The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Some meat apparently isn't!

 

LOL

 

Ray paid Arista to be able to make the video under their name?

 

I just want to jump in for a quick general comment on One From the Road. as a Kinks fan who first bought Arthur the week it was released (one of my first album purchases), and who had seen them several times through the seventies, I liked OFTR when it was released. We hung a big backed poster of the pink front cover of Ray in a hallway in our house, and my daughter still has it hung at her place. I didn't see it as very different to what the Stones were doing live at the time, though for me, old hits and new songs, though for me Some Girls had a lot more good songs than Low Budget, so the new songs were more welcome with the Stones than with the Kinks. But no matter. It's obvious that they added songs to the album that others had recently covered to show their contemporary relevance. And I think they did a great job with it, both on tour and with the live album. I thought they had finally reached their proper position in the pantheon, the Mt. Rushmore of sixties British bands. I see the album now as I did then. A double live album from one of the all-time great bands.

 

Opening / The Hard Way

This new opening was a neat introduction to bring the audience to near fever pitch and maximum attention for the Kinks entrance be it Kosher or not with YRGM studio fans!

I like The Hard Way just fine and pretty evenly between both the studio and live cuts likely as I was until recently unaware of either so not one or the other has burrowed into my frontal lobe!

 

Indeed it was. Word of Mouth tour maybe? Maple Leafs Gardens, Toronto. Also saw INXS open. State of Confusion?

 

Being Saturday, and knowing many want to move through this live album more quickly, I'm going to post two songs today, as it shouldn't impede solid discussion on the songs, with two days to do it

 

Catch Me Now I'm Falling.

live, stereo mix, recorded 23 Sep, 1979 at Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island

This is the same recording as the video. In fact there are likely 5, but definitely 4 tracks on the album that are from the video.

I was taken by this song straight off the bat. We open with the dreamy reflective section
On the live version the guitar is more prominent than the piano, but the piano is still there ...

I guess I should point out, if I haven't already, that Ian Gibbons has now joined the band, and is on the keyboards, and does a fine job.... sorry but with so many songs to prepare in some way, it is hard to keep track of what I have and haven't said.

Again, this version trumps the album version for me. It isn't that I don't like the albums, as I'm sure you all know, it's just that the energy and rawness of these versions seems to capture the songs better to me. I also think that these being, predominantly, live tracks, somewhat negates any issues with production on the albums.

When we listen to the video version, we can somewhat hear some of the mild sweetening that the album got.

Essentially we have the same version with slightly different mixes... on the youtube video, the start of the song is edited off, and to be honest, in watching the video I'm not sure I really paid attention to that, but even watching it now more closely, and with somewhat a more critical eye, it is not quite right. I much prefer the full version, even though by the time we have gotten past the first verse the energy of the band has taken my mind away from the fact that the video has an unfortunate edit.

One thing folks will notice from the video is that Ray is on again and off again with the guitar. Sometimes he doesn't have it at all, sometimes he has it, and just plays certain sections, and sometimes he is playing for the whole song.... from memory at least.

In its full album version, this is a great live track. In its sadly edited video version it is still a great live track, but I think it just misses a bit of the sparkle of the full version.

I think it would also pay to mention at this stage that this concert video was originally put together for VHS, and although not exclusively, generally the original VHS concert videos were generally around the sixty minute mark... I'm not sure if that was decided as being as long as the average music fan could watch one or what, but it was quite common. Obviously VHS could hold more than that, because back in the day the average movie was about 90 minutes... the same as an average concert of the day.... I know that these days people are disappointed with concerts less than two hours, but concerts were generally ninety minutes back in the day, and if someone you loved played for two hours, it was like a huge bonus and a surprise.

 

Catch Me Now I'm Falling - One For the Road video version

 

Where Have All the Good Times Gone.

live, stereo mix (2:16), recorded 6 Mar, 1979 at Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, Massachusetts

To some degree, trying to be as objective as possible, I can see why this album really grabbed me back in the day. The opening is just beautiful relentless rock music that has all the fire and passion that I always loved live albums for.

Interestingly Van Halen covered this song on their 1982 album Diver Down, and it seems like they pretty much followed this live version.
I believe with the guys from Van Halen not being too prolific in the writing department, Diver Down ended up getting a lot of covers on it, because they didn't have enough material to meet the release schedules. It still ends up being a good Van Halen album, and the inclusion of this song, in this version is actually quite a tribute to the "old" British rockers.

The album version from the sixties is obviously a lot slower, and is in the realms of jangle pop/rock comparatively... That isn't a criticism, just a comparison.
Ray's laconic delivery and the dragging tempo work well in putting forward a sort of depressed person who doesn't see any good times ... and the singalongy chorus works well with the boys joining together.

Ignore the youtube fade ups, the album is not like that for anybody that doesn't have it. I would have hated the album if it was like that, I like live albums to at least create the illusion of a real flowing live show.

Here we have a more uptempo version of the song, and yet it still manages to capture that dreary 9-5 grind feel in the way the rhythm is set up.
We still get the guys joining in for the singalongy chorus.
I really enjoy the textural changes between the verse and chorus with Dave throwing in some glistening arpeggios for the live version here.

It would be difficult to say which version I prefer really, because both present well in their context, from their albums.

The live version plays it straight. It is a direct nod of the head to their earlier material. It also shows pretty clearly that this song from Kontroversy is very much in the Kinks styling. It is somewhat more simplistic than many of the newer tracks, but the rock vibe that the band always had fits right in with the new material.

The album version was recorded 6 months earlier than the video version from Providence.
You can see from the video that it was performed earlier in the show, because Ray still has his jacket on.
Ray also gives us some of his character type vocal delivery.
We also have a couple of rhythmic change ups that give it a slight difference in the video version, but six months on the road will do that.

The versions are essentially very similar, and about the same length, and they both hit the spot for me.

Listening to this stuff again is just cementing my love of this album.

 

Where Have All The Good Times Gone - One For The Road video version

 

For the record, I didn't mention it, but the video version has a cool mixing of old tv footage with the concert footage

 

I enjoy Catch Me Now I’m Falling, which is pretty faithful to the album version but not necessarily better.
I wonder if musically Where Have All the Good Times Gone is based on Bowie’s glam cover from 1973? Whatever, it works well here.

 

Catch Me Now I’m Falling… I’ll confess (again!) : this song never caught me at all, and I feel quite bad about it in our thread context, because I can see it’s such a big defining track for our Headmaster, and should I be in his position, I would hate my personal favorites to be snubbed by guys with a John Wayne as Gengis Khan avatars. But I swear it's no snubbing. Believe me I’ve tried through the years, studio cut, live LP version, live video version with no intro, @The late man's edit… it remains one of the least appealing big songs the Kinks ever did as far as I’m concerned, one I never get into the groove of. And it has nothing to do with that riff either. Hopefully, the Hard Way being already behind us, I might avoid the whip punishment…

Everything this song lacks in my opinion (drive, rock’n roll directness, sustained excitement, explosiveness, melodic inspiration and pppp – pure power pop pleasure), Where Have All The Good Times Gone has in spades. This live version puts aside most jangly dylanisms of the studio kut, replaced by a good old Kinks classic groove/riff: the Tired of Waiting for You / Set Me Free one, but on steroids. If a cover version comes to mind, it’s not the Van Halen one (still two years away) but the Pin-Ups Bowie/Ronson reading (edit: indeed, @croquetlawns !), rendered even bigger and heavier by Dave’s monster 1980 sound. On the video, you can see Ray’s into it, almost like he’s on pills, whereas on Catch Me Now, he enacts (and provides) excitement in a Jagger way. Here, it’s plain clear he feels it himself. This is gold. Being in the room then and getting that must’ve been a huge blast.

 

It was this live version where I learned this song - I did not hear the studio version until a few years later (nowadays YouTube stops things like that from happening). My initial reaction was Wow! What an amazing song with a Beatles reference to boot. I still think this song is in the absolute top tier of Kinks songs and a manifestation of a major Kinks theme that I would recognize a few years later in "Come Dancing" - looking back with fondness on a bygone era. As a follow up to "The Hard Way", it is perfect. Later, I bought the vinyl bootleg Late Late Show from Essen 1982-04-03 and it was great as the follow up to the opener "Around The Dial". It just works great live mainly because it is such a powerful song with dynamics that work well with an audience. One thing I have noticed about the Kinks from listening to live shows recently is how well they put a lot of their material across live - songs like "Hay Fever" and "Education" circa 1978 were strong in a concert setting. Hearing this back in the day taught me that exploring the Kinks would be rewarding.

 

Oct 1963 - Nov 1966 - Kinks get a haircut
Apr 1967 - Feb 1970
1965 Never Say Yes
1966 Trouble In Madrid
Nov 1970 - Jun 1976

Ray interview

Ray Interview with Studs Terkel 1969

The Kinks Move To Arista Records

Feb 1977 Sleepwalker
Life On The Road - OGWT 77 - ITV 78
Mr Big Man
Sleepwalker - Mike Douglas - OGWT - Supersonic - SNL - Outtake
Brother
Juke Box Music - single - OGWT
Sleepless Night
Stormy Sky - OGWT 77
Full Moon - live 77 - Ray live
Life Goes On - OGWT 77
Artificial Light
Prince Of The Punks
The Poseur
On The Outside - remix
Elevator Man

Kinks Live Feb 1977
Ray acoustic Apr 77
Kinks Old Grey Whistle Test show 77
Kinks Live Dec 1977
Christmas Concert 1977
The Pressures Of The Road

Nov 1977 Father Christmas - video - live 1977 - tv promo - Dave live

May 1978 Misfits
Misfits - tv 1978
Hay Fever - live?
Black Messiah
Rock And Roll Fantasy- the hotel room - live Paris 1978
In A Foreign Land
Permanent Waves
Live Life - US version - UK tv
Out Of The Wardrobe
Trust Your Heart - live 1979
Get Up

1978 The Misfit Record EP

Lola live in the hotel room

UK tv 1978

The Misfits Tour
Live in Paris 1978

Sept. 1978 20 Golden Greats

Jul 1979 Low Budget
Attitude
Catch Me Now I'm Falling - remix - alt mix - The Late Man, Sea Cows In Love Mix
Pressure - live 1983
National Health
Superman (ext. mix) - single/album mix - ext fan mix - video - straight mix 12"
Low Budget - Extended mix - Live 89 - Ray Live
In A Space
A Little Bit Of Emotion
A Gallon Of Gas - Live in 1982 - Full US single version - Alt mix
Misery
Moving Pictures
studio outtakes
Hidden Quality
Duke
Nuclear Love
Maybe I Love You
Stolen Away Your Heart

Mike Konopka Restores the Kinks for the Velvel Reissues

The Low Budget interview
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Ray On Wonderworld

The Kunks

Ray on the Stones

Compilations part 1

Dave Davies - AFL1-3603
Where Do You Come From
Doing The Best For You
Visionary Dreamer
Nothing More To Lose
The World Is Changing Hands
Move Over
See The Beast
Imaginations Real - Dave live
In You I Believe
Run
Wild Man

June 1980 One For The Road - The Concert Video - The 1979 Setlists
Opening/Hardway - Hardway video
Catch Me Now I'm Falling - video
Where Have All the Good Times Gone - video

July 1980 The Live EP - Promo EP

1980 Waterloo Sunset EP

Live at the Palladium 1980

Live In Frankfurt in 1984

Kinks live TOTP 1994

2005 Thanksgiving Day Ray live on Conan Obrien

Oct 2018 Dave Davies - Decade - interview
If You Are Leaving (71)
Cradle To The Grace (73)
Midnight Sun (73)
Mystic Woman (73)
The Journey (73)
Shadows (73)
Web Of Time (75)
Mr Moon (75) - Why
Islands (78)
Give You All My Love (78)
Within Each Day (78)
Same Old Blues (78)
This Precious Time (78)

US Chart Stats
The Music Industry Machine

Mick Avory
Pete Quaife - interview - Kast Off Kinks - I Could See It In Your Eyes - Dead End Street
Rasa Didzpetris Davies
John Dalton
John Gosling
Jim Rodford
Andy Pyle
Gordon Edwards
Clive Davis

 

When The Whip Comes Down

 

Ian Gibbons.

Born 18 July 1952
Died 1 August 2019 (aged 67)
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Keyboards
Years active 1960s–2019
Associated acts The Kinks, The Kast Off Kinks

Gibbons is an English musician who started off playing Piano Accordion at the age of 9. He played in the school band, music festivals, charity events and competitions.
At the age of fourteen he started a rock band, where he was playing guitar and singing. After leaving school he moved over to the organ and was playing in local bands up until 1972.
He joined a band called Moonstone at this point who released three singles.
Gibbons played with Love Affair and the Nashville Teens, and recorded an unreleased album with a band called English Assassin.

After playing with a variety of bands with a New Wave tilt, he audition for the Kinks in 1979 and stayed with them until 1989.
During the time he was with the Kinks he also did work with Dr Feelgood, Ken Hensley, Mike Vernon, Samson, Randy California and others, mainly recording.
From 1989 - 1993 Ian worked with Roger Chapman, Sweet, Suzi Quatro and Ian Hunter, until rejoining the Kinks in 1993 and staying with them until they shut up shop in 1997.

Ian played and recorded with many bands in the intervening years and also played with The Kast Off Kinks from about 2008.
Sadly on the 1st of August 2019, Ian passed away in his hime from Bladder Cancer, at the age of 67.





KINKS PAY TRIBUTE TO IAN GIBBONS
Following the very sad death yesterday of longtime Kinks musician Ian Gibbons, Ray Davies, Dave Davies and Mick Avory fondly remember their good friend and collaborator.

“To simply say Ian will be missed would be an understatement,” Ray Davies said. “My first thoughts are for his family and loved ones.

“When he auditioned for the band, he only played a few chords before I knew he was the right guy to have on keyboard, he seemed to know the right voicing to musically slot in between the other members of the band,” Ray fondly recalls. “And with the Kinks, that took some doing!

“He was also was a brilliant accordion player and apparently, a bit of a childhood prodigy on that instrument. In the studio, he would willingly try out the most random musical idea I would throw at him. On the road, he could always be guaranteed to give a smile of encouragement from his side of the stage and buy a round in the bar after the show so we could have a party in Ian’s noisy room. Being in a band is like being in a family and today it is as though we have lost family member.

“Right now I’m thinking of his smile, his cheeky chappie sense of humour and generous grin that made you feel it was ok, even though there was an eight hour bus ride ahead after a long show and the air conditioning has broken down. Though, somehow we’d get over the discomfort, reach the next venue and go onstage, fresh again. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FINISH THIS, PERHAPS I DON’T WANT TO.

Dave Davies says: “Apart from being a great professional, Ian always had a positive attitude to being on the road and recording. In the many years he worked with The Kinks, he added great colour and dimension to The Kinks’ music and he was a good friend. I’ll miss him greatly. Lots of love to his family and friends at this difficult time.”

Mick Avory adds: “I’ve known and worked with Ian for 40yrs and I shall always remember him as a good friend and great musician. I will miss him so much especially as we were still working together. It’s so sad he had to go so quickly before anyone could say goodbye.”



Bob Henrit remembers his friend and bandmate Ian Gibbons

 

That edited "Catch Me Now"....it's like watching Gimme Shelter.

 

"Where Have All the Good Times Gone" is great here, it actually could do with being longer! I still don't like "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" much but it's better here and it's about a minute shorter, which is very much a plus.

 

Like some other folks on here, I'm not a big time live album fan. My middle brother (and the biggest Kinks fan in our family) ran right out and bought One For The Road at our local Musicland. I think he also bought the VHS at some point and he wore that out as well as the record. My memories are of my brother playing the album and me getting a better feel for and discovering older Kinks songs.I loved the way the album looked and that visual has stayed with me for many a year. I do know that the record really whetted my appetite to see The Kinks live and that came soon enough. This is going to be a fun listen!

 

Catch Me Now I’m Falling (live):

Another perfect selection for a live set showcasing and promoting the recently released ‘Low Budget.” A well done performance that buries the piano (regrettably) and eliminates the sax (yeah!) of the original studio version.

A minute shorter, speeded up, drops a verse, adds synthesizers during last minute (approximately).

Where Have All the Good Times Gone (live):

No…this doesn’t work for me. Brute force, drums I don’t like, the ‘All Day and All of the Night’ riff on the bottom. I do like when Ray sings the “Let it be like yesterday” towards the end (of this short song). A touch of whimsy in the vocal.

 

Catch Me Now I'm Falling
While this isn't one of my favourite songs on Low Budget I think the live version works very well in-between Hard Way and Where have All the Good Times Gone. It seems to be 10% faster than the studio version - not unusual for concerts - which gives the music added urgency, albeit at the expense of subtlety and beauty.
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
This is also pleasantly fast and furious - barely exceeding two minutes. For most of Ray's performing career he looked for ways of performing his early rockers live without sounding like a tribute act. The Rolling Stones did the same thing. In 1979 that meant making this song faster, harder and louder. Anyone hearing this song for the first time at one of these concerts would have been surprised at the difference with the early studio version.

 

Catch Me Now - I was really getting into it, but ah what a letdown when no saxophone joined in!

Where Have All The Good Times Gone - distinguishes itself from the original in a good way, love the chunky sound the band has here. After about 1.5 listens to the album this is the my best track.

 

I can't recall where I read it, probably Rolling Stone, but David Lee Roth noted that in the band's early days, Eddie Van Halen got his hands on a Kinks songbook, and the band often played numerous Kinks songs in their set, including "Lola," because they were crowd pleasers. On Diver Down, they also have "Intruder/Pretty Woman" that was a fantastic hard-rock revision of the song. All of the Roth-era albums are burned in my mind, mainly because two good friends were huge fans and constantly playing their tapes while we aimlessly drove around. I looked down on the band back then but later realized they were a perfect band for the time, making hard rock/heavy metal fun again. They had great taste in covers! The interesting part about that era was you could find plenty of references to The Kinks' early days floating around the culture, whether via The Pretenders or Van Halen. Even The Raincoats! Maybe not on the level of The Beatles or The Stones, but younger fans were aware of their legacy, whether they were pop, metal or punk fans. It says something that such disparate fan bases could all agree on this.