The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I’ve known about The Kinks all my life, but I have not known them beyond their biggest hits (Lola, Tired of Waiting for You, All Day and All of The Night, Come Dancing, and A Well Respected Man, for example). But out of curiosity, I decided to “go fishing,” as I often do with unexplored bands, and came up with songs that a) I never heard of; b) absolutely love

Here’s an example:
Village Green, Ape Man, Better Things, Victoria, The Village Green Preservation Society, Picture Book, Harry Rag, Animal Farm, Days, Sunny Afternoon, and I’m Not Like Everybody Else

Good stuff. Of course, in my expedition, I found more than that, but some I really didn’t like at all, and some were actually sort of embarrassing.
What’s your take on this group, which never reached the heights of The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I love... some of the Kinks. Their early singles were great and their 4 or 5 late 60's/early 70's albums Arthur, Village Green Preservation Society, Something Else, Lola Vs Powerman and Muswell Hillbillies rival the Beatles for songwriting brilliance and great pop performances.

Now after that things get rough. Not a fan of Ray's forays into \music hall wackiness. Preservation, A Soap Opera, Schoolboys in Disgrace etc have their moments but mostly dreck. Sleepwalker and Misfits are both pretty good but after that they just became generic stadium rockers.

That said Ray Davies ranks in my top 5 songwriters with Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman and Bob Dylan.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I like them more than the Beatles (easily) and Rolling Stones (just a bit). I like all of their 60s output but beyond that not so much. It's kind of the same thing for The Who and Rolling Stones for me.

a couple favorites apart from the singles: I Need You, I Believed You, Come on Now, All Night Stand, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, Party Line, Lazy Old Sun etc.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I grew up hearing all the hits but never really got interested them until I saw them. For something to do one night we went to see them in a small hall(3000 capacity). This was summer of 1980 when Low Budget was getting a lot of airplay. A very young Johnny Cougar opened for them. I was suprised how much they rocked. The live album from that tour "One For The Road" is a favorite live album. Although I like the majority of the early Pye material, the later stuff isn't by bag except for the few really great songs and the rockers.

Other good songs:

Superman
20th Century Man
Rock and Roll Fantasy
Celluloid Heroes
Catch Me Now I'm Falling

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Here's a (somewhat chronological) favorites listing:

Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me From Worryin' 'Bout That Girl
Set Me Free
Well Respected Man
Till The End Of The Day
Where Have All The Good Times Gone
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
Party Line
Rosie Won't You Please Come Home
Rainy Day In June
Sunny Afternoon
I'm Not Like Everybody Else
Dead End Street
Big Black Smoke
Yes Sir, No Sir
Shangri-La
Plastic Man
David Watts
Death Of A Clown
Harry Rag
Tin Soldier Man
Love Me 'Til The Sun Shines
Waterloo Sunset
Strangers
Powerman
The Village Green Preservation Society
Do You Remember Walter
Picture Book
Johnny Thunder
Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
Big Sky
Village Green
20th Century Man
Holiday
Alcohol
Complicated Life
Have a Cuppa Tea

Obviously I'm a big fan. The Kinks compete with The Small Faces and The Who in terms of who I consider to be my '2nd favorite band', after Big Star.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

"Give the People What they Want" is a great album. "Destroyer" is my favorite song on that one.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I liked Destroyer better when it was called Jumping Jack Flash.

You are really missing out if you think this is the best of the Kinks albums.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Great list.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I saw Ray Davies do his little solo gig last year. He just ran through a bunch of Kinks stuff (along with a few solo numbers), while telling stories in his charming English manner - it was a fantastic, low-key show. But what struck me was the sheer number of great songs Davies had written - he didn't even get to a lot of my favorites, but it didn't matter because the guy can't write a bad song - good, pure pop/rock songs just flow out of the his ass with seemingly little effort.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I'll add This Time Tomorrow and Strangers to the songs I like. The Kinks have always been underrated, imo.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Strangers is on the list

I'd add Get Back in Line

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Have been listening to This Time Tomorrow and VGPS over and over the past week. Nice to see all these lists.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Well, I've never liked "Come Dancing" and "Lola" I'm sick of since it's over-played on the radio.

I only have two Kinks albums - GTPWTW and Low Budget. "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" is another great tune.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Please do yourself a great favor and listen to these 5 albums

1967 Something Else by The Kinks
1968 The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
1969 Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
1970 Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
1971 Muswell Hillbillies

Or at least get the great complilation The Kinks Kronicles

You guys are really missing out if you think those albums are even close to the best things the Kinks ever did.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

wow someone who likes the kinks, who, small faces, and big star. Good taste, some of my faves too. I think the small faces are my favorite of the bunch.

I noticed hardly any songs from the kinks beat/blues era get mentioned though, it always starts with late 60s songs.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

For me at least, other than the singles/b-sides, the pre-Face To Face material isn't quite as good, since they did a lot of covers and that wasn't playing to their strength, IMO. The Beatles, the Stones, and The Who were all great covers bands. I don't think the same thing applies for The Kinks. Everything from Face To Face through Muswell Hillbillies is a masterpiece, IMO.

Re: The Small Faces - I was listening to selections from Ogden's Nut Gone Flake while walking around at lunch.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Their strength has always been Ray's songwriting and he matured tremendously as a songwriter during that string of classic albums we're talking about. Basically he went from singing about getting laid to becoming the voice of the average bloke living an aimless life in suburbia. Even Pete Townshend has said he conseiders Davies a better songwriter than he is.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I love the Kinks, and wenders is correct, Face to Face through Muswell Hilbillies is an amazing run of albums, although I still prefer The Who.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

yeah but it's got that raw rock n roll element to it I like, kind of like a garage band. I consider their best album Kontroversy but I'm probably the only one in the world who thinks that. It is where they became more unique songwriting and music wise I think, face to face wasn't the start of it.

The early Who covers like Please Please Please are kind of lame in my opinion. It's like Daltrey is trying to sound like James Brown, whereas with Steve Marriott, Steve Winwood, Reg King (of the Action) it works to me because they aren't strictly imitating.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Lazy Old Sun is a highly underrated track IMO.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

"Destroyer" lifted from "All Day and All of the Night". I think you're referring to "Catch Me Now I'm Falling".

I love the Kinks, and I consider Arthur to be one of my favorite albums of all time.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

One of the amazing things about Ray Davies and the Kinks is their sheer output and longevity in the business. I've followed them for years and years and years and you could pretty much count on them releasing an album/LP/CD each year. Many a time I figured that they had finally burned out and were ready to become an oldies band, but then they would reinvent themselves with new material and ideas. And their live shows were truly entertaining as each year they went out on the road to support their new recordings.

If you want a great overview of the Kinks music, try this:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/sear...ok%2FThe-Kinks

But, of course, it's in no way as complete as a Kink fanatic would want it to be.

(Several of the Kinks CDs were remastered into the SACD format when SACD was going to be the next big thing.)

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

The Who covers off My Generation are not so great. I should have prefaced my remarks by pointing out that, for the last several months, close to 100% of my music listening has been live Who bootlegs, so I'm talking about covers they did live like "Fortune Teller", "Summertime Blues", Young Man's Blues", etc.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

The song Arthur actually has a great "lost" Kinks riff that could have been a decent hit for them, had they released it or played it on the radio! A great find.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Back in 1996, I got to see the Kinks, the energy that Ray had was awesome. Easily one of the best bands that I have ever seen live.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

The earliest Kinks' show I saw was back in 1974 and Ray was rocking his ass back then. I've never seen a Kinks' show where the performance was "phoned in" and I've seen them in some less than stellar venues.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

:up:

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Just got introduced to Village Green Preservation Society this thing is addicting, I listen to it on the way to work, I listen to it while working, I listen to it with headphones while I'm sleeping!

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Village Green is just one of those albums that defies description. The feel of it alone elevates it to one of the Top 5 greatest albums of the 60s... maybe of all time. It's a concept album in the best sense of the word... no big loud stupid storyline, no bloated conceits, no lumbering bombast, just a warm dedication to the simple pleasures of English pastoral living set to timeless music.

I even love "Phenomenal Cat". I have no idea why.

The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society >>> Sgt Pepper's and Pet Sounds, COMBINED

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Speaking of which, any interest an Album by Album thread? Anyone wanna run it?

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I think Pete is being modest. :)

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Love The Kinks. So underrated in the U.S.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Definitely something else.
I never been a huge fan Sgt. Pepper I take Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album and Abbey Road over Sgt Pepper any day. I do love Pet Sounds but Village Green Preservation seems to have more nuances and it feels more real too so that's probably an accurate statement.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

sure I'd get slack for saying this but even Satanic Majesties Request is more interesting and better than Sgt Pepper in my opinion. It kills me that there's so much great 60s music and people just want to listen to beatles, beatles, beatles over and over.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

While I understand the notion that certain 60s bands get the lion's share of attention from the industry and fans... who exactly is doing that? Listening to "beatles, beatles, beatles over and over"? Sounds like you got an axe to grind...

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

Does it really kill you?

I'd be willing to bet the 60s music is the most listened to decade of music of all time. And it's not just the Beatles.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

music journalists, music fans, but it's to be expected since they were the biggest thing back then, unfortunately so many other groups got lost in the shuffle

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

I would participate, but I probably won't be able to join for an album or three

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

missed your reply,

I just find it pretty sad that a lot of music is largely forgotten/ignored and I really disagree that it's the most listened to era. What do you hear mainly on the radio as far as rock music? It's mostly 70s and later. Post a thread here about the yardbirds, pretty things, the action, etc. and watch it sink. A lot of people don't listen to anything in the 60s outside of just extremely popular acts. Hell even Vh1 classic at one time had a 60s music video block but they got rid of that in favor of more metal mania and 80s videos.

Re: The KINKS Appreciate Thread
 

The Kinks have their own thing, entirely, as do The Beatles, The Who and The Stones. It's unfair to compare them in way that you want to measure who has the better music or better or stronger records (For the record, I do also love The Beatles and The Who and have some respect for the Stones, for some of their music, but I couldn't possibly rank these 4 bands in a poll other than putting the Beatles at #1). They all have different methods of music and record making (Although Shel Talmy produced both The Who and The Kinks for a time), and they all have aspects that stand out in such a characteristic way.
Those early records by The Kinks from 1964-1970 all have this really rough, dry sound that feels so real-Scratchy guitars, scratchy vocals, whether it's "You Really Got Me" or it's VGPS or Arthur. Maybe it was just on the cheap, but sometimes there's just something to that, and it only makes a stronger impression.

I didn't really care as much for the records that came later, though I did have a copy of the 1980 live album One For The Road (I always thought they were trying to correct the written-over cover title that Lynryd Skynyrd used for their live album ;)), which, even though their studio music had improved from the mostly non-impressive early 70's and they were enjoying a comeback with Low Budget, doesn't sound as exciting to hear now.