The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

FWIW, I emailed Hinman once about an error regarding an opening act for a concert I attended. He wrote back to thank me and acknowledged that he did the best he could but there was a indeed a certain amount of deductive reasoning going on with his work, but was willing to admit when he made an error. No question, though, his efforts have made Kink fandom the better for it.

 

Yes, I noticed this as well...but more so "You and me were free"...so what are you right now? No longer free? how come?

 

I always thought it was ‘you and me WE’RE free’.

 

I missed that.
I have always heard it as we're.

Is this an accent issue?

 

I guess I'm basing this on the lyrics provided.
I can also hear "We're free" too. which would make more sense.

As I've said before, I have trouble catching lyrics.

 

It's just the way ray sings rather than an accent thing.

 

Till the End of the Day- One of the more solid rockers on the album, In the same vein as “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of The Night” this song has great use of rhythm chords, a catchy chorus and a good solo. Mick Avery takes the opportunity to pound some fast paced pounding, while providing a sturdy groove through the herky-jerky stop and start guitars. Grerat groove.

Where Have All the Good Times Gone-Only Ray Davies could come up with a song like this. The world is on a 24/7 sixties party and he laments "Where Have All The Good Times Gone". People were happy! So, The Kinks release something, an all-time classic song, no question, so terribly out of the fashion of the times, it must have been seen to be ridiculous. Well, ridiculous were it not such a damn great song that it didn't matter. In what would become typical Ray Davies’ fashion, the track forlorns sentiments that went against the grain of the times. Snappy and uncompromising. I really don't see much of a Dylan comparison I think the lyrics are too camp for that. One of my all time Kink favorites.

 

Until Arthur, the Kink’s recordings did not come with lyric sheets and just about everything you see will be a non official transcription from the recordings, prone to errors. Even when official lyrics are available, you will often see poor transcriptions. For example, the official lyric of Victoria’s second line is “Sex was bad, and obscene”, but you will often see “Sex was bad, called obscene” instead.
Moral of the story, “You can trust everything on the web except Kinks lyrics.”

 

Clem Cattini was the drummer on Till the End of the Day.

Here’s what Mick has to say in an interview posted on the Kast Off Kinks site.

Clem Cattini played on the whole of the second album except for Where Have All The Good Times Gone, because of my illness and my membership of the band at the time was dangling by a dwindling thread.

 

Whoa my bad. It was my understanding he played in "Milk Cow", "Ring The Bells', and "Good Times Gone". My album and CD liner notes are all in Mexico and I'm in the States right now so I couldn't verify before posting. Thanks for the correction.

 

I would put that down to bad editing.
I thought there was something more to it.

I just copy and paste the lyrics.... I hadn't noticed that particular typo.... Sorry

 

Shel Talmy on Till the End of the Day
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'Till The End Of The Day - Ray comes up with his best twist yet on the power chord template started with You Really Got Me and IMO this is the best of the lot. The guitar solo and backing vocals are perfection. The melody a touch more refined. The recording has tremendous energy.

Where Have All The Good Times Gone showcases his ability to change perspective easily. I feel this is some kind of predecessor to Dead End Street, a social commentary song focussing on the plight of the working class. I definitely hear Dylan in there now it's been mentioned. But I also hear that pre-war music hall element too. Great support by the band, Dave Davies in particular. Wonderfully ragged feeling to the performance which suits the sentiments of the words just fine. Both songs are top tier Kinks for me.

 

The Kink Kontroversy


Studio album by
the Kinks
Released 26 November 1965
Recorded 23–30 October 1965 (except early August 1965 for "Milk Cow Blues")[1]
Studio Pye Studios, London
Genre Rock and roll[2]
Length 30:12
Label Pye (UK) Reprise (US)
Producer Shel Talmy

The Kinks

• Ray Davies – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
• Dave Davies – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "I Am Free" and "What's in Store for Me", shared lead vocals on "Milk Cow Blues" and "You Can't Win"
• Pete Quaife – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mick Avory – drums (tracks 3-8, 10-12) , percussion

Additional musicians

• Clem Cattini – drums (tracks 1, 2 and 9)
• Nicky Hopkins – keyboards
• Rasa Davies – backing vocals (track 6 and 9)
• Shel Talmy - guitar on "It's Too Late"

Side one
1. "Milk Cow Blues" Sleepy John Estes; arranged by The Kinks 3:44
2. "Ring the Bells" 2:21
3. "Gotta Get the First Plane Home" 1:49
4. "When I See That Girl of Mine" 2:12
5. "I Am Free" Dave Davies 2:32
6. "Till the End of the Day" 2:21
Side two
1. "The World Keeps Going Round" 2:36
2. "I'm on an Island" 2:19
3. "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" 2:53
4. "It's Too Late" 2:37
5. "What's in Store for Me" 2:06
6. "You Can't Win" 2:42

1998 and 2004 CD reissue bonus tracks
13. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" 3:05
14. "Sittin' on My Sofa" 3:08
15. "When I See That Girl of Mine" (Demo version) 2:01
16. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (Alternate stereo take) 3:01

2011 Sanctuary Records deluxe edition Disc 2
1. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" 3:04
2. "Sittin' on My Sofa" 3:09
3. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" 3:30
4. "Mr. Reporter" (outtake) 3:58
5. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (alternative take; different take from previous CD reissues and the Picture Book boxset) 2:54
6. "Time Will Tell" (outtake) 2:46
7. "And I Will Love You" (unissued EP track) 2:26
8. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" (alternative vocal version) 3:33
9. "All Night Stand" (Ray Davies solo demo) 1:54
10. "Milk Cow Blues" (BBC performance) 2:47
11. "Ray Talks about Songwriting" (BBC interview) 1:02
12. "Never Met a Girl Like You Before" (BBC performance) 2:01
13. "Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight" (BBC performance) 1:49
14. "Pete Talks about Records" (BBC interview) 1:17
15. "Till the End of the Day" (BBC performance) 2:19
16. "A Well Respected Man" (BBC performance) 2:41
17. "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" (BBC performance) 2:46

Liner Notes:
Milk Cow Blues - Ray and Dave swop over lead
Ring The Bells - Ray, solo
Gotta Get The First Plane Home - Ray singing and playing harmonica
When I See That Girl Of Mine - Dave and Ray share vocal
I Am Free - Dave moans on his own
Till The End Of The Day - Ray, Dave and (help!) Pete, but Ray sings lead
The World Keeps Going Round - Ray mainly but with Dave and Pete in background
I'm On An Island - I Think it's Ray?
Where Have All The Good Times Gone - Ray and Dave
It's Too Late - Ray and Dave singing, but with Shel Talmy on guitar and Ray in the control box
What's In Store For Me - Dave sings assisted by Ray
You Can't Win - Ray and Dave, share

Before you proceed any further, ask yourself why you are reading this. Surely, the important thing is not to read about, but to listen to, the LP? It is because you are attracted by the look of the four young men enticing you to sample some KINKS KONTROVERSY? Or is it because you hope that by reading something on the back of an album cover, it will make you desperately want to buy what is inside?

Maybe you are simply hung up on the Kinks. If you are, then you are wasting valuable listening time reading what is, after all, only the designer's fill-in on the back. And, you should really be gazing, enraptured, at the photograph of Ray, Dave, Pete and Mick on the other side.

Should you be idly browsing through a stack of LP sleeves without the slightest intention of buying anything, read on. It will help absorb a few brief seconds of your life. And who knows, your curiosity might even be sufficiently aroused for you to want to hear this LP.

For the uninitiated--and it is conceivable that there may be one or two people around who still aren't hip--the Kinks compromise two brothers, Ray and Dave Davies; a bassist by the name of Peter Quaife, and a drummer, Mick Avory. They are four seperate identities and four conflicting personalities. Yet, somehow, they gell with a magnetism and force that has made them not only one of the country's most consistent groups, but gathered them hordes of followers throughout Germany, Scandinavia, France and America as well.

Ray, is one of England's most enlightened songwriters. His lyrics are very simple, to the point of being basic. They mask the complex character that evolves them.

Dave's main preoccupation is the diverse pursuit of happiness. But, he too, swings between the extremes of frustration, elation and black boredom.

Peter Quaife is everybody's friend. Rarely upset, he regards being a Kink infinitely preferable to being a commercial artist--his former occupation.

Mick Avory is at his happiest when he is drumming. He says little, and drums a great deal.

But enough is enough. Now is the fatal moment of decision. Take out the LP, listen and buy. You won't be disappointed. You never are with the Kontroversial Kinks.
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Almost all of these track were recorded at Pye studios No. 2 in London Between October 25 - 30, 1965. The only outlier is Milk Cow Blues which is guessed to have been recorded in August.

This has been an awkward album for me. I get the impression now, that the reason I never got around to the earlier albums prior to this thread, is that initially this album didn't really grab me ..... and I can't really put my finger on why exactly, because I really like the songs ... but it sort of sat around waiting for me to get it.
As I always say, that is the main reason I love these threads because I put myself in a position where I have to listen to the albums properly, and I have to get inside the album and try and figure out if I like it or not, and why exactly.

As is often the case, this process of making myself listen more closely and more often has opened this album up a lot for me. I have gone from feeling that this was a bit of a step back, to enjoying this album quite a bit, and some of the songs that were fringe dwellers, have worked their way in for me.
I think that all of that comes down to this being a bit of a transitional album. We have the band still wrestling with the rock and blues band form, or however we want to look at it, but also knowing that they have much more to offer than that. They would have to have known that Ray was writing so many great songs, and they didn't all necessarily fit into the narrow rock/blues mode that the band started off at. Also bearing in mind of course that they have only been together a couple of years and their debut album was only twelve months ago.... and in that time they have released another album, some EP's and quite a few singles.... So the fact that the band was racing along so fast, and growing so quickly, this album kind of sums up the earlier period, and introduces the next, and on a cold listen, you can kind of hear that.

Thankfully though, giving this album a bit of time, and a lot of rotations, the veil has been pulled back for me, and I hear this album a little differently than I used to, and certainly a lot differently than my initial listen.
I suppose it would also be fair to say that when I first got the Kinks sixties albums, that I was really looking forward to this album because the two songs on the single we just looked at were songs I loved from One For The Road, but quite different versions.... so they didn't instantly grab me, and I had to get used to that too.

I was completely unaware of Mick Avory being mostly absent from this album, and it seems that nobody really knows who played on what here, so I am not going to try and say, because I just would not have a clue, and it seems that through the mists of time everyone has forgotten what happened, with everyone's stories being a little different, and everywhere you look there is a different recollection of who did what...... but I can live with that ... I just mainly pay attention to the songs and hwo they fit together.....

Most importantly we only have one cover. Except for one Dave track, we have Ray taking the reigns and riding this bay all the way home, and I think that is a very important step for the band.

So to me, at this stage at least, this is a very good album that works as a bit of a melting pot of ideas of where the band had been, and where they are going, and it does work really well.

So please share your thoughts and feelings on this album for us.

What did you think when you first heard it?
What do you think now?
All that kind of thing. Just give us your hearts and minds on The Kink Kontroversy....

Perhaps tell us why you reckon they came up with this title, or for our historians, please tell us why they came up with this title ... perhaps something to do with the US ban? Perhaps something to do with the infighting? Were they just using an attention getting title?

So we have a couple of days to flesh out our thoughts regarding this album and we'll hit the first couple of track on Monday.

Cheers
Mark

 

I love the cover



The US cover seems to be trying to tie it to the earlier albums, and I don't think it works as well

 

US back cover

 

The second album was good and a big improvement over the debut, but Kontroversy is another big leap in quality. It's a shame that it opens with a cover, but other than that, it's great!

 

An interesting homage

 

My initial impression seems similar to yours, Mark. I dismissed it and started my in-depth look later in the Kinks discography.

I’ll see where I’m at after we go through the slicing and dicing process but my initial impression is that there’s three standout tracks from album/era. Quite a drop from Kinda Kinks. As always I’m eager to change my mind.

 

Kinks - absolutely great debut album
Kinda Kinks - very good follow up
The Kink Kontroversy - a bit smoother, I like it

 

The Kink Kontroversy

This is one of the albums that I picked up in the late 80s, and again it's a 1980 reissue on the grey Pye label. Even this copy seems to be worth around £20 these days.

The main thing that strikes me about this album is the number of songs which have a disconnect of seemingly positive lyrics set to downbeat, if not even mournful music. Compared to the somewhat naive exuberance of Kinda Kinks, Kontroversy has overall a kind of world-weary sound, as if the Kinks had already been soured by their experiences in the music business.

It's still a good album, though, and if it's "deep cuts" you're after - this is the place to come. Apart from the single I'm not aware of any of these tracks making it onto compilations. In particular the Golden Hour series mined the albums before and after, but left this one untouched.

The other notable thing about this album from my point of view is that it was released into the world on the same day as me. Which of us has aged better??

 

Thought I'd stick this here while it's still era appropriate. A (Swedish??) newsreel on The Kinks September 1965 trip to Iceland. Check out the support group of striped shirted children at 1.23!