The Kinks "Lola" question

Lola Question

What is the best copy of Lola by the Kinks? The best stereo copy with the origional "coca-cola" lyrics...?


Discuss.

Post.

Thanks!

 

I have a 2 CD compilation on Edel taken from the Castle masters with the Coca-Cola version of Lola.

 

Personally, I prefer the 'cherry cola' mono 45 version, but that's just me...the old PRT LOLA VS. POWERMAN CD has the 'coca-cola' version in stereo.

ED

 

Re: Lola Question

Well any CD version of the complete Lola album will have the "coca cola" version.

The "cherry cola" single version will usually be found on compilations.

The Essential CD from 1998 is OK and pretty easy to find cheaply. Sound is comparable to the rarer PRT. It has the stereo coca cola version.

 

The Kinks Kronicles or Lola & Powrman - Reprise, USA: Coca-Cola.
The Kinks Compleat Kinks - Cherry Cola.

 

Bill-
As far as fidelity goes, The Kinks Ultimate Collection (2002 Sanctuary) 2 disc set sounds best to me. I think they did a very nice job mastering this (especially compared to the shrill and virtually lacking in bass 1998 Essential discs) Some online U.K. retailers can get it to you, shipped, for about $15.00. If you don't have it, pick it up--you won't be disappointed.

 

Have you actually heard the 1998 Essential Lola CD, or are you just making an assumption based on the Essential Something Else and Village Green?

I think the 1998 Essential Lola and Arthur discs are quite acceptable.

 

Hi Peter--Actually, I have not heard the 1998 Essential Lola disc. I have all of the others and, honestly, I was disappointed with (nearly) all of them. The extra songs are a nice touch but the sound just left me cold (with the exception of "Arthur"). If the Lola disc does sound good (and if you say it does, I will certainly pick it up), then my above statement should be amended. I will say that the majority of those (1998) discs suffer from far too much high end, not enough low end and virtually no mid range. The Ultimate Collection disc (IMO) features superior mastering compared with all of the corresponding cuts on the 1998 Essential series.

 

As does The Kinks Singles Collection.

 

I agree with you. The rest of the Essential discs, save for Arthur were disappointing. Lola is about on a par with Arthur, but probably not quite as warm. That same difference was evident on my original LPs from recollection. I still wouldn't get too excited about it though, but it's probably as good as it's going to get.

Unlike the other Essential discs, there are only 3 bonus tracks on the Lola disc, the only interesting one being the alternative Apeman. The "cherry cola" Lola (in mono I think) is also a bonus track.

 

If you mean this one it's compiled from the 1998 Essential remasters.

 

Lola Question

I understand that Lola may actually be a man...

 

"I'm glad I'm a man-so is Lola". So which is it? Is Lola a man-or is Lola glad?

 

But, in the words of mod-Todd, are we "talkin' bout a real man"?

 

Yes, that's the one. I have it as well as all of the 1998 remasters and there are significant differences between it and the 1998 discs:

Early songs, in particular You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, Till The End of the Day, Where Have All the Good Times Gone - way more bass. They all sound right - like the original UK Pye vinyl.
David Watts and Death of A Clown are the stereo mixes, unlike the 1998 reissues which are mono. David Watts actually sounds even better than the Something Else Sanctuary reissue.

The only song that sounds worse is Victoria - it's sounds a little more quiet and tame than on the arthur CD but it's not that bad.

IMO overall, it's a big improvement sound-wise over the 1998 discs.

 

"Lola" inspired another of Weird Al's excellent parodies, "Yoda":

YODA

I met him in the swamp down in Dagobah
Where it bubbles all the time
Like a giant carbonated soda
S-O-D-A, soda
I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
I asked him his name
And in a raspy voice he said Yoda
Y-O-D-A, Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Well, I've been around but I ain't never seen
A guy who looks like a Muppet
But he's wrinkled and green
Oh my Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand
How he can lift me in the air just by raisin' his hand
Oh my Yoda!
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Well, I left home just a week before
And I've never ever been a Jedi before
But Obi-Wan, he set me straight of course
He said, "Go to Yoda and he'll show you the Force"
Well, I'm not the kind that would argue with Ben
So it looks like I'm gonna start all over again
With my Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yoda
Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
So I used the Force
I picked up a box
I lifted some rocks
While I stood on my head
Well I won't forget what Yoda said
He said, "Luke, stay away from the darker side
And if you start to go astray let the force be your guide"
Oh my Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
"I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed
But, remember if you kill him then you'll be unemployed"
Oh my Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Well, I heard my friends really got in a mess
So I'm gonna have to leave Yoda, I guess
But I know that I'll be comin' back someday
I'll be playin' this part till I'm old and gray
The long-term contract I had to sign
Says I'll be makin' these movies till the end of time
With my Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda
Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo Yoda

 

Maybe "Lola" was a butch lesbian? After all, it's never fully explained if indeed Lola is a man, and the narrator is himself a naive young man.

("..well I'd left home just a week before/and I'd never-ever kissed a woman before/but Lola smiled and took me by the hand/said 'little boy, gonna make you a man'")

I have a feeling that it's really a song about a guy's first sexual experience with a VERY aggressive woman, a woman who ("girls will be boys and boys will be girls") is bi-sexual (the verse in which he pushes her away after she reveals her secret to him, although we don't hear THAT part).

 

Ray Davies deliberately made that line ("I'm glad I'm a man and so is Lola") ambiguous. We're not supposed to know for sure what gender Lola is, just like we're not supposed to know what Billie Joe MacAllister threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. It's a better song because of that.

However, for what it's worth, Ray has said the song was inspired by a night when he spent the evening dancing with a beautiful woman, only to notice by the end of the night that she was growing a five o'clock shadow. So the inspiration for the song was definitely a man, even if Lola might not be.

 

All of these interpretations of "Lola" prove what a great song it is, maybe it's even, as critic John Mendelsohn noted in his exhaustive liner notes in The Kink Kronikles, "one of the greatest singles of the twentieth century". The deliberate ambiguity of the lyrics keeps the song fresh. Ray Davies has written a few like that, most notably "Days" and "Art Lover".

 

I've always believed that Ray Davies was one of the most underappreciated *major* songwriters around.

 

So many people have said that over the years that he is now officially "appreciated"!!

 

KINKS KONTROVERSY

What is the best CD Version of KINKS KONTROVERSY. I recently got the KINDA KINKS CASTLE Rremaster with tons of Bonus cuts adn like it a lot.
I have a chance to pick up KINKS KONTROVERSY - an '89 version on Castle with no bonus cuts? Any good?

 

Re: KINKS KONTROVERSY

A great album - see my avatar! The sound on that Castle CD is somewhat lacking in punch but it's OK 'cause it should be cheap. The later remaster with bonus cuts has more high end but weak bass. However, it's the best CD version I know of so far. The bonus cuts aren't as good or as copious as the ones on Kinda Kinks.
The newest reissue with no bonus cuts (in an Italian LP replica mini-sleeve) I've auditioned once on headphones in a record store and it seemed to sound similar to the '98 remaster. The Kinks Singles Collection has 2 tracks from Kontroversy and they sound much better on that compilation, with the bass restored.
My U.S. mono LP still sounds the best to my ears.

 

Re: Re: KINKS KONTROVERSY