Eastern Eyes Interestingly i first hear the purity of Dave's unstrained voice which was welcoming & surprisingly reminiscent of 60's Dave! I don't mind the flavour of this one and though it plods there are actual moments where music and voice remind me of Jeff Buckley on Grace which has near shocked me in an intriguing way.
Odd as it may sound Mark yes i can imagine Dave singinging Hit Me With Your Best Shot while dressed as Lola and inserting a sizeable Devo bridge!
Body Hmmmm...I've listened to this once, so take it for what it's worth, but I don't think I could grow to love this one. Between the lyrics and sound...not for me. "Study the genetic tapes." HUH?! Too Serious Very 80s sounding for sure. and the jam at the end is actually quite cool. I could picture myself in the 80s in a club being into this. But then you get to the lyrics and I'm like "HUH?!" (2.0). There's something here, but really not enough. Dave is kinda blowing my mind. and my BIG question is: did Ray ever listen to ANY of these songs? and if he did, what did he think?? Telepathy Dave was definitely absorbing the 80s. You could have slipped this onto my local radio station and I would not have blinked. I don't know if I'd say this is Devo, but definitely a club band that you may have heard in the 80s(in the US). It has some good elements, but still...something missing for me.
Not saying that anyone is wrong to wish for something...but personally, in regards to Ray, I do think there is a real issue there and to see him being a shell of himself would sadden me greatly. I mean, it's not all about me, but I think Ray is a pretty private person, believe it or not, and I doubt he wants to be remembered in a certain way. I don't want Ray OR Dave to feel pressure from fans to give us anymore. They've given us so much already and in my book, that's quite enough. Gracias, muchachos.
All credit to Dave for pursuing his own muse with these first 2 (and upcoming 3rd) solo albums by consciously or unconsciously (subconsciously?) steering away from a Kinks sound or approach. He obviously wished for commercial success with his own brand of material, but deep down he surely knew it was not to be for reasons others have pointed out in the thread with these first two albums. I appreciate his idiosyncratic approach to the arrangements of his material on these 3 albums. As @Luckless Pedestrian so ably points out, Dave uses a lot of odd time signatures and unusual bar counts for both verses and choruses alike. He uses 6/4 and 7/4 a lot and me being a prog drummer guy, I love this approach. My comments a couple of weeks ago about no one in the original band being able to read music were not meant to suggest they didn’t understand these odd times and phrases. My point was that despite not being “schooled” musicians who could read music, they came up with unusual and creative ways in this regard that an actual trained musician would not have or would actually frown upon and not do. The Beatles did the same thing. Lots of examples, but count the time signatures in each verse of “Across The Universe”. All three different to fit the words and melody John wrote, but I digress. What hinders Dave mostly is his lyrics are way too esoteric for most but I think this is by design. His vocals over the course of an entire album are an acquired taste, but Glamour is a friendlier mix of soft and grate. I can name several vocalists who are held in high esteem who grate even more to me but I won’t for fear of ruffling lots of feathers. He’s still learning and evolving as a writer and I think his later work shows a great deal of development, Rock ‘N’ Roll Cities notwithstanding. I’m not saying these are great albums. They’re not. But it took a lot of guts on Dave’s part to actually pursue this direction at that time so as I said all credit to him for trying something different.
Not Kinks related, but it’s been brought up as an aside a few times in the thread and happily with quite a few avid Aussies in the thread I’ll let you know that Australian Rules Football is finally back on American television this weekend after the negotiations between league and network got their act together. As someone who did not grow up with this game, I find it very fascinating. We had a somewhat similar game of this as kids here in the US we called Tackle The Man With The Ball. There was no scoring involved other than doing just that, tackling and pummeling whoever held the ball. No points were scored or counted, just a free for all .
Very cool... I have been occasionally watching some highlights on youtube... My Eagles are having possibly the worst year of their existence this year though lol Interestingly, here is an English fella explaining the rules of the game, and such
But what we are actually here for... (Sorry but I love my Aussie Rules, I played for about twelve years, and miss it a lot) Give the People What They Want Studio album by the Kinks Released 15 August 1981 (US) 15 January 1982 (UK) Recorded May 1979 – June 1981 Studio Konk Studios, London Genre Rock, pop Length 41:09 Label Arista Producer Ray Davies Produced by: Ray Davies Release date: 15 Jan, 1982 Record label & catalog #: Arista SPART 1171 Country: UK Format: 12" vinyl LP (album), 33 1/3 RPM Release type: Regular release Tracks: Side 1 1. Around The Dial stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 2. Give The People What They Want stereo mix, recorded Jun-Aug 1980 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 3. Killer's Eyes stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 4. Predictable stereo mix, recorded Apr 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 5. Add It Up stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London Side 2 1. Destroyer stereo mix (3:44), recorded May 1979, vocals overdubbed probably 1981 at Power Station, New York 2. Yo-Yo stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 3. Back To Front stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 4. Art Lover stereo mix (3:47), recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 5. A Little Bit Of Abuse stereo mix, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London 6. Better Things stereo mix (2:44), recorded Apr 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London Liner Notes: "Give the people what they want... We hope everybody gets what they deserve." Mick Avory - Drums Dave Davies - Lead Guitar, Vocals Ray Davies - Rhythm Guitar, Synthesizer, Piano, Lead Vocals Jim Rodford - Bass Ian Gibbons - Keyboards Chrissie Hynde – vocals on "Predictable", "Add It Up", "Art Lover" and "A Little Bit of Abuse" (uncredited) Produced by Ray Davies Engineered by Ben Fenner Recorded and Mixed at Konk Studios, North London Photography by Robert Ellis lettering by Hal Fiedler design by Neal Pozner The Kinks produce another great album, and The Kinks have issues, and plans that failed, and delays.... you know, all the stuff that goes on with the Kinks The album was released in August 1981 in the US, but in January 1982 in the UK and Europe. Apparently the delay was due to Ray wanting to produce a full length video album for this release, but the financing fell through .. somehow that always seems to happen with the Kinks... Here's what Ray had to say about the concept, whoops, I mean the idea of Give the People What They Want "The real inspiration for the title came from working in America when I was writing Low Budget, and being exposed to the media and watching TV 24 hours a day," Davies told Creem in a 1981 interview. "Watching all those shows like That's Incredible, where they use ordinary people. What happens is the consumer is being used to entertain, to get high ratings, to sell products to consumers. It was going around in a circle. That's a real con." Even more con-like has been the explosion of the reality TV show, where with minimal budgets we get shows that are just ordinary folks supposedly being filmed in ordinary situations, and it is sold like a tacky voyeurists dream.... and the people loved it... who are we people? what on earth is wrong with us? If you notice when most of this was recorded, it is generally between April and June of 1981. With two noticeable exceptions The title track was recorded June-August 1980 Destroyer May 1979 Obviously Destroyer was recorded during the Low Budget sessions... but Give the People What They Want Is Interesting, because it is just after the "Low Budget" tour, and it is over three months, which makes me wonder if they recorded anything else during that time. It's interesting to me because it and Schoolboy's are the only reissues with nothing in the line of extra tracks .... Anyway, I'm sure someone will come up with something I don't know about, but I'm doing my best here people. The singles were Predictable/ Back To Front (UK/Ireland) Art Lover/ Predictable (Aus/Netherlands) Destroyer/Better Things (Europe) Destroyer/ Back To Front (US/Can/NZ/Aus/Mexico) Better Things/Massive Reductions (UK/US/Can/Ire/Aus/Mex) Destroyer/Yo Yo (France) Destroyer/Killers Eyes (Mexico) Which seems a little scattershot to me, but as I have no natural feel for singles and why or where or what, that could just be me. What is interesting is Massive Reductions being on the b-side of Better Things ... and it is a different version than what is on Word Of Mouth ... It is the version we were going to look at on the Low Budget Outtakes ... so when we cover Better Things, we will look at Massive Reductions, because this version was actually released. The Focus will be Better Things, but for context, we'll throw in the b-side, because I already wrote it up anyway. When we get to Word Of Mouth, we will have all sorts of things to discuss anyhow, because surely it's odd to be a b-side from 1979/1981 on an album from 1984 It also seems extremely odd that anyone would release Art Lover as a single.... I'm still kind of scratching my head that it is on the album to be honest, but we'll see ...... perhaps it isn't what it seems... in fact I know it isn't..... Initially the album was going to be made as a statement on the media, and perhaps as we go through we will see remnants of this ... in fact I know we will .... Interestingly though, we have an album that somehow still seems to have somewhat of a theme ... a loose idea, but I still see it. We open with a song that is a tribute to a DJ, I can't seem to find any specific DJ, and there is every chance it isn't about a specific DJ, it could well be directed at the decline in radio and the more mainstream direction most radio was heading in..... I suppose also it could be seen as a suck up to try and get radio airplay.... but Ray doesn't seem to really lean that way. In three years time we would get, probably the most successful of these types of songs with Queen's Radio GaGa ... and the year before we had The Buggles, with Video Killed The Radio Star... There seems to be a theme lying around in the early eighties about the death of radio... Anyway all of that is just to say we open with a song about a favourite DJ being taken off the air ... does that somehow lead to Give The People What They Want? When corporations try to read into what the general vibe of the community is? Always seeming to forget that the satisfied majority are generally staying quiet .... Anyway we get the title track come in next and it is pretty straight forward Give The People What They Want.... and what is that? Give 'em lots of sex, perversion and rape Give 'em lots of violence, and plenty to hate Obviously here we can see the angle that this may have been aimed at the media... but it's what follows that's interesting to me, in terms of being somewhat thematic. The next song Ray seems to look into the eyes of a Killer. Then the monotonous misery of life. Then we have ulta-commercialism and a break up tied into one. Then we move into paranoia, and it leans towards schizophrenic type behaviour. Then we have the degeneration of relationships. Someone's world being turned inside out. One of Ray's strangest songs, and it is generally seen as being some kind of pedophelia song.... but just wait for that, because of course it isn't. Then spousal abuse.... It almost all seems to be somewhat of a taunt toward the idea of giving the people what they apparently want, and it almost leans towards denouncing that whole mentality as the perversion that it is. But as always with Ray he takes it somewhere... He closes out the album with one of his nicer tracks, and encourages the listener to be more optimistic and Better things may come of it. I'm not trying to look at the songs individually there.... but this is what struck me about the album when I started to look at it more closely. I haven't dived into the songs yet, so I may have some angles wrong, but on the surface, we seem to have this idea being knitted together that My DJ is gone... they have taken away this popular DJ, for no reason. We're supposed to Give The People What They Want, but we have decided like Roman Emperors in the times of The Coliseum, that the dirt and the lowest common denominator is what the people want ... and Ray dives in head first with this theme, and the songs have an attraction and repulsion going on, like many horror movies, and we kind of close out with this idea of, is this what you really want? because I hope tomorrow you'll find better things. The sound of this album is interesting... It has a sort of garagey sound. It sounds like it was recorded in a hotel room in some ways. A tight boxy kind of sound. I had always assumed that it was recorded straight after the One For The Road Tour, but that tour ended Dec 31st 1980.... but the band were doing shows around the UK and Ireland in April and May of 1981 when the sessions started... and that may speak to the energy that this album seems to have, and also perhaps why they were going for that sort of live in the studio kind of sound ... I guess also they may have been told that Low Budget wasn't live sounding enough.... although when you're looking at your biggest selling US album, that tells you something right there. Give The People What They Want charted at number 15 and was certified Gold in the US, and although State Of Confusion charted higher at 12, Give The People What They Want Was the last certification that the band got from the RIAA.... Personally I like the cover. We have Ray running past the spray painted wall... at a time when graffiti was seen as a huge problem in most places in the world. There is a minimalist quality to the cover, and the back cover that speaks somewhat to the sound inside. Stripped back and fairly raw. Ray is looking over his shoulder with his shades on.... somewhat like he is being chased by someone or something... I wonder if it is the demon of success that he is running away from? The back cover is just a different area with the same graffiti, and the songs offset at the side. Both front and back cover are set on an angle.... and it is appropriate, because the Kinks never quite line up with the rest of the world, even when they have apparently taken on some kind of popular form. I also wonder if Ray was somewhat stepping away from the success again, by included a song as controversial as Art Lover, intentionally making it sound like something it wasn't, and even having the audacity to release it as a single ... They are hard to understand, these Kinks. I'm expecting a wild variation in opinions on this album, but like every other Kinks album, it takes a few listens to fully reveal itself. .... and although I thought a few people may have come around to some of the Arista recordings, it seems that many/most just don't like the style that much, and can only find a few things here and there that appeal to them, and that's fine. I'm not sure if it is the stigma of the arena rock nonsense, or if it is the band pursuing a different road, but it seems to not be able to break through... and it seems like if the first three didn't, this one certainly won't..... but, who knows, it is still interesting to hear the broad spectrum of opinions, from the head scratchers to the fist pumpers, they all add to the conversation and flesh out what is going on with these albums. Personally I reckon this is a really good album, but it is also an album that I need to be in the right mood for. Topically and musically it is somewhat more abrasive, though it is probably more .... I don't know .... organic? So Give The Thread Folk What They Want and let us know how this 1981/82 Klassic Kinks album came across to you back in the day When did you first hear it? What did you reckon? What do you think at the moment? All that good stuff.... and we'll see where we end up at the end of it.
The first of the "Low Budget" album covers. Get a can of spray paint and write the album title across the wall outside Konk. Then get a photographer to take a picture and, while he is at it, take individual shots of the band members against a white sheet. An awful album cover equalled by the harsh sound of the album. It sounds like it was recorded in someone's bathroom and hurts my ears, which is a pity as the album contains some terrific tracks.
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 Aug 1974 Live At Cobo Hall Ray On Wonderworld The Kunks Ray on the Stones Compilations part 1 The Kinks (France 78) 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 - Cover analysis Opening/Hardway - Hardway video Catch Me Now I'm Falling - video Where Have All the Good Times Gone - video Lola - video Pressure - video All Day And All Of The Night - video 20th Century Man Misfits Prince Of The Punks Stop Your Sobbing Low Budget - video Attitude - video Superman - video National Health Till The End Of The Day Celluloid Heroes - video You Really Got Me - video Victoria - video David Watts Slum Kids 79 live July 1980 The Live EP - Promo EP 1980 Waterloo Sunset EP Live at the Palladium 1980 1981 The Kinks - What's It All About? Jul 1981 Dave Davies Glamour Is This The Only Way? Glamour Reveal Yourself World Of Our Own Body Too Serious Telepathy 7th Channel Eastern Eyes Aug 1981 Give The People What They Want 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 Ian Gibbons Andy Pyle Gordon Edwards Clive Davis
Give the People What They Want Well, we’re a long way from Misfits and that was a mere three years ago. Seems like a different century, and a different band, for that matter. I can trace my fandom back to this album, more specifically, to 17 July, 1982. You see, I caught the Kinks on SNL, as possibly some of you had, but my exposure was to the repeat broadcast over the summer. My last summer before beginning high school. Home on a warm Saturday night, twelve years old, in pajama shorts, on the couch with my mom watching SNL, as you do. This was the second show of the seventh season. The episode Eddie Murphy debuted his Buckwheat character. Next week would feature George Kennedy and Miles Davis. As with any watershed moment in life, you look back and wonder how it happened, how did everything that needed to go right; so many elements have to align. Of course timing is key. As we discussed regarding Dave solo lp’s, would we give them a chance if it wasn’t him? Looking back on the Kinks SNL performance, I cringe at how ridiculous Ray acts on stage, amateurish, really. I know scissor kicks and splits were de riguer then, but that jump when the song had already ended would have been mocked by me a few years hence, and rightly so. And the mawkish faces he pulls during Art Lover are excruciating. I wonder what Chrissie made of those two performances, being the too-cool-for-school ice queen she was/is. Ray was pandering in a way she never would, and quite frankly, in a way he never would. I don’t recall ever seeing him act so desperately to be liked. But somehow I was hooked, even mom thought he was ‘handsome’. That night I thought Destroyer was electric but through the years all I notice is Dave looks and sounds uninterested. Much better is the Kinks next SNL appearance in 1984 where they look, move, and sound perfect. So maybe this isn’t so much the timestamp of my fandom, more the date I took notice of them. Buying GTPWTW at PathMark the following week was another step, and delving into their classic albums cemented matters and made me a fan for life. So, it’s 1981 and the Kinks get back to working at the factory in Hornsey. The former biscuit factory known as Konk studios, that is. Though this album’s placement usually finds itself middle of the pack (of all Kinks releases) I have strong positive feelings for every song but one. I feel (fear) I know every fiber of that album cover and sleeve. I don’t know how the rest of the band felt about not being included on the cover (it looks like Ray doing a solo) but Ray dashing off after ostensibly tagging the wall is a total knockout. I used to have such an unquenchable desire to play and replay Destroyer that I unconsciously began thinking of side two as side one. ps. I don’t know if this is strange or not, but for my first few years as a Kinks fan, I didn’t buy any other artist’s album’s as I considered it a conflict of interest. Sure, I listened to and enjoyed a lot of different music, but owning another album seemed like infidelity. It wasn’t until 1986 that I got around that peccadillo. And who did I cheat on them with? Album by Public Image Limited, Skylarking by XTC, and The Queen is Dead by the Smiths. Three bands never far from a playlist of any kind. After that the gates opened up forever. Oh monogamy, up yours!
I love this album: I'm repeating what I've said before, but Low Budget comes across to me like as almost-but-not-quite-there dry run for The Kinks remade as an completely versatile and relevant rock band for the 80s. Low Budget (to me anyway) is still a bit too second guessing, too trying on other people's hats without full conviction: it's also still the fag end of the seventies, a bit of a less dynamic Jimmy Carter fuel crisis rut whereas with GTPWTW, WHAM, we're here, now it really is the 80s lets go and take it on completely on our terms: I think it might be the most contemporarily relevant record The Kinks ever made, in that it seems completely fit for purpose for the concerns and mood of the times without losing any of The Kinks essential essence: in fact it applies the core strengths of The Kinks brilliantly to the emergent milieu: the new conservatism and pragmatism of the Reagan/Thatcher era, that kind of 'those silly dreams are over, now it's snout to the grindstone and get yours while you can cos life's a b*tch but there's nothing else to hope for' attitude. (Another record that reflects that change in a comparable though different way is Utopia's 'Swing To The Right'), with the harsh and sudden demise of John Lennon in late 1980 setting the tone for the times for his surviving peers facing this brutal new landscape. In a weird way this record reminds me of Muswell Hillbillies in that across it's tracks it deals with a lot of different troubles of the human condition, except this time the stakes are even higher, reflecting the harsh 'reality bites' tone the of the moment: as well as the more workaday miseries comparable to the concerns of that decade earlier disc of mass media exploitation, personal ennui and financial/relationship woes, you have some unprecedentedly REALLY heavy topics being explored in the shape of murderers, paedophilia and domestic abuse, however what pushes this record over from just being a competitive tilt at staying afloat in hard times into being a bit of a masterwork imo is that (with some qualifications) these deadly serous and controversial themes are dealt with with the rare humanity and care that is the trademark of Ray Davies very best, top tier songwriting. Most of the reviews I've read of this record online are complete trash: heavy metal/sell out/bad sound blah blah. Yeah we get it guys, you didn't give it a proper listen and tuned out 2 songs in. A lot of the reviews don't even mention 'Better Things', which you'd think would at least merit an uptick for those only tuned into the classic 60s stuff. Their loss: this is imo one of The Kinks best ever LPs and at least as worthy of eulogisation and extended immersion as the aforementioned Hillbillies. Can't wait to get stuck into the track by track.
I'm not entirely convinced this is true. It's obvious on "Add it Up," but not the others. I know this info is from the wikipedia page, but that place is dangerous for inaccurate information posted by people sometimes making guesses rather than passing along verifiable information. Yes, Ray and Chrissie were spending a lot of time together...but is there an actual source that she is on all these tracks? The wikipedia entry doesn't cite one. I suspect it's made up by a fan making assumptions, but will be happy to be proven wrong.
I have no idea. Wikipedia is hit and miss... sometimes intentionally modified to distribute misinformation and change narratives... I try and reference as many sources as I can find for balance. I put that in there, because it was interesting, and assume folks here will set us straight.
I've written my review, but won't be able to post it until I get home this evening. I'm sure you can all wait for it
