I see new items started for The Beatles and The Who (what, no Stones?), so I thought I'd start one for the band of the same milieu that I think were at the very least equally important, if not more so, than those other, more popular bands.
These three albums alone:
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...come to my mind as "classics" of the era before anything by those other groups.
My favorite Kinks songs are: "Two Sisters," "Shangri-La," "Lola," "People Take Pictures of Each Other," and so many more.
Anyone else here find the Kinks sorely in need of the sort of appreciation that's always carelessly lavished upon Beatles/Stones/Who?
Nothing In This World.... from Rushmore, is a class song!
Oh I love the Kinks. Is it fair to say they're underrated as a band or that Stones/Beatles/Who are just overrated?
I was going to start this thread along with one dedicated to Cream (I thought there already was a Stones thread, but I guess not).. It's their most popular but nonetheless, Lola is my favourite.
L-o-l-a Lola is definetly their best.
And they really deserve more apprechiation
"Victoria" from Arthur is such a sweet song. I crank it every May 24.
Quote from: anakin_e"Victoria" from Arthur is such a sweet song. I crank it every May 24.
I'm pretty sure the song isn't quite meant to be a celebration... but maybe you don't quite mean to celebrate... :)
Just have to chime in and say that Lola's my favorite, too.
Didn't Third Eye Blind play them in some show recently? I heard they did a pretty crappy job.
I like The Kinks better then both Who and Stones, hell I even like them more then Beatles.
Quote from: Jesus Christ Bobby!I like The Kinks better then both Who and Stones, hell I even like them more then Beatles.
:yabbse-thumbup:
Quote from: godardian[3 great Kinks albums] to my mind as "classics" of the era before anything by those other groups.
Anyone else here find the Kinks sorely in need of the sort of appreciation that's always carelessly lavished upon Beatles/Stones/Who?
The Kinks were an incredibly good pop rock band, but I don't think any one album of theirs was as good as, say,
Help! or
Rubber Soul....and I think there are a handful of Beatles albums better than even those!
Then again, I'm not a Kinks expert. I know
Something Else and
TKATVGPS pretty well, but beyond that, my appreciation is spotty. To my mind, they're far better than the American critical and popular opinion would indicate and they're influential as hell, but nowhere near Beatle calibre.
Also:
Quote from: GhostboyDidn't Third Eye Blind play them in some show recently? I heard they did a pretty crappy job.
Shocking!
anakin_e wrote:
"Victoria" from Arthur is such a sweet song. I crank it every May 24.
godardian wrote:
I'm pretty sure the song isn't quite meant to be a celebration... but maybe you don't quite mean to celebrate...
(sorry i'm no good at the HTML, and couldn't get the fancy boxes to work)
I don't know, i think the song was a bit of nostalgia for old grand Brittania (vs. the slums of the 1960s working class in britain), and May 24 strikes me as a day of nostalgia for being a part of the grand old empire, that's just my take on it, great tune regardless.
Back to the topic at hand, can anybody recommend a good compilation album, even though i know compilations are a bit sacreligous, i'm not a big enough kinks fan to go out and buy a few albums. Amazon's got a "Ultimate Collection" double cd, and it's got most of my favs, but it is suspiciously missing "Louie, Louie", am i missing something? am i mistaken that the kinks are the ones behind this tune? does is go under a different title? basically i'm looking for an album with:
Victoria
All Day and All of the Night
Louie Louie
You Really Got Me
I Need You
on it, as they're my favs (never really a Lola fan), and i'm looking to get into more kinks stuff. I'm a huge Who fan 'cause of a compilation i got a few years back, and i'm hoping the same kinda thing will come from listening to more Kinks stuff.
Cheers
"Louie, Louie" was The Kingsmen, from my hometown of Portland, OR.
I have a 2-disc CD, Kinks Kronikles, that's a decent best-of. That may be identical to the 2-disc comp you're talking about.
Thanks a bunch godardian.
From the AP:
Jan. 5, 2004 | NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Singer-songwriter Ray Davies of the Kinks was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who snatched a purse from a woman he was with, police said Monday. He was not seriously injured.
Police said Davies, 59, and the woman were walking along the Quarter's Burgundy Street around 8:30 p.m. Sunday when the theft and shooting happened.
Davies was treated and released at a hospital, Capt. Marlon Defillo, a police spokesman, said. One suspect was captured within hours of the shooting and another was being sought.
The Kinks, part of the 1960s British invasion, had a string of hits including "You Really Got Me," "Sunny Afternoon," "All Day and All of the Night" and "Lola." Davies founded the band, known for its hard-edged, guitar-driven sound and witty lyrics, with his brother Dave.
Kinks' Ray Davies honored by queen
LONDON -- Singer-songwriter Ray Davies of The Kinks, shot in the leg by a mugger two months ago, said he hopes to be "jumping around on stage" soon. Davies, 59, leaned on a walking stick Wednesday as he appeared at Buckingham Palace to accept an honor from Queen Elizabeth II. "I will get better and I'll be back jumping around on stage," said Davies. But, he added, "There is a lot of doubt whether I can perform in the near future." (AP)
okay, a brief history. i knew the kinks from 'classic rock' radio, 'you really got me' and 'all day and all the night' like everyone else. a few years ago with the rushmore sntk. i became more interested in them and burned a 1 disc best of from my cousin. the disc contained only early kinks up through face to face and i just could not get into it. a handful of songs i liked, but as a whole it was too much of the same. fast forward to a few months ago. that same cousin gives me a cd burned with village green/arthur on it. i try to listen to it several times, even skipping around to the 'key tracks' he outlined. nothing works. to my ears, it sounds like all the beatles experimentation without the songs that made them work. for whatever reason a few weeks ago i brought the cd out again and listened to it repeatedly until i started to really like it. then i decided i had to buy them and in doing a little research i decided i would start my kinks collection with these five albums....
-FACE TO FACE
-SOMETHING ELSE BY THE KINKS
-VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY
-ARTHUR
-LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN AND THE MONEYGOROUND PT. 1
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it was exciting blindly buying 3 of these albums, but i now LOVE the kinks. i dont know how i didnt get it before but there are some great songs here. my favorites are
Two Sisters, Mr. Churchill Says, Mindless Child of Motherhood, A Long Way from Home, etc etc etc.
actually there are about 30 songs i love amongst the 5 discs. but my FAVORITE SONG ON THE PLANET (AT THIS MOMENT) IS STRANGERS! i feel like i've heard this song before but i have no idea of where. or maybe its just the kind of song that has always been buried in your subconcious so the first time you hear it, it feels like you've heard it before. i dont know, but its beautiful.
Where are you going I don't mind
I've killed my world and I've killed my time
So where do I go what do I see
I see many people coming after me
So where are you going to I don't mind
If I live too long I'm afraid I'll die
So I will follow you wherever you go
If your offered hand is still open to me
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one
So you've been where I've just come
From the land that brings losers on
So we will share this road we walk
And mind our mouths and beware our talk
'till peace we find tell you what I'll do
All the things I own I will share with you
If I feel tomorrow like I feel today
We'll take what we want and give the rest away
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one
Holy man and holy priest
This love of life makes me weak at my knees
And when we get there make your play
'cos soon I feel you're gonna carry us away
In a promised lie you made us believe
For many men there is so much grief
And my mind is proud but it aches with rage
And if I live too long I'm afraid I'll die
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one
a month or two ago i was really getting into the Kinks.
i knew their hits from oldies radio and of course Nothin' in the World from Rushmore.
i got Tired of Waiting For You in my head, so i had to track down a CD with it on it.
i found Kinda Kinks! used at Hasting's for 6 bucks. according to the liners this was an album made up of singles and songs they had to write and record in a few days. with that in mind, it's got some good ones. i was debating on whether or not to buy that 2 disc best of (not Kronicles, but another) and i happened to be in Drug Emporium browsing the CD's and saw Well Respected Kinks (which is basically a best of of their early stuff).
it has some nice stuff, so of course i would like to check out more.
i know Village Green just got a deluxe edition done, so i'm kinda afraid to buy any of their albums in fear a new remastered edition with bonus tracks will come out.
i got imports of all the ones listed above on amazon used (but new) for pretty reasonable prices. they all have GREAT bonus tracks. Mindless Child of Motherhood being a personal favorite.
as the THE KINKS were one of my favorite new discoveries in music this year, i thought since its christmas i'd like to share a little love with anyone else who knows a handful of songs but would like to really get into THE KINKS. by mostly sticking to the golden period (mid sixties to early seventies) from the 5 albums listed above, i've made a good mix of some of my favorite songs off those albums for anyone else who wants to hear more but doesnt know where to start. anyone who is interested can PM me for a GET INTO THE KINKS mix cd and i'll try to mail it out as soon as possible.
tracklisting (barring any last minute fiddling)
1. You Really Got Me
2. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
3. Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' About That Girl
4. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
5. David Watts
6. Two Sisters
7. Waterloo Sunset
8. There's No Life Without Love
9. Do You Remember Walter?
10. Picture Book
11. Animal Farm
12. Starstruck
13. Victoria
14. Shangri-La
15. Mr. Churchhill Says
16. Nothing To Say
17. Mindless Child of Motherhood
18. The Contenders
19. Strangers
20. Get Back In Line
21. Lola
22. This Time Tomorrow
23. A Long Way From Home
24. Holloway Jail
25. Sitting In My Hotel
i forgot to come back to this thread and mention that i got it out not too long ago and enjoyed it, Mod.
I beg the addition of "Living on a Thin Line".
Ray Davies wants to get the Kinks out
Before his show Saturday at the Wiltern, the singer talks of getting the old band -- broken up since 1996 -- back together for another go-round.
By Steve Appleford, Special to The Times
It's an overcast Saturday in Los Angeles, and Ray Davies is on the road again. The longtime leader of the Kinks is in the back seat of a car sent by his label, riding from LAX to his hotel in tinted glasses and a Panama hat, a small suitcase between his knees. He looks pleased.
He was in San Francisco the night before, and in about nine hours Davies would be onstage with his new band at the Wiltern, performing 90 minutes of Kinks songs and material from his quietly ambitious new album, "Working Man's Café." It's only his second solo album since the Kinks broke up in 1996, more than three decades after the band emerged as a leading force in the '60s British Invasion. From the beginning, Davies was among his generation's most influential songwriters, spanning proto-metal ("You Really Got Me") to the wistful and theatrical ("Sunny Afternoon").
He still works hard at it. "I'm finding my feet," Davies says quietly. "People say, 'Why did the first album take so long?' I didn't really want to do one."
Back in the '70s, coming to L.A. often meant watching Randolph Scott westerns well into the night on the TV at his hotel. "The heroes and villains were clearly defined," Davies says. He looks out the window and sees oil pumps beside the road. " Culver City . . . I wrote a whole short story about driving past Culver City."
Davies published his collection of short stories, "Waterloo Sunset," in 1997. Like the Who's Pete Townshend, he became known for lyrics with a literary flair, balancing sweeping musical statements with satire and vivid storytelling.
On "Working Man's Café," Davies aims his songwriting at recent life experience, including the trauma of being shot in the leg by a mugger in New Orleans in 2004. "Morphine Song" is based on his night in intensive care, a moving scene set against a playful melody of horns and acoustic guitar, with Davies' refrain, "Listen to my heartbeat . . . someone help me off of the ground."
"I just want to make good music," Davies says. "If it engages some of the real-life things that have happened to me, that's quite good, because I've rarely done that."
At the Wiltern, Davies would be as energetic a performer as fans might remember, hopping and running in place during the charged "All Day and All of the Night," a song still explosive and thrilling in a new century, as rough and fiery as a fresh Jack White riff. But the bullet wound still bothers him.
"It affected an old football injury from when I was a kid," says the 63-year-old musician. "But I'm getting by. I'm having a good day today."
After briefly trying to record the new album in London, Davies traveled to the Nashville studio of Ray Kennedy, who co-produced and helped Davies recruit a band of sympathetic players. They finished basic tracks in just 14 days.
Among those was "You're Asking Me," a wry response to the endless questions from all corners on songwriting and notorious episodes from the Kinks' long history. Davies sometimes teaches a songwriting seminar but claims to have no songwriting secrets, no magic formula to pass on. He sings, "Do we listen to the past? -- No never do / It's up to you to make your own mistakes / Have a go and break a leg."
Davies explains: "I was in a relationship with a girl, and she was saying, 'What was it like when you played with Frank Zappa, and did he really fall off the stage?' Always one question after another. Even people that I work with, they like to say, 'What was that fight all about? Why were you banned from America?' "
Not that Davies is ready to leave his past behind. He speaks openly of missing his old band and hopes to reunite the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members' original lineup from 1964. His plan is for the band to try imagining what direction it might have taken if "You Really Got Me" and other early hits never happened.
"We can't all be 19 again," he says, "but what would we have done? I hope we wouldn't have been a bar band."
He talks also of reuniting other versions of the Kinks -- the '70s lineup that released "Lola" and the '80s band that scored with "Come Dancing."
Each of those bands included his younger brother, guitarist Dave Davies. The pair have famously fought through the decades, sometimes onstage, with the younger Davies vowing never to return.
"It depends on the deal," Davies says with a hopeful grin. "I think he'd come around.
"You can never duplicate the Kinks. Often people used to come see us play for what might go wrong on stage rather than what would go right.
"I miss the daily camaraderie. I grew up with the band. They've gone on and have got their own lives. Me, I'm the only one in the band that doesn't have a life."
But Davies is committed to the new work. At the Wiltern, the new songs mingled easily with the hits. There were emotional flourishes in "The Real World" and a lighter touch, while the crankier "No One Listen" was crafted from warm, jazzy rhythms and urgent acoustic guitar chords by Davies and a powerful solo from guitarist Milton McDonald.
Kinks hits still dominated the night. Fans stood for the buoyant, theatrical "Sunny Afternoon" and roared during "Lola," now and forever a rowdy audience sing-along. Davies and his four-piece band also reached back to the harder riffs and dreamy passages of "Tired of Waiting for You. "
After this tour, Davies hopes to complete an album of collaborations with other artists, including Green Day. And this summer, he has two gigs in London where he'll bring a 90-voice choir, still singing the old songs among the new.
"As one gets older, you get a little embarrassed saying girls drive you mad," he says with a familiar smirk. "But it shows that time hasn't made you more of an expert. She's still driving me mad, and I haven't found her yet."
this reminded me. i meant to post this a month or so ago:
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/primer_the_kinks
i still need to get their albums, but the damn import price on the addition track editions has kept me from it. same with bowie. i'm sure by now you could find decent priced used copies but i don't feel like dealing with different sellers for each album.
First quarter of 2008 was a Kinks year for me, and I think I can confidently say that the run of Face To Face (1966) - Preservation Act 2 (1974) is bar-none the greatest consistent output of any rock/pop group.
I'm really really surprised Everybody's In Showbiz and the Preservation project don't get more attention, as they are every bit as genius and fun to listen to as Village Green or Something Else.
Yay Kinks, and double yay Raymond Douglas Davies. Anyone who hasn't read X-Ray yet, do yourself a favor and go pick it up...
Quote from: SoNowThen on May 19, 2008, 02:56:52 PM
First quarter of 2008 was a Kinks year for me, and I think I can confidently say that the run of Face To Face (1966) - Preservation Act 2 (1974) is bar-none the greatest consistent output of any rock/pop group.
I'm really really surprised Everybody's In Showbiz and the Preservation project don't get more attention, as they are every bit as genius and fun to listen to as Village Green or Something Else.
Yay Kinks, and double yay Raymond Douglas Davies. Anyone who hasn't read X-Ray yet, do yourself a favor and go pick it up...
did you buy all the bonus tracked imports?
I got supremely fucking lucky in that my public library had EVERY SINGLE reissue (w/ bonus tracks, singles, b-sides, etc)... with the exception of Something Else, which they had only in the old version.
All the Pye years are impossible to get now, outside of overpaying. I can't be sure that the Japan box which captures the Pye stuff is the best bet, because it may not have all the bonus tracks, and seriously, the Kinks were one of the most interesting singles bands up to and including Arthur.
Muswell Hillbillies, Everybody's In Showbiz, and Preservation Act 1 & 2 are pretty easily available, however. Ya gotta think there's another set of reissues around the corner on these...
Quote from: SoNowThen on May 19, 2008, 06:35:41 PM
I got supremely fucking lucky in that my public library had EVERY SINGLE reissue (w/ bonus tracks, singles, b-sides, etc)... with the exception of Something Else, which they had only in the old version.
All the Pye years are impossible to get now, outside of overpaying. I can't be sure that the Japan box which captures the Pye stuff is the best bet, because it may not have all the bonus tracks, and seriously, the Kinks were one of the most interesting singles bands up to and including Arthur.
Muswell Hillbillies, Everybody's In Showbiz, and Preservation Act 1 & 2 are pretty easily available, however. Ya gotta think there's another set of reissues around the corner on these...
that is lucky!
oddly enough i've seen versions with bonus tracks for the first 3 albums in the local Best Buy, though they don't have as many bonus tracks as some versions i've seen online.
I finally found one seller with new versions of about 6 of the albums I didn't have so I bought them sometimes last year. Then I see this today:
The Kinks will reissue seven albums later this year, according to NME. March 28 will bring 1965's Kinda Kinks and The Kink Kontroversy, May will see the release of Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) and 1971's Muswell Hillbillis, and 1966's Face To Face and 1967's Something Else will arrive in July.
All the albums will come in doubld-disc form, complete with "rarities, outtakes, demos, session tracks and in-depth liner notes."
Doesn't say whether or not if it's a UK/import thing only. I wouldn't think there is too much stuff left out there at this point.