An aside: I checked my trusty Top 100 Albums list and I only have one that was released in 1978: Dire Straits s/t.
Aww man. I haven't listened in awhile but I think there's something to like in AFL and Glamour. I don't remember what it was and I haven't listened in probably almost 2 decades but I remember not hating them. My goal is to give Dave as fair a shake as possible over the course of this thread. I'm already trying to figure out how I do that with his Misfits contribution, but we'll get to that soon enough...
Just as a reminder, this is the layout ahead, no need to fear, plenty of variety Misfits - May 78 20 Golden Greats 1978 Dave's Decade 1978/79 tracks (4) Low Budget - Jul 19 US - Sep 79 UK Second Time Around - 1980 Dave Davies AFL1-3603 - 1980 One For the Road - June 1980 (album and video) Waterloo Sunset EP - June 1980 Kinks Live EP - Jul 1980 Dave Davies Glamour - 1981 Give The People What They Want - Aug 81 US - Jan 82 UK
“Misfits” It’s no surprise that there is a lot of praise for the bridge. “Look at all the losers and the mad eyed gazers Look at all the looneys and the sad eyed failures They're giving up living 'cause they just don't care So take a good look around The misfits are everywhere La la la la la la” It’s a thing of beauty. When I listen to this song, I just want to get to this part and then replay it over and over. This turns what would be a mediocre song into a great song. I love his vocal on it and the sparse instrumentation. I think this is an excellent way to start the album. It welcomes all of us misfits with open arms. “Why don’t you join the crowd and come inside”. I don’t know how Ray keeps writing such fantastic lyrics and melodies, but he’s done it again. In 1978 there were also other Misfits recording songs for a debut album at the same time The Kinks were wrapping up this album. If Ray started wearing a devil lock around this time that would have been weird. REM seems to have had The Kinks stuck in their head when they wrote the song “Endgame”. It has a guitar part that sounds like it was lifted straight out of “Misfits”. Give it a listen and see what you think.
Misfits @mark winstanley said it all. This is absolutely gorgeous. Deceptively simple structure that stops and starts and wraps around so that, at the end of the song, you're singing the first line again. Deeply personal, which is clear from Ray's voice. Can't believe it went over my head in 1978. Great post. In my American HS, there was a guy with the improbably perfect name of Johnny Viscount who used to float through the halls, David Watts style, captain of the football team, homecoming king, movie-star handsome. Years later, he contacted me for some work advice -- we went out to lunch (at 35, I was still intimidated) and he proceeded to tell me how HS had been hell for him -- his parents were getting divorced, he was addicted to pain pills, he felt like no one saw or understood him. If Johnny Viscount could feel like a misfit, well then we/they are indeed everywhere.
I bought AFL recently. I like the album cover! Listening to the music was another story. Let’s just say it didn’t make me want to hear what he did next on Glamour. We will have to wait and see how it goes. I never even made it to the B side of AFL yet.
That seems like the lesson of the day, never believe the facade.... we're all dealing with stuff that's bigger than us and overwhelming... the facade tells the lie. Like facebook posts, a trick to create a false reality
This is a band that I’d like to see a deep-dive thread on (in addition to my usual Decemberists squawk). I like pretty much everything I’ve heard but they were a band I criminally (? perhaps overstating it a tad) overlooked. More than The Decemberists, a R.E.M. thread would be very close to this Kinks thread for me; coming in with a relatively clean slate and getting to work my way methodically through the discography.
Here is an excellent one by @Lance LaSalle Night Garden: Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe [R.E.M.]1981-1996 Song-by-song*
There is a song by song going on now. They are closer to the end though. I tried to follow along on a few albums, but I entered the thread after my favorites were already discussed. I check in from time to time. This is how I noticed the similarities with “Misfits” and “Endgame”. I’m also trying to follow along on an XTC song by song. I find that one really interesting, but I also keep falling behind and forgetting about it. It’s also run by @Lance LaSalle
Myself, I see it as an anti-epic. A modest, reflexive, almost ruminative tune, tender and soft, introspective yet open. But a statement, yes. An eponymous thematic disclaimer, a declaration of intent, a presentation of the record and of where the band itself stands, definitely. That's very close to what they did with The Village Green Preservation Society, just a decade before… So no, I don't think there could be any better choice for an opener. This album is called Misfits, more or less all its songs are about misfits, most of the songs are misfits themselves in the catalogue and in the pop universe – they belong together because they wouldn’t belong anywhere else. And of course it is made by misfits, a band led by two brothers who never could be reduced to any movement, trend or wave (except maybe a permanent one), always on their own little planet, something else, not like everybody else, in disgrace, misplaced/displaced hillbillies, not fitting anywhere, the only British invaders that were not even allowed to invade!! And the icing on the cake, as @palisantrancho's just said, it is made for misfits. I’ve related to this message since the first time I’ve heard this song. Yes, among rock fans, we Kinks lovers are “misfits”, I really think so. Not punks, not hippies, not metal heads, not folk kids or country dudes, not the kind of people who'd know what to wear or how to behave in order to be accepted by any constituted group. It’s a different kind of kult, especially if we’re still following them at this stage of their career, after shepherd’s pies, ducks, spanking and the like. Will you try to turn on a Lemmy or Pistols fan by making them listen to Holiday Romance or Oh Where Oh Where Is Love ? I don't think so… Big Kinks fan Jeff Tweedy wrote a song for Mavis Staples to sing called You Are Not Alone. The basic idea is exactly the one @fspringer described in his beautiful post. Some records reassure you that "you're not alone", you're not crazy, someone somewhere is reaching out to you. That's the profound beauty of this song. I don't think the "you" is just Ray talking to himself. It's Ray acknowledging how his fans feel about him but also about themselves, acknowledging that he knows they're around somewhere, anywhere, everywhere. He's aware that they are listening. And so he sings this song to them.
I prefer Glamour myself - one improvement for me is that Dave has a dedicated bass player and drummer rather than doing it all himself as on the first album.
Thanks. I’ll use it as a resource as I tackle it alone, then. I see a block of time opening up (kidding!!! ).
To be clear, I'm not running that R.E.M. thread anymore; I bailed after the Berry left: @prymel has taken it over.
Misfits This is an excellent song. I like it because it fits the Kinks and Ray so well. When I saw them in concert, when Ray sang, "So take a good look around the misfits are everywhere" the spotlight panned through the whole crowd, which seemed appropriate. I think that I, like many Kinks fans, have felt like a bit of a "misfit" at times. While the general rock and roll audience loved You Really Got Me, Lola and other big hits, I loved the whole package, especially the late 60's albums when the Kinks were totally forgotten in the US. A great album opener!
As I later learned, the most beautiful girl in high school was physically attacked on a routine basis by a crew of tough girls, you know, the ones with feathered roach clips, nicotine-scented jeans jackets and sometimes adult boyfriends! Her family life was in shambles, father drinking himself to death in his 50s, parents divorced, mother always putting down her looks as some form of reverse matricide. Guys were afraid to ask her out, assuming they'd get shot down. The ones who would were always overly confident and brash, thus starting a bad pattern that ended up in a nightmarish marriage. We didn't have that crystal ball to see these things as kids and often had no idea of these extenuating circumstances. Every guy I knew in our school felt she emobdied perfection. Little did we know!
Was at the first one which was a terrific concert. Plenty of back projection slides of Kinks 60's stuff. The following evening I surrounded myself with lots of alcohol and watched the OGWT on TV. The girlfriend who accompanied me to the Rainbow that evening had a brother whose name was John Sheeran. He would have a son called Ed. It's a funny old world.
An hour in the car reviewing the Phase III playlist (Misfit preliminaries included) on shuffle. Casualty? ‘Sleepwalker.’ You know how it is, every committee has a hard*~#. On the other hand, there’s been a motion to reconsider ‘Hard Way.’
Misfits Commenting on this now before I read others thoughts. If people end up poopin' all over this song, I will be a very sad gal. I think this is such a gorgeous song. For one, the SOUND of this song compared to the SOUND of the songs on the previous album is so much better. Again, I am useless at describing what I hear that makes it different and better, but it just seems more crisp and clean. This song makes me very emotional. It speaks to me. I think ultimately each and every one of us is a misfit. We're all unique human beings. No two alike. but I do think some people strive to fit in and be "normal". But there are others who seek out their differences and embrace them...even though it can sometimes be lonely if you haven't found your own crowd of misfits. When Ray sings "every dog has his day..." - it just gets me every single time. The lyrics and music and pace are simply perfect. There is nothing to change on this song to make it better. What a great opener. ________ I listened to the whole album while at work today. And though I can't say for sure until we're done with Misfits, the album, this may be the most solid album, for me, since the Lola LP. There...I said it! maybe @mark winstanley (edited to add)and I will be standing alone in thinking this is a killer album (overall)??!
Misfits (the album) I prefer the songs on Sleepwalker but, on a technical level, this is way ahead of its predecessor. It just sounds so natural, less stuffy and cluttered, and like there is lots of space between the instruments. A few years after I bought this album I came across a half-speed-mastered copy and that was one of the finest sounding LP's I ever heard. The opening Misfits is a classic - always on my Kinks Greatest playlist - and an oh-so-typical Davies song about those not exactly going with the flow and following the rules of life. Love the album, love the cover and love the sound. Heck, I even heard Permanent Waves on the radio once. Mark, why get so twisted about the sequencing? Just program your cd player to play these tracks in whatever order you want.
You said what I meant to say a few minutes ago...the album does not sound "of its day" like Sleepwalker. I agree 100%.
Misfits I am pretty sure I have not heard this song until the past couple weeks going through this album. But it feels like I have heard it before, but I really don't think I did... And gosh, how I wish I knew this song in high school and college. Because yes, this song would have absolutely spoken to me. I guess for my generation of being in high school in the late 1990s, the equivalent of a band singing about US (the way WE were) would have been Weezer and songs like In My Garage, with lyrics like: I've got posters on the wall. My favorite rock group Kiss. I've got Ace Frehley. I've got Peter Criss Waiting there for me. Yes I do, I do... In the garage, I feel safe No one cares about my ways In the garage, Where I belong No one hears me sing this song But this is different. This is not a listener hearing the song and realizing "Hey, this guy is like me". With Misfits, Ray is singing TO us. Or maybe he is looking in the mirror talking to himself, the way we do. We are all like this. This is our thing. This is why I listen to this music. I feel heard. I matter. I am not alone. Here comes yet another day. And yes, what a great way to start album, as Avid @palisantrancho has read my mind earlier this morning: And, I am glad that @Jasper Dailey mentions Jackson Browne here.... ...because oddly enough, like I said, I have only heard Misfits for the past couple weeks. And when I was in the car yesterday, I was listening to The Bridge on Sirius XM, and sure enough, The Pretender by Jackson Browne came on. Now, I probably haven't heard THAT song in many years... but, something clicked... This reminds me of a Kinks song... but which one? I was racking my brain, and then I realized it was Misfits, which I had just heard earlier that morning. So, yes, I heard that too! I love this song. The bridge (this time, of Misfits, not the station on Sirius XM) is superb. The slowdowns... the pauses, and then the full band coming back in with the "la la las" are just.... I feel like I need to say "superb" again. The different guitar tones together reminds me of what Dave was doing on Muswell Hillbillies. Superb. This album starts with one of the highest of highs. Superb.
Motion seconded! I'm withholding comment on the album until I've had more time to absorb it. I do relate to the feeling of not quite fitting in, especially when I was younger. It's always interesting to hear stories of those who seem to have it all together, only to discover that most of us are struggling with something, even if we're adept at disguising it. Group therapy and recovery groups really drove home that point for me. I hope and believe there is more awareness and sensitivity about individuals' personal struggles than 20 or 40 years ago.
