The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    As he has taken a bit-part role in this era

    Clive Davis
    [​IMG]
    Davis in 2007
    Born
    Clive Jay Davis
    April 4, 1932 (age 89)
    New York, New York, U.S.
    Alma mater New York University
    Harvard Law School
    Occupation Record producer, music executive
    Years active 1965–present
    Spouse(s)
    Helen Cohen (m. 1956; div. 1965)
    Janet Adelberg (m. 1965; div. 1985)
    Children 4, including Doug Davis
    Website www.clivedavis.com

    From 1967-1973 Davis was the president of Columbia Records, and his leaving Columbia is due to allegedly using company funds to pay for his sons Bar Mitzvah ...
    During his time at Columbia Clive had an impact. One of his earliest signings was Donovan.
    After being encouraged by Lou Adler to attend the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Davis signed Big Brother And The Holding Company (with Janis Joplin). He also went on to sign Laura Nyro, The Electric Flag, Santana , Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Billy Joel, Blood Sweat and Tears, Aerosmith and Pink Floyd (for rights to release their material outside of Europe)... Previously Columbia had avoided rock music.

    One of the most successful songs during Clive's tenure was Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden, which he insisted should be released as a single. It went on to be number 1 in 16 countries, and the album remained the top selling female country album for 27 years.

    After his somewhat controversial departure from Columbia Davis took time out to write his memoirs and then went on to form Arista Records... and with his track record of success, why wouldn't he.
    On Arista he got Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Westlife, Eric Carmen, The Outlaws, Bay City Rollers, Taylor Dane, Ray Parker Jnr and Raydio, Ace Of Base, Air Supply, Alicia Keys, Carly Simon, Grateful Dead, Gil Scott Heron, as well as obviously the Kinks...
    Davis also signed and guided Whitney Houston

    He went on to form
    Arista Nashville - Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunne, Brad Paisley
    LaFace - TLC, Usher, Outkast, Pink, Toni Braxton
    Bad Boy (with Sean Puffy Combs) - Puffy Combs, Notorious B.I.G., Mase, 112, Faith Evans

    In 2000 Davis left Arista and founded J Records an independent label financially backed by Arista's parent company Bertelsmann Group.
    BMG bought a major share in J records in 2002 .... Davis was awarded "World's Number One A&R of 2001" based on the chart data from that year.
    He went on to become president and CEO of RCA.
    Davis was with RCA until 2008 when he was appointed Chief Creative Officer at Sony BMG

    That's quite an amazing career really

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    The Soundtrack to our lives may be a quite interesting thing to see.
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6494358/

    I must say that prior to this thread I had never heard of the guy :)


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  2. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    It's so irregular that my money's on your Hayfever abating so you had a romantic interlude?
     
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  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Andy Pyle.

    Andy Pyle is in and out of our Kinks picture pretty quickly, essentially participating in a tour, playing on Mr Big Man, and a few songs on Misfits, so it seems I need to get him in before he is gone.

    Born 1945 (age 76–77)
    Luton, England
    Genres Blues
    Instruments Bass guitar
    Associated acts The Kinks, Blodwyn Pig, Savoy Brown, Wishbone Ash, Gary Moore

    Blodwyn Pig - 1968-1972
    Savoy Brown - 1972-1974
    Kinks - 1976-1978
    Wishbone Ash - 1986-87, 1991-93

    Pyle seems to be somewhat of a gun for hire, and as we have heard he is a solid bass player, and according to what I read around the place, he seems to gravitate towards blues more than anything else.

    It seems perhaps more appropriate to show what he has played on more than anything else, as I know nothing about him, and there isn't a ton of information about him.
    So here are some of his album credits, aside from the bands listed above

    71 Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
    72 Juicy Lucy - Pieces
    75 Alvin Lee - Pump Iron

    Gary Moore
    83 Live At The Marquee
    90 Still Got The Blues
    93 Blues Alive
    95 Blues For Greeny
    2009 Essential Montreux

    2002 KenHensley and John Wetton - More Than Conquerors


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    [​IMG]Andy with Ken Hensley & Free Spirit, Netherlands 2002

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    There are some more pictures on his facebook page Andy Pyle



     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2022
  4. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    Hay Fever

    I recall really getting a kick out of this song and the silly lyrics the first time I dropped the needle on my new Misfits album.

    That wore off rather quickly as I came to think of this as a mere novelty song.

    As I listened this morning, I couldn't help but think it would fit well as one of the originals on a Weird Al Yankovic album.
     
  5. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out is a great album both US and UK versions. Different area of music from the Kinks, but great in it’s world.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2022
  6. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    P' arden, so they weren't so Immediate in the States?
     
  7. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    ... and Anthony Braxton!
     
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  8. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I believe that the Moody Blues were to accompany the Kinks as part of their first tour, but were denied visas to enter the States. The Musicians Union in the States were rather keen on limiting British groups in the wake of Beatlemania, but they could not do anything about the Beatles, Dave Clark 5, Herman's Hermits & the Stones without the collected wrath of their fans, so they concentrated on bands that didn't have that strong of a following.
     
  9. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Nope, they were just one hit wonders here in the States, #16, w/Itchycoo Park, although their earlier singles were released here on RCA.
     
  10. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I knew Lou Reed had had a go at Clive Davis onstage when he playing the gigs that made up the "Take No Prisoners" album - though I'm not sure it's on the album - but the story is actually funnier, according to Lou's bassist at the time, Ellard "Moose" Boles.

    "There was one night, and it’s on one of the recordings, I think it was during “Walk On The Wild Side,” where Lou starts to verbally attack Clive Davis. And I remember, while we were on stage, Lou reaches down – there was some guy in the front row that kept on talking to Lou, and he had this hat on, like a bowler hat. And during the song, Lou just picks the hat off this guy’s head, and he flung it across the stage, I’m talking about 30 feet, right at Clive Davis’s face. You remember Oddjob in 007? Just like that. Luckily, Lou’s lawyer was there, Eric Kronfeld. Whenever we went on big tours or big things were happening, Eric was there to kinda supervise, and Eric reached up his hand in time and grabbed the hat out of the air. Yeah. The guy that was sitting next to Clive Davis, he literally threw up."
     
  11. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    "Hay Fever" is an example of why I think Misfits is the Kinks' Woody Allen album. All is basically is a guy who tries to make it w/his girlfriend and he can't because he has hay fever, a silly premise that could have been used in a Woody Allen movie. This is another Ray song in which he writes about the mudane, such as potatoes, ducks and tea. Musically, it's quite catchy w/the synth riff and the Beach Boys like vocal stylings.

    I had lunch w/my friend Jimmy yesterday and we discussed the album, which he liked. He saw them play at Central Park, NYC on the tour for the album. He said he was disappointed in the opening act because he thought the Cars were going to open like he heard that they did in their previous gig, but instead it was Eddie Money. He also said that he visited London the previous year and he was told when he was walking around in his Kinks shirt that he was't from around there because no one were into them anymore.
     
  12. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    You say that like it’s a bad thing! :D
     
  13. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Wow, that's an interesting comment. 'You're not from round here boy are you? Not with that Kinks shirt' :eek: I guess it reflects that there may have been a contingent of UK music fans who felt that The Kinks abandoned the UK for the US after the early 70s.

    I wonder when Kinks T shirts actually became a thing though? I get the impression that bands didn't really do that kind of merchandise in the 60s: I'm thinking 1977 is actually pretty early for a Kinks tee.
     
  14. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Just got around to viewing the 77 Christmas Concert. Really good stuff there! Was Ramona a nickname Ray had for Dave? He shouted it out a couple of times during The Hard Way and then Dave would solo. Speaking of The Hard Way apparently both Nick Lowe and Strummer/Jones were fans of the song judging by Nick calling a song Cruel To Be Kind and Clash City Rockers, respectively. Speaking of the Clash I was just listening to Safe European Home and am I the only hearing a Kinks influence especially the way Mick Jones keeps singing Safe European Home (reminds of Dave singing behind Ray. Maybe it's Sandy Pearlman's more polished production but I've always been surprised that track never became an AOR staple like future Clash songs did.
     
  15. ajsmith

    ajsmith Senior Member

    Location:
    Glasgow

    It was discovered by @palisantrancho earlier in this thread that apparently the 'Ramona' thing is a reference to a Pinball table of that name that Ray was addicted to! It's also worth adding that in his second autobio he also refers to the Warhol starlet who attempted to seduce him around about this timeframe as 'Ramona' so there may be another level to this.

    The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

     
  16. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Yeah I remember now reading that here in the thread. It was at bar in NYC (Queens I beileve).

    Maybe Ramona is an inside joke between Dave and Ray possibly related to the pinball game. In the video Dave solos right after each time he says Ramona. I just watched the One For The Road video and the same thing happens there as in '77. Interesting.

    Just found this on blog from 2006:

    "During the 2nd set, Ray strapped on his red electric and ripped in to a rocking version of "The Hardway" with at least 2 explicit RAMONA yelps as he looked directly at me than at the end of the song he said that was for Frank. ( then leaned over and said to me are you OK? ) So either he is reading my posts on the digest and or his web page or someone at one of the earlier shows may have mentioned or asked him about the Ramona story and the pin ball machine."
     
  17. DISKOJOE

    DISKOJOE Boredom That You Can Afford!

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Kinks T-Shirts were a thing since the early 70s at least here in the States. My friend Jimmy actually gave me a Preservation Act 1 T-Shirt, but I gave it away when it didn't fit me anymore :cry:. I also saw another T-Shirt based on the cover of The Kinks Greatest, the RCA comp. There was also another T-Shirt based on the logo on Muswell Hillbillies.
     
  18. Wondergirl

    Wondergirl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    I will bet the farm that one Frank Lima posted this. He was a one time "friend of the band". But Frank is a little cuckoo, I'm sorry to say, and he pushed things too far and now he is forbidden (may have been lawyers involved) to contact or be near Ray and Dave. Frank is definitely a misfit and stretches the truth. He's like Woody Allen's Zelig...constantly showing up almost everywhere the Kinks are...or so he reports. Anyhoo...let the buyer beware with Frank is all I'm saying.
     
  19. pantofis

    pantofis Senior Member

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    „Hay Fever“ Looks like the fun is back, a nice surprise. I like that Ray‘s vouice sounds a bit nasal in the beginning. It‘s silly, though I would have enjoyed this a lot more if this was a fully fledged concept album about allergies. Then again I start to realize this is a concept album after all, about misfits…duh.
    The vocals sound rather „young“ and that whoo-ee synth puts the track in almost teenage pop territory. Very of its time too.
     
  20. ThereOnceWasANote

    ThereOnceWasANote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cape May, NJ
    Yes, it was his blog. So the whole Ramona story may be made up by him then?
     
  21. Brian Kelly

    Brian Kelly 1964-73 rock's best decade

    Hay Fever
    This is the type of song that nobody can pull off better than Ray Davies as he takes a subject one would not expect to have a song about, but has some clever lyrics and incorporates it into a good hummable rock sound too. This is an example of "good filler".
     
  22. Michael Streett

    Michael Streett Senior Member

    Location:
    Florence, SC
    Yep. Anyone here like me that was on the old Kinks Fans Internet Email List from days of old will well remember the notorious Franks (there were 2 of them).
     
  23. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    ??? See post #18668.
     
  24. Brian x

    Brian x the beautiful ones are not yet born

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Hay Fever

    Great lover of the silly here, but there's Hot Potatoes/Ducks on the Wall silly and there's Maximum Consumption/Hay Fever silly.

    I mean, after Sleepwalker -- with nary a silly to be found -- it's nice to know Ray still has a song like this in him. & hey, maybe there is something to putting it right after a ballad as heartfelt as Misfits -- and now, in case you thought that was too serious, Raymond Douglas Davies presents a song about his stuffy nose.

    It's fun (the moog mimicking the vocal, come ON), unique (no way anything like it could've ever wound up on a '70s AOR or pretty much any non-Kinks album ever), and completely unpretentious. But, for me, like Maximum Consumption, it doesn't quite pass from cute diversion territory to being an all-time laugh-out-loud favorite.

    Bouncy tune, though. Bit of an earworm.
     
  25. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    "Hay Fever"

    The "Maximum Consumption" of the album. I find it quite humorous and fun. Listening to this song while walking through the woods with itchy eyes and a runny nose makes it even better. Maybe it would have been better served if it came later in the album? There is plenty to love in this song even if it's lightweight and a bit of a laugh. I love the siren sound of the keyboards. It perfectly sums up the alarm you feel when the sinus pressure kicks in. Ray could have probably sold this song to Sudafed and made a fortune. It may not make my playlist, but it sure comes close!

    The comments on the YouTube clip sum it up pretty well, so I will just quote some of them.

    "Hands down the best song ever written about allergies"- Peter H.

    "Congratulations, Sir Ray! I'm kicking a sinus thing so this cheered me up!"- Marcia

    "I'm allergic to tree pollen. The Kinks have nailed it"- Ha Zev

    "Great lyrics for those concerned.....Sniffing like a hound...:)"- Marc

    "hahahahaha.... The Kinks could mix so much comedy with serious rock and roll." - Greg
     

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