a great chorus!!! And he can repeat them as much as he pleases, as far as I'm concerned. All Day and All of the Night ! Victoria ! Lo****in'la ! No, really, please, we're talking about one of the great chorus masters of all time, here!
I've been thinking about the few bars of 7/4 time inserted into "Juke Box Music", which while not unheard of, is fairly unusual for songs you would find in a jukebox. I like to think that this relates to your point about irony.
I'm sorry if I implied that Ray Davies couldn't write a chorus, that's not what I meant at all ! I find most (but not all) of those you mention to be great choruses, and I expecially love the weirdly structured numbers where the chorus could be here, there or everywhere. I was pointing at what I feel is a category of Ray Davies songs, where the chorusses are more repetitive and less creative than the verse. I know this is all about my personal obsession with surprising, soaring arrangements of unexpected melodies and chord progressions (Sitting in my Hotel, indeed !). I was just attempting to turn my subjective insight into an objective law, but I see I failed once more. I will try again later. (Not in the mood to make jokes about conquering the world though, so I'll abstain...)
Neither here nor there, but my strongest memories of playing the jukebox is when I was 13-14, in junior high, and would take the train one stop away from my school in the outskirts of Tokyo. On the second floor of the bowling alley there was a pool hall with a jukebox. It’s the only place I knew of to play/hear Deep Purple ‘Black Night.’ Good memories.
I think the rhythmic structure of the chorus is terribly addictive. Also, even though the melody of the quick repeats is fairly basic, I suppose, the slow repeat "it's only music" has a sort of accentuated melody because of the way it's structured with the quick repeats. I'm glad you pointed out the many songs where sections are hard to define too because there were quite a few of those. Tomorrow's song leans towards that style as well.
Sleepwalker Another good track, and different enough from the previous two to start the album off in quite a varied manner. It sounds like The Kinks to me, not The Kinks of the previous decade, but The Kinks of 1977. Accessible pop music made for the radio. And why not? Not the best track on the album for my ears, but quite probably the most suited for radio.
Brother It's a nice track again, which is possibly my issue with the album, lots of 'nice' and 'very good', but nothing 'great as yet... For some reason I always think of this as the album closer. Maybe it should have been. The opening line is the best line in the song. Nice harmonies between the brothers, but it's clearly not about his real brother! I want this to become that emotional masterpiece - a sort of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' anthem, but somehow it doesn't quite make it. A couple on the next album do it for me though.
Juke Box Music Best track so far on the album. When Dave's impassioned vocals come in it lifts this far above something that is just Juke Box Music. It's music that matters. It's been quite a varied album so far!
Glyn Johns or Jack Douglas Dark Horse Producer ideas: Jimmy Miller (could've possibly gotten him straightened out) or George Martin.
Juke Box Music Again, I was too young to hear this on the FM radio waves, and this just isn't played nowadays on Classic Rock radio (why the heck not??). I don't think I heard this song until the past couple weeks. I love it! Probably the best song on the album. The live Gray Whistle Test version is superb, and I love how Dave sings some verses there too! Love the verse hook, the simple but memorable chorus, the piano hits, the solos... A+ The verse melody is just awesome. The guitar riff itself sounds like something AC/DC would do. The driving rolling bass (I'm gonna miss John Dalton, too) is fantastic. When Dave comes in with that high vocal around 3:00, it's right up there with his high vocal entry back on "Feel those vibrations flow in my brain" from One of the Survivors (hat tip to avid @Martyj for truly making me appreciate that particular line from Dave, and how incredible it is). I love Dave's strained voice. And when he sings with Ray, it is the just the best. Incredible. The outro sounds like this shoulda been the epic album closer. It's got one of those "riding off into the sunset" feels that I get from the outro of Arthur's last track. Interesting discussion earlier about the "narrator" of the chorus. Adds another dimension to the listening experience of the song.
I can hear Brian or Carl Wilson singing this song. The melody could be at home on a mid 70s Beach Boys album. Anyone else hear that? The way Ray ends each of the second lines of the verse brings the Wilson brothers to mind. The lyrical content would also fit in with their style. I wonder what kind of arrangement and harmony vocals they would have come up with.
Definitely I'm not very knowledgeable about producers... I have some I know fairly well, but that's about it. Those other guys were just ones that came to mind.
Your last paragraphs make good sense Mark as it is easier going back and taking some music to your bosom as it seems a safe and controllable affair as does archival collecting!
