No. The last verse was cut, this one: Trendy intellectuals always take action, For every cause that's ever been in fashion Weekend revolutionaries protest and sing Because they're dedicated followers of any old thing They got every solution for every revolution They live in the slums just like the poor people do But they'd rather sniff coke instead of glue Right-wing fascists beat up the blacks Then they salute the Union Jack You can't pretend there's nothing wrong It's not the end, so just carry on
6 out of 7 for me, with this one making the playlist (UK version). Lyrics, riffs, trade-off chorus vocals, little guitar solos, Ray’s vocals…it’s a complete package. ‘Live Life’ is two thumbs up.
Not sure what to make of Ray spending so much time castigating trendy left wing middle class intellectuals and then sticking in the bit about right wing fascists almost as an afterthought. This on the same album as "Black Messiah" too.
This is actually the US single mix which is also a bonus track on the Velvel CD reissue and the iTunes download. You can tell the difference in a couple ways as the track is edited quite differently in that verses and choruses are rearranged. The 2nd verse that starts "Don't get depressed..." comes after the first guitar solo in this US single mix whereas it comes before that solo on all other versions/edits. Another difference is right before the first guitar solo there are call and response vocals in the chorus "You Gotta Live (Live) Life (Life), that's all you do..." These response vocals are absent from all the other versions in this particular spot (it actually sounds like an edit copied from later in the track as opposed to a different mixing difference). None of the album versions/edits or the UK single edit have these differences. I find it interesting that neither this track nor "Black Messiah" (two of the three tracks chosen as singles from this album) made it to the later compilations the 1986 Come Dancing Arista Greatest Hits comp, it's revised reissued 2000 version, or the later Picture Book box set.
Live Life: This one is solid, great at what it is even, but it doesn't rise to the top for me. When I first heard Misfits a long time ago as my first exposure to the Arista era (besides Come Dancing - the single, not the compilation), I loved this song. It was the epitome of the good that came from Ray and the band getting back to RAWK. It had every ingredient in the right measure, at the right time... the backing track, Dave's solos, Ray's vocals, and the lyrics... just an immaculate rock song. I guess I don't even really have a differing take today, it's just that the sheen has worn off somewhat. Thinking about it more (and I promise I won't do this again in this thread, I think it would get old fast!), this song is just so frigging *different* from the early-mid 70s stuff that this thread has helped me fall deeply in love with. Honestly, Avid @Martyj said it all - if you stack rank the catalog, this song is not in the upper half of the catalog, but it's still a really good song, and that says more about the Kinks than Live Life itself. Since I've been overly negative, I will just echo what has already been said in the thread: Dave is a monster here. The riff is pedestrian to my ears, but the solos are just perfectly done. I don't say enough nice things about Dave in general, but the strength of his musicianship (and his vocals) in the late 70s / early 80s led me to pick up several of his solo albums. I still find his songwriting hit or miss, but the guy could and still can wail on that guit-fiddle.
To do a remix for the US single mix was seemingly a last minute decision. It was done and released after Misfits and the UK single were released all of which just edited the UK album version. What's strange is the fact that the album version edits that came on the UK single and the US album were different from each other.
Oh cool, another Fredericktonian! I'm close to TJ High, a mile or so north of downtown. I love this little city. It's an actual town with our own village green in Baker Park. Ray Davies would approve. Your daughter's in a very nice area.
Could be. Though "Cocaine" was a big radio hit around that time. Who knows what the corporation guys upstairs were thinking.
Live Life I appreciate that the band rock out more here but are there now more Nth Americanisms at work in their sound? Aside from part of the opening riff I can hear them "working overtime" on such things at various points for example at 1:37 (& later on) with rhythm and lead guitar that have me thinking of Bachman Turner Overdrive in sound tone and production. Now don't get me wrong I like the riff, the harder music, the verse lyrics, Ray's angsty chorus tone & delivery & Dave's lead chops but there is even more to consider. While the actual Chorus lines don't strike me I like Ray's energy & drive & realise for it to suddenly stand out the verse must be delivered differently and toned down in some fashion. I dig the verse lyrics with it's pointed barbed lines but I think Ray's all too calm & casual delivery does them no favours, I mean he doesn't have to shout but some serious attitude of distaste would be most fitting and apt to better convey the message and thoughts about it! A nice detour of contrast nonetheless for the LP and unless iam knuts, preferable to the last kouple of kuts!
I doubt it’s the drug reference. Personally, I think it ‘s the reference to right wing fascist violence. But…as you say…who knows. (I’d think this is an obvious ask-Ray question in an interview.)
"Live Life", a great rocker whose lyrics basically boil down to "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON", that English WWII sign which was a thing since 9/11. Our Headmaster is right in saying that Ray's lyrics depressingly work in these horrible times like the horrible times of the late 1970s when they were written. I was going to post that Chesterfield Kings cover that Avid Endicott posted, which makes the song sound if not like the 1966 Kinks, then at least like a 1966 American garage band covering the 1966 Kinks. Finally, Avid Ajsmith that quote that you took from Doug Himnan's book wasn't from a Melody Make reader. It was actually from a review of the single by John Lydon when he was Johnny Rotten.
Trying to use google books for Hinman (again). Anyway, see if this works, a link to the uk performance reviews that includes ‘Live Life’ in the setlist: The Kinks
Would that then be contrary to the overriding message of the song though? If he is overly emotional about all the negativity surrounding life on the other side of the fence he's putting up, could he then encourage people to not be overly messed up about it all?
Live life was come and go in the set lists of the era, when they typically played songs from the LP they were promoting, but didn't have much of a live performance shelf life beyond that. I have a bootleg of a Vienna, Austria show where they play it. Like the US LP version, it dispenses with the entire 3rd verse. The band give it sort of a call-and-response arrangement in the chorus ("...Live..LIVE..Life..LIFE..) that is repeated. The voice doesn't sound like Dave? I wonder which Kink it is? I'm not sure this performance is on You Tube, but maybe someone can find it. It seems to be an attempt to engage the audience but they don't really pull it off. But if they did, it's the kind of thing that would have fit in nicely on "One For the Road."
So a press release from March 1978 indicates the album was originally going to be called Permanent Waves! Wow. Imagine if Ray would've called Low Budget-Moving Pictures? Rock history would've been rewritten. Rush probably would've given their albums different titles I'm sure.
Well, here's the thing.... would you believe I went to my Hinman this morning to get this quote CONVINCED that it was from Lydon, but when I looked it up I saw it credited not to Lydon but to an anonymous Melody Maker reader: see absolute proof with the actual scanned entry below! So what's going on here? Is perhaps the quote in the book twice in error, once credited to Lydon and once to a nameless MM reader? (I don't have my copy to hand just now to double check) or did we just flip between 2 slightly different realities??
I found it! It was Johnny Rotten/Lyndon according to Johnny Rogan's Kinks bio (p. 168), which as he footnoted, (#122), came from his review of "Live Life" which appeared in the July 22, 1978 edition of the New Musical Express.
Absolutely BTO. Total fun. This does not sound like a band that has lost any steam, inspiration, energy, or sprit. They are blasting off in an orgy of badass guitar. They could be a bunch of 20 year olds. Just pick a genre and run with it and have a great time, just own it and inhabit it and honor it and blast off. My 16 year old self was bothered by the idea that you should ignore the news & violence & suffering and just live your life to the fullest; now it seems like the best possible advice. They may be playing & singing like 20 year olds, but Ray's lyric has a maturity that comes with age. I put notes in my 12 year old's lunch every day. Last night, in the spirit of Live Life, I wrote out this gem from Epictetus: There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
"Live Life" The verse foreshadows the vocal style in "Superman" from the next album. The chorus reminds me of Carole King's "I feel the earth move", and it's getting on my nerves real fast. I also don't like the sound of the hi-hat which seems to be fighting against some compressor. The lyrics don't impress me much either, except they do remind me a bit of "Have another drink" just with a more universal solution.
