The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

Could have been. I haven't got to the next album yet. If it was released ahead of the album, then ignore my comment ... I just quickly looked at the recording time period.
It's been all rush this week, I haven't had time to scratch myself

 

Yeah, 'Come Dancing' was first released in the UK in 1982 and flopped:it only became a UK hit the next summer when it was re-released due to it's US success.

 

I knew Sprog, Sheila & Plonk & guessed the Smoogin' one about pitching woo, the rest left me clueless.

 

Destroyer

This is another cut on this album that I don’t really care for. I was familiar with it from hearing it on the radio, and liked it even less then. I may have softened my opinion a little now, and don’t mind it as much in the context of the album. Since I was not a big fan of Low Budget, it doesn’t surprise me that my least favorite tracks on GTPWTW had their origins there. Like some others, I’m not too keen on the meta-ness of this song. I’m not generally opposed to self referential songs, I love Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes, for example, which feels like an organic progression from Space Oddity to me. I certainly don’t begrudge Ray wanting to have hits, but would much have preferred he come up with something more original to do that. When it was released, Lola wasn’t quite like anybody else’s song, and if I’m feeling paranoid, I’d much rather sing along to Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues.

 

The sheila squeezed out her sprog and then skulled a bottle of plonk


Is smoogin' a pre-curser to snoggin?

 

“Destroyer”

I was going to just call this a day off for me, but I had three pages of comments to read about it this morning!

This is one of the most grating and annoying songs in their entire catalogue. I have not listened to it this morning, but I have successfully skipped this song for over 25 years. I don’t like the recycled riff or Ray’s vocal.

 

Destroyer:

I am all in on this song. Nobody complained when they repurposed the YRGM riff into ADAAON and a few others in the 60s, and, in fact, we (mostly) all applauded. And why not, it’s Dave’s riff, a shot heard round the world as far as riffery (tm pending) was concerned and meanwhile, everyone else has been busy stealing the Kinks’ riffs for decades. We have seen over and over in this thread where the kinks come up with some clever riff or sound that could be argued effectively created entire genres such as heavy-metal, power pop, new wave etc. in its wake. Others can steal those riffs and retool them into an entire career, yet the kinks cannot take their own creations and remodel them into their own new song?

…and to all the cries of “sellout “I say BS! They are a rock band for chrissakes, their job is to entertain people and sell records. And let us not forget, this is how they started, as a rock band. They went off into all sorts of crazy excursions, creating new sounds, innovating, and, at the time very few people followed them. In retrospect, we have seen how groundbreaking these sounds were, but let’s be honest, they were somewhat career suicide too. What’s wrong with going back to the way they started, revisiting a sound that they had a major hand in creating, a sound that people loved, and updating it for new generations. As a 16 year old, the first time I heard Destroyer on the radio, it rocked my world, and based on album sales and radio play, many others feel the same way. …and I was no neophyte,, I understood what the rifff was and that it was being reused, but it just sounded like a clever updated sound to me.

Luckless pedestrian hit the nail on the head above when he said this was just YRGM and Lola re-tooled for a new generation, and I’m here to say my generation liked it. …a lot! For me, this is one of several favorites on the record and I applaud the kinks for doing this song!

 

And Ray references the All Day riff at least once more in The Man Upstairs, one of the spoken word interludes on his Americana album in 2017. This time he sings girl I want to be with you somewhat forlornly, and gives the riff a stiff strum on an acoustic guitar. Then he reflects on the difficulty of keeping a relationship going after the excitement of a tour is over - at this point, what is it 50 years after the initial version, it triggers an old man to look back at his life experiences. From my perspective, this riff carries along with it a lot of meaning which is magnified when it reappears in a new context ; it's clearly important to Ray and serves like a touchstone across a long career.

 

I’ll look forward to hearing this.

 

Destroyer

George did a "sequel" to Here Comes the Sun and the Ramones repurposed Judy & Jackie and I disliked both. A number of bands from the 60s/70s did versions of the same thing "hey, remember this thing you used to love, well we're doing it again, except with BIG DRUMS and MODERN STUDIO SWEETENING." Again, not a fan.

On top of that, the few scraps of this song I heard back when it was a hit disgusted me on an @Vangro level.

But I have sort of reverse version of the thing a couple of the other people here have -- no interest in this song since it was released, loving it now.

And it's a rare song I don't feel any need to deconstruct musically or lyrically. It just purely rocks.

& I've either gotten used to the shouting/barking thing or I actually kind of like it.

Wife & kids like the song too, which gives it gold standard status (playable in the house or car).

 

Add It Up - I'm sorry, but this song really annoys me. The childlike melody doesn't impress me at all, Ray makes it too easy for himself here. And that New Wave style sounds so desperate as you can hear in Ray's voice, he's a bit too old for that...suddenly.

Destroyer - After the initial shock of plagiarizing himself, this one is not bad at all. Some reckless hard rock emphasized by an electric organ of all things.

 

This is from German (or I should say West German, back in those days) television show Bayern III recorded in Munich Dec 8, 1981 and broadcast Dec 31, 1981. In November, they had cancelled their entire European tour except for two dates in Ireland with a "Dave Davies ill" line given, hence his absence for this TV lip sync appearance. Dave later said in his autobiography he was suffering from depression and could not cope with another tour at this time. He went away to north Devon for some time alone.

Unreleased acetate version with a few extra choruses at the end that ended up being edited off.
For those folks here that do not like some of the songs so far, Ray did you a favor by shortening some of these a few seconds .


Destroyer

I had a friend back in the 90s who couldn't stand this song due to the ADAOTN riff. He said Ray had run out of ideas and was shamelessly ripping himself off to try catch a quick hit. I tried to take the diplomatic route and explained that it was intentional and that it fit with the lyric due to it's up and down sort of schizophrenic chord pattern and that the guy in the song was paranoid 24 hours a day, or All Day And All Of The Night. The scattershot keyboards mimicking the voices bouncing around his head. But my friend wasn't buying it.
I'm not aware of Ray ever addressing this or commenting one way or the other about his thought process here. Of course, I may have this entirely wrong in which case I'm starting to feel a little paranoid myself now.

 

• Supersonic Rocket Ship (Alternate Version) (Original Mix)
• Celluloid Heroes (Mono Mix)
• Moving Pictures (Alternate Mix)

If we cover this comp on a Sunday down the road, I can go into more details. The two alternates above are quite different from the album versions.
Since none of these are on YouTube, my plan was to rip these and upload them myself and share here then. I just downloaded some software to do this a couple of weeks ago and am figuring out how to do it. I have one song ready now, but not any of these three.

This comp also holds the distinction of being the first to compile all three label eras into one package - Pye, RCA, Arista. This was done by then-Kinks manager Larry Page working with Konk Studios. They obviously provided the wrong masters for these tracks so we end up with some extra goodies.

 

I forgot to mention I had a long dream last night where I met Mick Avory at a pub. I kept asking him Kinks questions and told him about this thread. He was impressed that we have been discussing every Kinks song for over a year. I also tried to get a good photo of us together, so I could post it on here. I don't ever get a break from The Kinks even when I am sleeping!

Thanks to @mark winstanley for taking on this monumental task and putting so much thought and effort into it. I feel like we are reaching the end, but there is probably another year to go? I may be off, but I count 18-20 more albums including solo and live albums!

 

First, two off-topic comments: I listened to the Lola album for the first time yesterday and was delighted to find that all three of the Kinks tracks ("Strangers", "This Time Tomorrow" and "Powerman") used in one of my favorite films, The Darjeeling Limited, all came from this album.

Re: "Mr. Pleasant." Was Ray going for a Kurt Weill "Bilbao Song"-type tune here?

OK, onto "Destroyer." I had dipped my toe into rock/pop/AOR music in late 1980 when I started collecting Electric Light Orchestra albums (I was otherwise a film music collector at that point) and then, after the terrible murder of John Lennon, I started hearing all of these Beatles tunes on the radio that I hadn't realized were all by the Beatles (along with the few Beatles tracks I already knew about) so I was intrigued enough to start collecting their albums during early 1981. This goes to show how I, already at 15, was still a babe in the woods when it came to rock music. So I didn't even know about the Kinks and many other groups until I started reading references to them in Beatles books. (One writer said that the music-hall "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was kinky as well as "Kink-y.)

"Destroyer" was played incessantly on AOR radio that autumn. I think I had heard "You've Really Got Me" and "Lola" by then so I got the musical and lyrical references to them, but "Destroyer" was my first excited taste of The Kinks. Interesting to read the posted lyrics. I always thought it was "Paranoia will destroy ya" rather than "Paranoia, the destroyer"!

I regret to say that I never got into the Kinks like I did say, the Who, David Bowie, etc; I've had patches where I listen to one of their albums here and there. (I cherish Village Green, own and like Preservation Part 2, and "Come Dancing" was one of my top singles of 1983), but it's only now, thanks to this thread, that I'm exploring more of their albums and getting deeper into their cuts. Everybody's in Showbiz has been playing regularly in my CD player all of this month - all of it brand-new for me. I'm finally getting Kinky after 40 years! (Wait, that came out wrong....hahaha.)

 

A little bonus for Saturday night: looks like the ‘Lincoln County’ promo video that I lamented has been removed from YouTube way back when is back up! Have you seen this @FJFP ?

EDIT: we’ll it looks like I can’t embed it, but the link should at least work…

 

I'll help you out Mark: I think The Don Lane Show was done live at 9.30 pm in two of the eastern states - which was only 6.30 pm in WA where you were. And always 1955 in Qld where I was.

 

!

lol
That might be what happened ... It's a long time ago.... My folks might have just not liked Don Lane....? Who knows lol

 

Some more of our compilations

1981

Best Of The Kinks.




Lola 4:05
Dead End Street 3:17
Death Of A Clown 3:11
A Well Respected Man 2:40
Till The End Of The Day 2:18
You Really Got Me 2:13
Apeman 3:52
Sunny Afternoon 3:32
Waterloo Sunset 3:12
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 2:59
Dandy 2:09
Set Me Free 2:11

The Best Of.



Lola
Dead End Street
Till The End Of The Day
Wonderboy
Set Me Free
Starstruck
Days
A Well Respected Man
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
Mr. Pleasant
Waterloo Sunset
Autumn Almanac
You Really Got Me
All Day And All Of The Night
Tired Of Waiting For You
Death Of A Clown
Dandy
Sunny Afternoon

 

Same thought, but it's interesting how many of the terms in that story have disappeared. I'd say the few words in that story that have stuck through successive generations are dinkum (or the question, fair dinkum?), the billy (any kettle), pommy (English) and yakka for hard outdoor work (accounting or lawyering doesn't count, no matter how many consecutive hours you do it). But don't listen to me, hear it from one of our leading professors of slang. I know I posted this a few hundred pages ago, but some people weren't around then

 

1981 cont.

Hit Station.



Lola
Tired Of Waiting For You
All Day And All Of The Night
Till The End Of The Day
Waterloo Sunset
Wait Till The Summer Comes Along
You Really Got Me
Dead-End Street
Wonder Boy
A Well Respected Man
Sunny Afternoon
I Gotta Move


Spotlight On The Kinks.



You Really Got Me2:14
Till The End Of The Day2:23
Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy2:20
Set Me Free2:15
See My Friends2:47
All Day And All Of The Night2:27
Tired Of Waiting2:33
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion3:03
David Watts2:41
Victoria3:38
Susannah's Still Alive2:25
Mr Pleasant2:58
Sunny Afternoon3:34
Dead End Street3:22
Stop Your Sobbin'2:07
Death Of A Clown3:04
Well Respected Man2:44
Waterloo Sunset3:15
Lola4:06Ape Man3:55
Wonderboy2:52
Plastic Man3:06
Autumn Almanac3:13
Days2:56

 

1981 cont...

Best Of.



Lola 4:01
Dandy 3:30
Apeman 3:50
A Well Respected Man 2:40
You Really Got Me 2:13
All Day And All Of The Night 2:20
Tired Of Waiting For You 2:30
See My Friends 2:42
Waterloo Sunset 3:15
Sunny Afternoon 3:32
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 2:58
Days 2:55
Till The End Of The Day 2:18
Victoria 3:26
Dead-End Street 3:20
Set Me Free 2:10


The Kinks.



A1 Lola 4:05
A2 Dead End Street 3:17
A3 Death Of A Clown 3:11
A4 A Well Respected Man 2:40
A5 Till The End Of The Day 2:18
A6 You Really Got Me 2:13

B1 Apeman 3:52
B2 Sunny Afternoon 3:32
B3 Waterloo Sunset 3:12
B4 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 2:59
B5 Dandy 2:09
B6 Set Me Free 2:11

C1 All Day And All Of The Night 2:20
C2 Animals In The Zoo 2:21
C3 Starstruck 2:21
C4 Shangri-La 5:18
C5 Village Green Preservation Society 2:48
C6 People Take Pictures Of Each Other 2:13

D1 Sittin' On My Sofa 3:00
D2 Don't You Fret 2:42
D3 Autumn Almanac 3:08
D4 Louie Louie 2:56
D5 Look For Me Baby 2:12
D6 Afternoon Tea 3:25

E1 Tired Of Waiting For You 2:29
E2 I Need You 2:25
E3 The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains 4:11
E4 Little Miss Queen Of Darkness 3:16
E5 Party Line 2:33
E6 I Gotta Move 2:24

F1 See My Friends 2:42
F2 Tin Soldier Man 2:51
F3 Mr Pleasant 2:56
F4 Plastic Man 3:01
F5 Sitting By The Riverside 2:23
F6 Phenomenal Cat 2:37

 

1982

Lola.





Lola
House In The Country
Little Miss Queen Of Darkness
Dandy
Rosy Won't You Please Come Home
David Watts
Afternoon Tea
Love Me TIll The Sun Shines
Gods Children
Animals In The Zoo
Apeman
Situation Vacant
Harry Rag
Sitting By The RIverside
Death Of A Clown
The Last Of The Steam-powered Trains
Two Sisters
Rainy Day In June
Wonder Boy
The Village Green Preservation Society

 

1982 cont.

The Kinks.



You Really Got Me 2:13
Deadend Street 3:18
Lola 4:01
All Day And All Of The Night 2:22
Autumn Almanac 3:10
Susannah's Still Alive 2:20
Mr. Pleasant 2:53
Apeman 3:50
Victoria 3:39
Sunny Afternoon 3:32
Death Of A Clown 3:04
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 2:58
Days 2:54
Waterloo Sunset 3:15
Tired Of Waiting For You 2:30
Dandy 2:09

100 Minutes Of Kinks.





A1 Waterloo Sunset
A2 Tired Of Waiting
A3 Death Of A Clown
A4 Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
A5 Sunny Afternoon
A6 Sittin' On My Sofa
A7 Days
A8 Apeman
A9 David Watts
A10 Autumn Almanac
A11 Love Me Till The Sun Shines
A12 A Well Respected Man
A13 Victoria
A14 Mr. Pleasant
A15 Susannah's Still Alive
A16 Dandy
A17 Wonderboy

B1 You Really Got Me
B2 All Day And All Of The Night
B3 Set Me Free
B4 Stop Your Sobbin'
B5 Dead End Street
B6 Till The End Of The Day
B7 Louie Louie
Written-By – Richard Berry
B8 Beautiful Delilah
Written-By – Chuck Berry
B9 Long Tall Shorty
Written-By – Don Covay, Herb Abramson
B10 I Need You
B11 Dancing In The Street
Written-By – Gay*, Stevenson*
B12 Where Have All The Good Times Gone
B13 Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
B14 You Shouldn't Be Sad
B15 Revenge
Written-By – Larry Page
B16 Just Can't Go To Sleep
B17 Something Better Beginning
B18 See My Friends
B19 Don't Ever Change
B20 Lola

 

Some interesting compiles amongst that lot. I have no idea of the quality, but that triple album looks like a really good set of songs