Ray gave the people what they want, as long as those people were Ray. I think it is as finished as he wanted it to be. I think having polished the last three albums up, he wanted this to be an uncut jewel, and for me that's one of the things that makes it work
Damn, and they interviewed Bill Wyman, the Hollies and Sandie Shaw too! Another TOTP missed opportunity.. the very final edition in 2006.. was meant to be 23/07/2006 but Jimmy Savile couldn't attend due to a prior engagement so they delayed the final edition by a week to 30/07/06 so Savile, the presenter of the very first edition could also wrap it up 42 years later.. but.. now get this.. the UK No.1 for 30/07/2006 was Shakira ft: Wyclef Jean's 'Hips Don't Lie', an unceremonious, workaday slab of Latin Pop that they had to play the video for on that last show as the artists were too internationally famous/busy/big to get on the show... but if they'd snubbed Savile and had the final edition on the 23rd, the No.1 would have been UK teenybop group McFly (who they almost certainly could have got to appear in studio) 's cover of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'.. in retrospect, how much better would the final TOTP have been to have played out with a live performance of the very appropriately themed Queen classic than a non-exclusive playback of a video you could see on any music channel followed by a sign off by what later turned out to be a disgraced serial sex offender? I know, I know, hindsight is everything... I'll just pretend this appearance (from a few weeks earlier) was how it ended..
I'm kinda disappointed to learn that 'Better Things' was apparently originally written sarcastically.. I did not know that. If that's the case, I think it's fair to say that the end product ultimately transcended it's initial inspiration, by several light years. Almost like Ray's sheer songwriting talent couldn't help but transmute's the man's personal bitterness into.. well, someThing Better.
I was near to howling with your refraining from violence towards your blue tooth speaker due to John Bon Jovi's krucifying kink kover konundrum kontroversy!
I think that like many of Ray’s best songs, BT can be understood to be either sincere or sardonic or both. His ambivalence is his calling card!
I was nine years old when that show was broadcast and would have enjoyed watching it, yet retrospectively what leaps out at me is the proximity of Savile to "Little Children". Part of my childhood died, just died, indeed.
It's really good to see you rocking out And having fun, Better Things Bottom line up front: this is a super elite Kinks song. Devastatingly beautiful. @ARL said it "almost brings a tear to your eye." The only problem i have with that statement is the word "almost." How can you not love a song that kicks off with "Here's wishing you the bluest skies"? Okay, kids, you want to know how to make a song full of sweet sentiment without pandering or being cloying? Well, here it is, right at the end of this otherwise largely troubling album. Completing the package are perfectly aligned melodies, backing music, and vocal delivery. The word "genius" is often thrown around too casually un music discussion, but here it actually seems rather inadequate.
Better Things - A great and fitting finale - the Kinks really did go on to better things. This is the kind of track that is the light at the end of the tunnel. The title reminds me of another optimistically titled album closer, Genesis' "It's gonna get better", although in their case it didn't really, at least artistically... The album "Give The People What They Want": I keep forgetting how annoying this album turns out to be every time I decide to play it. I know it since twenty years. The first track is such an enthusiastic rush that I turn it up real loud, and it does sound great. Very soon I realize that there is very little melody over the next few songs. Some songs like the title track strike me as very dumb, deliberately maybe, but still. And that "we invented heavy metal, so there" attitude is becoming increasingly annoying. "Killer's Eyes" has some dramatic promise that is only fulfilled in later ballads Still, next to "Better Things" it's my favourite track here. "Predictable" is an old favourite, because of the video. But once Add It Up comes up the album ultimately turns sour for me, until it is salvaged by the breezy "Better Things".
Just a slight curveball... Massive Reductions comes up on the Word Of Mouth album, but it was the b-side of the Better Things single.... This is a different version, and I am not sure if it is the same as, or comes from the Low Budget demo or not, but this is the original version, as released in time, and we'll look at the Word Of Mouth version when we get there... Don't feel the need to go too in depth if you want to save it for Word Of Mouth..... I've been tossing up how to deal with this track that could have been on three different sections of the thread, but .... here we go I guess. Massive Reductions. stereo mix, original version, recorded 20-30 May, 1979 (backing track), Jun 1979 (vocals) at Power Station, New York (backing track), Blue Rock Studios, New York (vocals) I've been sacrificed in the name of the company, I've been victimized for the sake of the economy. I had a big house, a big car, Expense account and credit cards, But now look what they've done to me. They're making massive reductions, It's all mass production and assembly lines. They're making massive reductions, Massive reductions. They're laying me off all because of inflation, I'm losing my job and my reputation. Good-bye my big house, my big car. Now it's all up to welfare, I hear that everybody's going there. They're making massive reductions, Massive reductions to stay alive. Whoa, they're making massive reductions. Good-bye my big house, my big car, Now it's all up to welfare, I hear that everybody's going there. They're making massive reductions, Massive reductions to stay alive. Whoa, they're making massive reductions. Written by: Ray Davies Published by: Davray Music, Ltd. The first thing that strikes me about the verses here is they have a sort of Summertime Blues feel and phrasing about them.... The song isn't the same, but it sort of feels similar in its structure. The sound, feel and lyrics here would have fit onto Low Budget pretty well as far as I can hear. Lyrically we have a song about someone being laid off from their job. It sort of lines up with Most Exclusive Residence For Sale, and again we have a sort of allusion to Sunny Afternoon. I reckon Ray's lyrics pretty clearly point out where he is going with this one. He has been laid off, and he had all this stuff, but now he is going to have to get rid of it, because he won't be able to afford it all. The idea that the company is streamlining and getting rid of the excess employees to increase profit. We also get a reference to the idea of creating a dependent welfare state also. I don't think we have too much to look at with the lyrics. They seem pretty straightforward to me. Musically it is interesting that this song seems to be somewhat synth driven. We open with a sort of synth bass pulse, and then instead of a wall of power guitars at the beginning we get a very eighties sounding synth wall that has the guitar there to back it up. It kind of sounds like Ray had put this together on his own? and then got the band to drop in their bits. I think the bass and drums do a good job here, and of course Dave is right on the money too. Interestingly to me, the whole track sounds like it has a sort of flanger sound through it, and I'm not sure if it is the wash of the synth track, or the guitar perhaps.... as sometimes when you use a flanger, it seems to mesh with the music around it, and create a sort of sound swirl of sorts. The song has a kind of upbeat feel.... It sort of sounds like it could have been in an eighties movie soundtrack to some degree.... but at the same time, it kind of sounds like a mid eighties track, rather than a late seventies track. Although there are several of these extra tracks, and I actually like them quite a bit.... I don't think I would change any of the album tracks out, because the album is too cohesive to mess with too much. From memory, this is the song that seems most likely to fit with the album, and it could certainly go in there without causing too much of an issue. As I say, these extra tracks are completely new to me. The Picture Book set is a bit more than I can afford at the moment, and so prior to getting the info that these are part of the story here, I had never heard of them. So I have tried to smash in a few listens to get a feel for them. I look forward to hearing other folks' opinions on them.
Q. How unhip was my high school? A. One student very seriously pointed out to me that the Uncanny X-Men were a far better act than The Rolling Stones!
Interesting b-side, never heard it before so thank you. Was hoping it would do more for me than the version released a few years later but it just sounds like generic new wave. Ah well.
Better Things: In many ways, a follow-up to "Days," expressing similar emotions. "Days" focuses more on someone who is gone but has given the song's narrator impetus to go on living. "Better Things" seems to emphasize the future more, slightly acknowledging that something bad or a bad spell has passed, and it's time to move on. BT bears the lightness of the future and Days bears the heaviness of someone gone. Either way, they convey the best Ray has to offer. As others have noted, this didn't seem to play into Ray's darker-hued nature, but all the more reason to love these songs. I always go back to Van Morrison as someone whom I suspect conveys his higher self in his music ... and may be no picnic in real life. I don't know either of these guys and therefore only get the music. I'm sure there are sites out there listing where "Better Things" has appeared in TV shows and movies, but I feel like I've heard it countless times in each. The album in general: I loved it at the time and still think it's pretty good. That opening blast of "Around the Dial" announced something new was happening. It wasn't punk or new wave, nor was it heavy metal or hard rock. It was The Kinks taking their early, more-rocking sound and gearing it to a decidedly younger audience, on the assumption that plenty of older fans would be along for the ride. Just look at those concert videos posted when they capture scenes of the crowd, particularly that one teenage guy in a black-sleeved concert t-shirt rocking out, proudly displaying his peach-fuzz mustache. That was the crowd I first encountered in early 1982 at Stabler Arena, late high school to college age ... not indicative of a band with its root in the 60s British Invasion. But the same was also true of The Stones and The Who. It seemed like they had to find ways to change it up and keep things moving forward. Art Lover Addendum: This occurred to me later: "Young Girls" by Sparks. In the early 80s, I got into Sparks in real time with their Angst in My Pants album - if The Kinks were leaning towards a younger audience, Sparks fully embraced them with their ironic synth pop. I had always been aware of them but had never fully explored their catalog. (Oddly, my first real encounter with them had been as the "rock band in an amusement park" in the awful 1977 thriller, Rollercoaster.) The irony in "Young Girls" is so in-your-face that it's hard, if not impossible, to take seriously, all to the tune of a perfect Europop sound. You expect this from Sparks. This works for me now, although, as others have noted, I wouldn't recommend putting it on a mix CD for guys with daughters!
Better Things Now we get to what I remember and loved best about this album! This is a great song. It stands up with the best Kinks songs from their classic era. It is one that would be in my running for the Kinks all time top 10 songs. The guitar, the vocals, the lyrics-everything is fantastic. A song that can make me smile or cry or maybe even sort of do both at the same time. I heard this on the radio a couple times and was hoping it would go top 40, but then again most of my favorite Kinks singles of the late 60's weren't top 40 in the US either. This song alone elevates the album ahead of some other albums that it is otherwise fairly comparable to. And "better things" were to come for the Kinks, commercially at least, on the next album!
"Massive Reductions" is not a particular favourite of mine - I think the version on Word of Mouth sounds strangely dated compared to the rest of the album. This earlier version takes some interesting turns in the middle which were removed from the later version, but I don't think it would particularly fit on, or enhance either Low Budget or GTPWTW. It was probably best suited for State Of Confusion!
Recorded during the Low Budget sessions but not released until 1981 on this UK B-side. Has not been released anywhere else since, so unavailable on CD. Never released in the US. Unlike the 1984 version, Mick is on drums and Ray on keys. Several differences but the most obvious in this version is the extra bridge section and the extra lyrics with the vocal "Once I had expense accounts..." starting at 1:54 until 2:37 were not retained for the later 1984 version. The drum pattern in the chorus here goes to half time, the later 84 version stays in quarter time. All told, I prefer the 1984 version. I like those later synths better and Henrit's drumming better.
"Better Things": I just used this song to cheer up a dear friend of mine who's in a sad situation in a foreign land by sending her a YouTube thingie of it. A ramshackle, noisier nephew of "Days", what it lacks in subtlety is more than made up by the heart of the lyrics. If Ray wrote it w/sarcasm in his mind, well the Turtles also wrote "Eleanor" w/sarcastic intent and look what happened. A perfect album closer, especially after an album full of people in painful situations. You got to have a little bit of hope. Give The People What They Want is a good album. I do prefer it to Low Budget because to me it sounds more diversified whereas Low Budget sounds a bit monochromatic to me as a whole despite the differences in the songs. There's more good stuff coming up, especially a late career Top 10 hit. Finally, Avid Ajsmith, at least the TOTP people did have a bit of sense to have the Kinks on for the 30th Anniversary of "You Really Got Me":
Yeah Ray miscalculated with that one. That one line is cringe worthy but, otherwise, the lyrics are pretty good.
Surprised we didn’t get any alternate mixes, outtakes from the album when it was reissued. I guess the well was dry or Ray was saving material for the next album. I do wonder if Dave had songs in the can that could have been included. There was that long stretch where Dave didn’t contribute to any Kinks album as a songwriter, single b-sides, etc. because he was concentrating on his solo career at the same time. It’s too bad because, while Dave ism’t as consistent, he always contributed gems.
