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Post by ilesofsmiles on Mar 5, 2007 23:14:47 GMT -5
I thought this might be a great place to start again. List your top 5 Favourite KinKs Releases (and a runner-up if you like) then we can start to discuss why! Mine are..
Arthur VGPS Preservation Act I and II (always together) Misfits runner-up: Muswell Hillbillies ;D
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TAG
Session Man
Posts: 468
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Post by TAG on Mar 5, 2007 23:20:03 GMT -5
muswell hillbillies something else preservation I sleepwalker vgps
runner-up: schoolboys in disgrace
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Post by HollyH on Mar 6, 2007 0:17:42 GMT -5
Muswell Hillbillies Arthur VGPS Everybody's InShow Biz State of Confusion runner-up: UK Jive (I've been really into that lately for some reason...)
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Post by nicola6 on Mar 6, 2007 0:38:30 GMT -5
VGPS Misfits Something Else Muswell Hillbillies Sleepwalker
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Post by ilesofsmiles on Mar 6, 2007 1:17:00 GMT -5
OK.. Everybody LOVES VGPS.. maybe we should start discussing that first? ;D ;D
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Post by TomT on Mar 6, 2007 9:11:31 GMT -5
Arthur VGPS Lola Vs..... Something Else Muswell Hillbillies
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Post by complicatedlife on Mar 6, 2007 12:53:19 GMT -5
1) MUSWELL HILLBILLIES 2) ARTHUR 3) LOLA VS POWERMAN 4) ROCK BOTTOM/LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE (GOTTA GIVE DAVE HIS DUE) 5) STATE OF CONFUSION
HONORABLE MENTION - SCHOOLBOYS / GTPWTW
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TAG
Session Man
Posts: 468
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Post by TAG on Mar 6, 2007 20:13:17 GMT -5
I'll start with my alternate choice... Schoolboys In Disgrace. I've been told that the shows for this album were excellent and good fun to boot. You can just hear how this collection of songs would leap off the stage, and shake you. Make you laugh. Make you think. Make you get caught up in the memories and nostalgia that they evoke.
The musicianship on this record is perfect. The band has graduated to a new level. Having gone through the previous "concept" records, I can't help but think that the general feeling was that they could pretty much do anything. The playing is so d**n confident and loose. And I must especially give Dave the goods here. He really shines and projects on this record. God, what a fantastic guitar player he grew into over time. He really plays some brilliant parts and gutsy solos on this record.
The songs are so finely crafted. The whole friggin' record. One after the other. This record has to stand near the top of their canon. It makes me feel something good. I'm late to the experience. I've only had this record for about two years. It has grown on me so much. I'm In Disgrace, Headmaster, The Hard Way, No More Looking Back, Schooldays... my favorites.
Thematically it works as well. The story that Ray is telling never gets to lost in itself. It all winds up sounding universal. We all can relate to it. Ray has done this so well over and over. It's not "high brow" concept art. I love this record, and would rank it higher in my list, but the other records... well, I'll talk about them in a bit. Thanks, Sharon.
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Post by HollyH on Mar 6, 2007 21:46:44 GMT -5
Everybody's In Show Biz is a sentimental favorite with me -- one of those LPs I just played the grooves off of at a certain time in my life. Although it isn't generally touted as one of the "concept" albums, it is, of course; or maybe it's just that Ray at this time in his life was brooding so much about the nature of celebrity and fame and "life on the road" that every song he wrote came out that way. Why did critics reviewing "Other People's Lives" say Ray never wrote autobiography before? I think this entire album is the most autobiographical of Ray DAvies' career. Like "Preservation", Ray starts out with a morning song -- in this case, "Here Comes Yet Another Day," which is a delicious jolt of rock 'n' roll right from the get-go. The horn section is so boozy here, the whole song has a hangover vibe I adore. And then follow the two food songs, "Maximum Consumption" and "Hot Potatoes," bracketing "Unreal Reality", all of which makes me feel as if mealtimes are the only predictable moments in a touring musician's life. Again, the horns are integral to this sound, and the guitar licks lace in and out so beautifully (do we not LOVE the moment in "Maximum Consumption" where Ray says "Dave Davies on lead guitar"?) -- and Ray's got his campy voice going on, which I love. Then self-pity wells up for the ballad "Sitting In My Hotel" (poor Ray, sitting in his hotel room -- part of me wants to tell him, GET OVER IT, and another part of me just wants to give him a back rub and make him feel better). Who is this in this song, if not Ray? ("Dressing up in my bow-tie / Prancing round the room like some outrageous poof..."). I can't help it, this song is so wistful that it breaks my heart, every time I hear it. Then comes one of the greatest driving songs ever--"Motorway." Technically it's about commuting, but we all know it's really about travelling on a tour bus. "You've never seen loos like motorway loos / Thousands of people passing through / It's enough to put you off of that motorway food..." And then Dave gets his word in, in "You Don't Know My Name." Again, this works on two levels; one is the general musician's despair that no one knows who he is; the other more particular meaning is that everybody knows Ray but does Dave get enough time in the spotlight? (So it's Dave's self-pity moment -- but with excellent bluesy guitar work, befitting Dave's special talent.) "Supersonic Rocket Ship" -- Ray's voice flutters and that nutty steel band comes in . . . I don't think this is about a rocket ship at all, I personally think it's about getting high on the road, but maybe I'm just, er, projecting.... Next comes one of Ray's best satires ever of the music industry, "Look A Little On The Sunny Side". It may be wrapped up in a music-hall idiom, but Ray has A LOT to get of his chest here. "You've got to laugh / Don't let your critics ever upset you . . . Whistle a tune and think of a catchy happy little song." He's been in and out of favor so often, his head's spinning, and while he SOUNDS philosophical about it all, there's a lot of cynicism and wounded pride underneath that carefree shrug. Most telling of all, it ends with "Celluloid Heroes," Ray's paean to the hunger for celebrity. He's fascinated with their glamour, even when he probes beneath the image to see how lonely they all were. Does Ray want to be a star or not? He doesn't seem to know -- and I love the fact that he doesn't really settle it. Yes, this is how we all feel about celebrities, yadda yadda yadda...but it's Ray's own preoccupation that makes this so heartfelt. It's one of the greatest songs he's ever written. I won't even start on the second disc, the live show, except to say that even though I knew most of these songs from Muswell Hillbillies, hearing the live performance made me understand that I HAD TO see the Kinks perform as soon as possible. What I went through to make that happen will be an entire chapter in my autobiography.
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Post by ilesofsmiles on Mar 7, 2007 1:17:53 GMT -5
Arthur... Put on your slippers and sit by the fire. I'm such a sucker for a good story. Nobody told it first, or better, than Mr. Davies. Harpsichord, Horns and Harmonies.. I'm humming along to the quirkiness of 'She Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina." I can visualize her right now, smiling like a real millionaire. I don't think the tenderness of the vocal harmonies, blended with the bittersweet lyrics of "Young and Innocent Days," has ever been equaled for me. I'll write more later but right now, I just have to listen again. I love your reviews TAG and H2.. ;D
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davek
Session Man
Posts: 293
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Post by davek on Mar 7, 2007 1:29:29 GMT -5
Lola vs Powerman VGPS Face to Face Something Else Arthur
I really love Sleepwalker and Misfits, but they didn't make my top 5. Face to Face and Arthur are fantastic packages with excelent bonus tracks.
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Post by terisong on Mar 7, 2007 3:01:25 GMT -5
Face to Face Kinks Kontroversy Kinda Kinks Arthur Lola VS Powerman Schoolboys In DisGrace This wasn't easy! I really wanted to add more but....
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Post by mrlennie on Mar 7, 2007 14:13:19 GMT -5
Muswell Hillbillies Face to Face Something else A Soap Opera Misfits
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Post by nicola6 on Mar 7, 2007 14:28:54 GMT -5
VGPS society is a great collection of songs, but its much more than that. It's a wonderful evocation of place, and, although we know that it's highly romanticised, we don't care. I want to stroll on the Village Green and meet all of the characters from these songs. It's wistful longing for cherished things passing is something everyone can or will relate to at some point of their lives. Ray's wonderful gift for melody and lyrics infuses this album with a richness that has helped make it a critic's pick for years. He goes from sly observation with "Picture Book" to the sublime and transcendent with "Days."
I love the sound of this album, and also think the singing is wonderful. This is the one that hooked me for good.
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Post by uncleson on Mar 7, 2007 15:31:01 GMT -5
Oh yes, that is definitely true. I feel as if the album were written about my home town, thirty-some years ago. When we did have a village green, and all of my friends were there.
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