Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Odd. Neither iTunes nor Amazon has VGPS available as an album download. Only the title track is offered as an individual track. Now that's real freakin' odd. :(

Bluetoast if I may be so bold, I highly recommend buying the full album. It's an incredible, accessible, highly enjoyable work.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Yeah this is what I would consider one of the most "lost" periods a great songwriter ever had. What was Ray on between Preservation and Schoolboys in Disgrace and can I get some?

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Just wanted to stay that Village Green - Arthur - Lola - Muswell is the greatest 4-consecutive-albums from any artist ever, including Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Clash, etc.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

I'd add Something Else to the beginning and say it's one of the greatest 5-consecutive-album runs (I almost want to throw Face to Face in there as well...).

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Oh fuck, I forgot to do Percy.

And I almost want to keep on that tack...

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Gonna go look me for some Kinks right now!!! well after I get out of work...

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Just as well. To this day the album has never appeared in the U.S. catalog -- recorded at the tail end of their contract with Pye Records in England and Warner/Reprise in America, and connected with a movie that was never going to see much exposure in the U.S.A., Reprise passed on it at the time.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Disagree. The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground, and Loaded.

Also Station To Station, Low, "Heroes", Lodger, and you can even throw in Scary Monsters for a full five.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Van Halen I, Van Halen II, Women & Children First, Fair Warning...?

OK maybe not the greatest run of all time, but I'd put that in my Top 10 4-Album-Run list :D

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Nick Drake "Five Leaves Left", "Bryter Layter", "Pink Moon", and "Family Tree" boo-yaa

and that's his whole career

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Bowie, maybe, though for me, not those 4 - those are certainly good albums, just not enough heart.

And VU can suck my cock - the term overrated was invented for them (though I wouldn't call them pretentious, as they don't pretend to be shit, they are shit), but that's whole other thread...

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

You're dead to me.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

^ to me too :rip:

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

I may have been hyperbolic, but I would love nothing more than to punch Lou Reed in his stupid no-talent face!

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Sorry, I wasn't around last week but I think Get Back in Line and This Time Tomorrow from Lola vs Powerman are the two best Kinks songs ever.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Everybody's in Show-Biz - The Kinks

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Original Release Date: August 25, 1972

Original Track Listing

STUDIO DISC:
1. Here Comes Yet Another Day
2. Maximum Consumption
3. Unreal Reality
4. Hot Potatoes
5. Sitting in my Hotel
6. Motorway
7. You Don't Know My Name
8. Supersonic Rocket Ship
9. Look a Little on the Sunnyside
10. Celluloid Heroes

LIVE DISC:
11. Top of the Pops
12. Brainwashed
13. Mr. Wonderful
14. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues
15. Holiday
16. Muswell Hillbilly
17. Alcohol
18. The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
19. Skin and Bone
20. Baby Face
21. Lola

Call it Muswell Hangover...

You know, earlier in this thread I was commenting about how much I was loving this album. Of course, this was before I dove into heard-first analyses of the "classic albums". Compared to, say, Kinda Kinks, Everybody's In Show-Biz felt like Arthur. And to tell you the truth, Everybody's In Show-Biz is still a real good album. It's a strange one, and the entire affair sounds like a hot mess, and the roots of Ray Davie's forays into crass self-indulgence are on display in abundance. But yet, there are some real fun songs here, a few great ones, and one undeniable classic. Musically, there's a host of strong material here.

The issue is, as I see it, as that much of the album feels like outtakes from Muswell Hillbillies. Ray is concerned... nay, OBSESSED with the topic of life on the road. Often the issue is EATING while on the road. So much for the plight of working class Brits! But the musical style of the album fits right in with Muswell... mostly. But never mind all that. Everybody's In Show-Biz is also a DOUBLE album! The first disc has the studio tracks, the second a live album, recorded at Carnegie Hall in March of 1972. The live disc contains three covers (!) and eight songs pulled from ARTHUR, LOLA, and MUSWELL. Even weirder, live track of Lola isn't even the song, just two-minute audience sing-along of the chorus! WTF indeed!

The studio album opens in good form with Here Comes Yet Another Day, a tight piece that isn't particularly deep but it's a fine rockin' opener. Love the organ intro. Good tune, rocks well. Maximum Consumption is Ray's first ode to road food. What an odd song. The Dixieland horns and saloon-style piano make the song musically interesting, but it's really freakin' odd. Not that that's a bad thing... but it's not a particularly great song either.

Unreal Reality is more in the same vein, but it's probably a better song. At least we're off the food subject here. The slow opening leads into more uptempo verses, dedicated to the affected psychedelia engendered by touring from town to town, city to city, when nothing seems real anymore. Enjoyable number. And now with Hot Potatoes, we're back to food again, dedicated to the joys of simple comfort food. However, this song kinda RULES. It's simple, straightforward, and a ton of fun. The chorus is particularly infectious.

Sitting In My Hotel is another strong tune, piano-driven and affecting. Ray is definitely NOT enjoying being on tour. Buck up, li'l camper. At least you got a great song out of it. Motorway is... wait for it... another song obsessed with food! Huzzah! Actually, the song probably works better than it had any right to. It's uptempo, country/western, and enjoyable. Lyrically it's schizophrenic beyond words, but then again maybe so is the touring life. What the hell do I know? I work in IT.

Dave gets to shine a bit with the fine You Don't Know My Name, which is probably one of his strongest efforts to date. Lots of slide acoustic, 12 strings, even a flute solo. It sounds a lot like a tune that would have fit right in on Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells A Story". On the other hand, we have the almost childlike Caribbean sing-along of Supersonic Rocket Ship, which was released as a single in the UK. Not a great song, but enjoyable enough on its own.

Look a Little on the Sunnyside is a horn-driven music hall piece, kind of a march of sorts. OK but it seems a little forced and tired at this point. Which is fine, because it leads into the finale of the studio album, the absolutely phenomenal Celluloid Heroes. At over 6 minutes, it's one of their longest singles to date. It also feels radically out of place on this album, as it sounds like nothing that has come before it. It's as if Ray sobered up to write and record it. The lyrics and music are beautiful and moving, maybe a bit maudlin here or there but it's still perfection to my ears. This used to be my favorite Kinks song. At this point I don't even know what that is anymore, but if I had a Top 5, this would be in it. Maybe even Top 3. Who knows. It's a perfect fucking song.

I'm not going to cover the live portion of the album in detail. Suffice to say, it's nothing too impressive. The track selection is eclectic enough to be interesting for deep fans, but the performances are nothing to write hom about. Did we really need Day-O, Baby Face, a useless Lola sing-along, and, of all things, Top of the Pops? Interesting enough for fans, and I enjoy the live Brainwashed, Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues, and Muswell Hillbilly tracks, but definitely not essential by any means.

I really like Everybody's in Show-Biz quite a bit. It's a drunken, sloppy album in which Ray probably started going a little whackadoo. But as a collection of songs, it mostly works well. Celluloid Heroes is a stone classic, but I also really enjoy the rockin' Here Comes Yet Another Day, the bizarre Hot Potatoes, the melancholic Sitting In My Hotel, the goofball insanity of Motorway, and Dave acquits himself real well with You Don't Know My Name. OK tunes with Unreal Reality and Supersonic Rocket Ship. I can do without Maximum Consumption and Look a Little on the Sunnyside. That makes for a pretty strong studio album, as far as I'm concerned. A dip under Lola, but worthwhile for fans.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

This is the point where I have to check out, until we get to Misfits and Low Budget. I look forward to reading all the upcoming reviews, though.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

I think the studio side falls way under the radar of most fans, but it shouldn't IMO. It's silly, but a good album. The live disc is, IMO, basically bonus tracks.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

My Kinks Album Rating Continuum, if you will. Won't you? As we evaluate further albums, this thing will probably change...

Albums are in order of preference.

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The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

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Something Else By The Kinks
Muswell Hillbillies

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Face To Face
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

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Everybody's In Show-Biz

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The Kink Controversy
Kinda Kinks

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Kinks

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

A 4-album run better than Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper's?

T'aint gonna happen...especially not in such a short span.

For a longer span, I'd suggest that Born To Run, Darkness On the Edge of Town, The River, & Nebraska are a pretty nice run, also. Followed by Born in the USA, which ain't no slouch.

Love the Kinks but gotta keep it real, Dog.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Probably gonna do Preservation Act I and Act II as a single review. That way I can get it over with faster... :(

EDIT: Forget that. I actually enjoyed ACT I a whole lot more than I thought I would...

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

no great lost kinks album?

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

I would but (a) I don't have it, and (b) most of the tracks were included on the Deluxe VILLAGE GREEN set, which I covered earlier... but I figure I'm gonna come back around eventually when I review (briefly) the new Andrew Sandoval remasters -- which I totally plan on doing, even though they are delaying MUSWELL HILLBILLIES for some god-forsaken reason.

By the by if anyone wants to discuss, review, comment, or shoot the piss on anything Kinks related, please feel free. I'd love to hear vinyl reviews of some of the old EPs or the American album releases, for instance...

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

Preservation: Act I - The Kinks

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Original Release Date: November 16, 1973

Original Track Listing

1. Morning Song
2. Daylight
3. Sweet Lady Genevieve
4. There's a Change in the Weather
5. Where Are They Now?
6. One of the Survivors
7. Cricket
8. Money & Corruption / I Am Your Man
9. Here Comes Flash
10. Sitting in the Midday Sun
11. Demolition

Bonus Tracks
Preservation
One of the Survivors (single edit)


By 1973 Ray Davies seemed ready to wash his hands entirely of The Kinks. Or, that is to say, The Kinks of the late 60s through early 70s. Or maybe just popular rock music as a whole. The transcendent MUSWELL HILLBILLIES was an artistic and critical success, but it was far from the prevailing musical sentiments of the day. EVERYBODY'S IN SHOW-BIZ was basically more of the same, but not as good (although still quite good) and generally much sloppier. What was evident was Ray's predilection towards indulging whatever creative impulses struck his fancy. Rock music? Top of the Pops? Platinum records and huge commercial success? FEH! At this point The Kinks had been on both extremes of the sales spectrum, so at this point why NOT get both artsy AND fartsy?

This of course resulted with the Preservation project. Initially Ray wanted to revisit the classic VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY album, recycle some of the music and expand upon it with new songs. Wiser instincts prevailed and that album was left on its own as a singular piece of work. Instead, Ray used the Village Green as a setting, bringing back some characters and themes, and creating a whole new theatrical work based on that entire milieu. The Village Green would be the setting of an epic battle between the evil and greedy capitalist crook Flash and the self-righteous ultra-religious do-gooder Mr. Black, with Ray as "The Tramp", a narrator and voice of reason and longing between these two opposing forces.

Ray wrote a ton of material for the project. So much so, in fact, that the planned double-album turned into a triple-album, and Ray still wasn't pleased with the end result. A surely shitting-in-their-pants RCA, none too pleased with the ongoing delays of the release (and most likely with the quizzical nature of the material), insisted on SOMETHING to hit the shelves by late 1973. Ray compromised and split the album into two: the single album ACT I and the double album ACT II, released in late 1973 and mid 1974, respectively. It wasn't even a logical break between acts; ACT I introduced characters and was structured more like a traditional album, whereas ACT II had the bulk of the narrative and was decidedely less musical and more theatrical.

Well! Three albums of material released over the span of six months!! For Kinks faithful, this must have seemed like a mechaya! In reality, the project was a big commercial flop, the likes of which hadn't been seen by the band in years. No singles from the album charted in any remotely significant manner, and the whole thing was generally regarded as a giant WTF moment in the Kinks recording career.

Preservatation is a fascinating artifact, the type of ginormous mess only a band as fascinating as The Kinks could throw together. Over the course of both albums, there are indeed some really good songs and one absolutely great one. Most of the good stuff is in ACT I, which is BY FAR the better of the two. In fact, on it's own it's a fairly good LP. The largely instrumental Morning Song kicks off the album, as a lazy village wakes up to simple humming and strings, like the beginning to a gentle Disney animated film. OK. We're setting a tone. Got it. Daylight is kind of a neat little tune, as a picture is painted of the serene village and its townspeople. The overlapping lines in the verses give the song a theatrical feel. It's a good song, nothing deep, and definitely different.

The album's so-called "lost masterpiece" comes up next, the sublime pop excellence of Sweet Lady Genevieve. How this fits into the entire Preservation project, I have no idea. It's sung by Ray's "Tramp" character, about a girl he once wronged in the past and longs for again. Whatever. It's a pretty great song. It has a fine tempo, catchy melodies, and for a moment we have a glimpse of the band's pop greatness. If there's anything wrong with "Sweet Lady Genevieve", it's only that it sets a false expectation for the entirety of the project. Nothing will ever be this good again on either album.

Things get kind of operatic with the forgettable There's A Change In The Weather. The track has earmarks of melodramatic early 70s rock opera production values, but it's nothing much as a song. Basically we have the townspeople bemoaning something afoot and awry in their li'l hamlet. A better track is Where Are They Now, a piano-driven nostalgic ballad that remembered to be music first and storytelling later. The harder rocking One of the Survivors is another nostalgia piece, this time bringing back the character of Johnny Thunder from VGPS. This one evokes the feeling of 50s rock-and-roll, motorbikes, old-school teenage rebellion, all of that jazz. I could live without the "You can't stop rock-n-roll" breakdown, but it's overall an fun little rocker.

You know, so far the album isn't bad. Certainly not as its reputation would lead you to believe.

Cricket is pure musical theater with echoes of Dixieland jazz from MUSWELL. Here the Vicar character is likening the struggle between Good and Evil, God and Satan, as a decidedly British affair involving a Cricket match. Whether or not you like the track depends entirely if this sort of dramatics and/or musical drama. It's not a particularly great song, but it doesn't offend either. I'm just on the positive side of neutral for this one. On the other hand, Money & Corruption/I Am Your Man is a particularly dated piece that will be even more polarizing. I like the acoustic feel of the first part of the song (Money & Corruption), but the wailing falsettoes from some of the female backing vocals are entirely irritating. It has an interesting tone that's somewhere between early 20th century folk and Celtic dance, covered with a 70s rock opera veneer. The second part of the song (I Am Your Man) is entirely less interesting. All plot development with Flash promising to cure all societal and financial ills, to a slow, lushly produced ballad. Not particularly horrible, but not very interesting either.

Here Comes Flash is kinda fun, fast paced, oddly sung, very rocking with a KILLER riff from Dave that really gives the song a dangerous and sinister vibe! Were those echoes of a Klezmer band I heard in the middle there? Nice. The song only works within the context of the theatrical presentation; on it's own, "Here Comes Flash" is sort of dopey. But a fun sort of dopey. Sitting In The Midday Sun is this album's answer -- or homage -- to VGPS's "Down By The Riverside", and it's a soft, pretty, and memorable number. I love the production on it: the driving piano, lush harmonies and instrumentation, and Ray's strong vocal performance.

The album ends with Demolition, in which Flash and his gang take over the Village Green, tear it down, and sell it off for Big Profits. Fun stuff! The song itself is mediocre and entirely rooted in the theatrical underpinnings of the project. You either buy it or you don't. I think it ends the album on a sort of weak and unfinished note. It definitely feels like a filler track between "Sitting In The Midday Sun" and another song that should have severd as a more powerful and stirring Act Finale. Alas.

Preservation: Act I gets unnecessarily shat on quite a bit. Earlier in this thread, I was bemoaning having to review it, having only briefly skimmed it once and not liking it at all. Listening to it now, especially having thoroughly listened to and reviewed every album leading up to it, I definitely see its strengths. There are some quality songs here. Artistically, the work is inextricably linked to the much inferior Act II, and as such it drags the entirety of the project down in terms of overall quality. As music alone, it's a good album. Songs like "Sweet Lady Genevieve" and "Sitting In The Midday Sun" are definitely strong Kinks tunes, and I definitely enjoy "Daylight", "Where Are They Now", and "One of the Survivors". "Here Comes Flash" and "Cricket" are OK, whereas I can live without "Morning Song", "There's A Change In The Weather", most of "Money & Corruption/I Am Your Man", and "Demolition". As drama/theater, it's uninteresting at best, annoying at worst. Ignoring the theatrics entirely, there's still enough quality to merit a solid recommendation on Preservation: Act I. Definitely far from an Essential album, but for Kinks fans looking to branch out into some of their lesser known but worthwhile material.

Bonus Tracks

The two bonus tracks on this album include the Preservation single, which is a really dated piece of 70s material that spells out the overall plotline of ACT I. Think of lots of electric piano and Ray's overly-affected warbling vocal style. You know, for a band that is often described as timeless in their music, "Preservation" is firmly rooted in 1973. It's an OK song, but nothing special. The other bonus track is a single release of the album track One of the Survivors. Pretty unnecessary. The album track does just fine on its own.

Re: Album by Album Thread featuring: THE KINKS!!
 

I just want to know what Ray Davies was on between 1971 and 1976. Besides Paul McCartney and Elton John no greater artist has put out more putrid material after his glory years.

Edit: Add Rod Stewart to that list