I see this song as the third summit of a triangle of meaning of which "Underneath The Neon Sign" and "When I Turn Off the Living Room Light" are the 2 others, but I lack the time and will to elaborate on this theory. I like this song. I don't know if it's the "not bad for an outtake" effect, but I prefer it to some of the album tracks. I have a plain Sleepwalker CD with no bonus, but I can imagine it concluding the album efficiently, on a lighter note. Though it would probably fit better on Misfits, with the other Sleepwalker leftovers that are some of my favorite moments on that album.
"Artificial Light" is a slight, but extremely catchy, pop song. I can't help but tap my toe along to this one. I think I might have included it on the album instead of one of the ballads.
Artificial Light Enjoyable little jig that fits in better under the RCA years than it does in Sleepwalker -- I can see why it was an outtake, even though it's better than two or three of the songs on the parent album. It's got a bit of a Mungo Jerry vibe to it, with its pleasantly loping pace and jaunty harmonica. About how always being underneath neon signs distorts our perception of the real world, to the point where everything just loops around and around, like the song does. Works well as a bonus track.
This idea of artificiality making things (or people) look better (believable) or truer to themselves (more far-fetched) is indeed quite interesting in a Ray Davies perspective, seeing how he evolved on the subject of fake modernity from Unreal Reality (100% fake) to Underneath the Neon Sign (fake but seductive) and then to Artificial Light (fake and revealing) in half a decade. In 1977, maybe he was starting to surrender to the charms of the modern glow, after fiercely resisting it for so long. Or perhaps it’s just the contrarian in him: hearing people complaint about the real life morning faces of super sexy night creatures met on a dance floor, he decided to adopt a whole different ironic sleepwalking point of view about it. That’s very Ray-like. And yeah, @The late man, nice Living Room Light catch too, didn’t see that one coming! Yeah, it’s another 1977-78 era song that makes me think Ray was onto some kind of concept before deciding (or being convinced) to abandon it. Too many songs from these sessions rime with each other, too many ideas start in one and finish in the next. The woman in this track almost seems a continuation or a dancing twin of the juke box girl. Both are lost and then “found” or revealed in a plastic world. “To be yourself you have to put on an act,” is probably the key line of this song. Perhaps it’s even the key line of this whole batch of songs we’ve been examining in the last ten days. The key line of Ray’s ambiguous outlook on life at this moment in his existence and his band’s career.
"Artifical Light" is a good song that could have been placed on Misfits. Lyrically, it seems like a rewrite of "Underneath the Neon Sign", expressing one of Ray's concerns about what is real and what is artifical in life.
I prefer Lou Reed's take on it: "It's very funny asking me Why they keep the lights on down so low Well, yesterday's chase's today's competition Or didn't you know And all the fluorescent lighting make it so your wrinkles They don't show"
.... and Kansas's Point of No Return, Dan Fogelberg's Nether Lands, Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell, Crusaders' Free as the Wind, Triumph's Rock and Roll Machine, Heart's Little Queen, The Outlaws' Hurry Sundown, Justin Hayward's Songwriter, Dixie Dregs' Free Fall, Al DiMeola's Elegant Gypsy, Clapton's Slowhand, Blue Oyster Cult's Spectres, Marshall Tucker Band's Carolina Dteams..... Great year with plenty of variety
Artificial Light: I hadn't listened to this one in a long time. I never liked it back in the day and didn't like it the first time I heard it recently either. I think I pinpointed my initial aversion: Ray sings this one like he would sing live towards the tail end of his solo career -- just throwing the notes out there, occasionally being a little pitchy (not a big deal) but mostly just with this flat, seemingly uninterested tone. It made the song feel more boring than it actually was, IMO. Repeated listens fixed it for me; at some point, I got used to that vocal tone. Like others have already said, it shares in the Petty-ishness of Life Goes On (which, thank you fellow Avids, you have helped turn me around on that one!), but that really is a catchy chorus/bridge, and I like the harmonica accents here more than I usually do. I also used to not care much for the flanged guitar break, but again, that is something that has grown on me. In the end, this is a good 'un. Probably still my least favorite of the bonus tracks, but that doesn't mean much because it's a pretty spectacular set of 'em. Since we've wrapped up the album proper and Fortuleo and the Late Man got me thinking -- do we have an original tracklist of "The Poseur"? Or even if we do, has anybody sketched together a "Sleepwalker: the Concept Album"? Somebody probably has but I will throw out my own: 1. Life on the Road (this one is a bit of a stretch stylistically but I think the lyrics work for the theme, especially towards the end) 2. The Poseur 3. Sleepwalker 4. Stormy Sky 5. Artificial Light 6. Full Moon 7. Sleepless Night 8. On the Outside 9. Life Goes On That's about 40 minutes and is sort of a concept album in the sense that VGPS is a concept album, I guess? Anyway, enough rambling. If this proposed tracklist is too early or out of scope of the thread, I will delete it @mark winstanley .
Billy Joel's The Stranger. "Life on the road" reminded me about "Scene from an italian restaurant", I forgot to mention it. The Beach Boys' Love You, also. Even if I find it more intriguing than really great. Anthony Phillips, The Geese and the Ghost, maybe my favorite from this year. Someone mentionned Yes's Going for the One ? And Frank Zappa's Läther was supposed to be released that year too. I'm diving in it these days. Mostly stuff recorded earlier though. La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, Películas. Just to snobbishly include some Argentinian prog. OK sorry, this is off-topic.
Artificial Light Not really for me. There's a pleasant little melody bobbing along, but this is one that sounds pretty generic and just doesn't grab me. And there's a bit of a country twang in the guitar while he's singing about a disco.... that's just too big a disconnect for my musical brain to accept. Interestingly, the song eventually picks up an ELO vibe. Neither good or bad there, just unexpected.
“Artificial Light” This one has lodged itself into my brain the last few weeks. I was thrilled that the album ended with three very good songs until I realized this was only a bonus tune! I love the lyrics, and the melody has been playing in my head for several days now. The Kinks have been “Too Much On My Mind”. I even just woke up after dreaming of meeting and hanging out with Ray and Dave. It was a strange and vivid dream. I’m not entirely crazy about the production of the song with the guitar and harmonica sound, but the tune itself overcomes any shortcomings. Once again, I hear a song that could belong to Mr. Petty’s oeuvre. It would have been a fine addition to the album and I prefer it to over half of the songs that did make the record. This is the one new discovery from the record that will now be getting more play time.
I didn't want to comment on the last three songs, because I realized I have nothing nice to say and accordingly decided to say nothing. Four disappointing tracks in a row, that's almost annoying me. Thus the Sleepwalker album remains an unpopular one with me with its sterile production and lack of inviting melodies. Only the title track and "Juke Box Music" seem to be worthy for a collection. Although I must admit that "Brother" keeps growing on me, it's actually a tremendous song. And Full Moon could almost win me over, were it not for that dreaded synth again. I still think it was a mistake to abandon the theatrical style, because that at least seemed to inspire Ray to write infectious melodies without even trying. Everytime I think of Sleepwalker I picture Ray catering to Clive Davis, but he's no Whitney Houston after all. ...And yet, there's an used unremastered Arista CD in my local record shop for a tenner, and I am actually tempted to buy it. I never owned that album, but maybe it's good for the car?
Artificial Light I'm probably gonna take some flak for this, but...do I have to be the first to point it out? Take a hard look at the lyrics: “..to be yourself you have to put on an act…” “…if you are scared what your friends will say…” “…floor show…” Floor show!! (Hello, Bette Midler! Hello, Peter Allen!) “…it didn’t matter in the artificial light” The artificial light is necessary because this song is about fellow travelers meeting in a place where the real light (i.e. “light of the day”) isn’t allowed…where they can be themselves. It is a “world below (e.g, an underground lifestyle) where “we can be ourselves.” The ‘She’ character can only feel safe in this setting where she doesn’t “cover up on the inside” but, rather, “…show it all on the outside…” I emphasize: a place where one can be out. These lyrics work exactly as Mark spells it out in his wonderful-as-always write up. But it doesn’t stop there. Let me put it this way: I see a lot of people comparing this to “Underneath the Neon Sign.” Me? I see it having more in common with “Lola,” “On the Outside” and “Out of the Wardrobe.” Maybe only because I lived in San Francisco for four years have I developed a radar for this kind of stuff. “…couldn’t tell if she were black or white.” Male/female? Gay/straight? Or…yes….black or white…but, whatever…the Artificial Light is a place where identity doesn’t matter. It’s a very liberating sentiment and spoke directly to a lot of the Kinks pre-post-Low Budget (is that a word?) fanbase.
Artificial Light First time hearing this today. Underneath some production techniques (random synth hits) and the lyrical mention of "disco", there is a song in here that very easily could have been written and produced as a Kinks B-Side between 1967 and 1969. Not sure if it's Act Nice or Gentle, or perhaps Plastic Man, but there is a bounciness and bit of countryish to the groove that reminds me of those types of non-album tracks from the Pye years. The bass intro does make me think a bit of the Sesame Street theme though.... Good B-Side. As I was drafting this, this was starting to turn into my overall thoughts on Sleepwalker (the album), so since I didn't do that yesterday..... Sleepwalker Maybe that is some of the issue with the Sleepwalker takes.... The "clean" production and synths that turn people off have put an artificial light on what otherwise be a "Klassic" Kinks sound? I could not imagine any Kinks song in the RCA period having the kind of stereo-panning guitar flange effect that is on the instrumental bridge of Artificial Light. If I am missing something, then please (not artificially) enlighten me! There is bit of artificialness in synth and production tricks, that is certainly different than the more straight-forward recording techniques. All that said, I actually like the synth sounds overall (and I personally love how different the Beach Boys Love You sounds with those fat synths when compared to practically everything else they ever did). It shows an adaptability and willingness to continue to experiment and expand. I think @mark winstanley made a good point (yesterday?) that Sleepwalker sounds of its time (production-wise) the same way the Kink Kontroversy sounds like 1965 (production-wise). There are some albums in between that may be consider "timeless", but it's pretty clear they were produced between 1967 and 1972! I think the main difference here is when the Kinks sounded like 1965 or 1966 (production-wise), or when they sounded like 1970 (production-wise), pretty much NONE of their songs could possibly have been done by any other band. The melodies, styles, etc were just so very unique to the Kinks. With Sleepwalker, I'd say maybe half the songs are uniquely Kinks that ONLY Ray could write.... but the other half (at least melodically, as Ray still often has his unique lyrical quirks) seem a bit more generic... and when a generic-type song is produced in a style typical of it's time, it makes it a bit less unique and less special, and perhaps less memorable. For me, I really enjoyed Sleepwalker more than I thought I would. The uniquely Kinks songs here (for me, Life on the Road, Sleepwalker, Juke Box Music, Full Moon, Life Goes On) are wonderful and will be played often going forward! The ones that (to me) are a bit more generic (Brother, Sleepless Night, Stormy Sky) are also wonderful and will be played often going forward! Headmaster, please spare me I beg you, but Mr. Big Man didn't really grab me and probably won't be added to my overall Kinks playlist, which is now up to 205(!) songs so far.
Artificial Light First time I've heard this song and, since it isn't in my chosen music app's catalog, I've only heard it once, just now, driving home from dropping my daughter off at school. [Had to/got to listen to Mitski's new LP on the way to school, since we're going to her show tonight at the Shrine]. Chugged along nicely. Another examination of what's real/unreal. I could see it fitting in with Sleepwalker if I'd gotten a bonus track iteration of the LP, but it would also fit comfortably on Everybody's in Show Biz (probably side 2, so as not to be too proximate w/ Unreal Reality). If liking Mr Big Man makes one an ignoramus, I'll wear that ignoramus badge with honor.
