The Kinks

[madali]

The Kinks is probably the most underrated famous 60s band. It is strange, because you sometimes you listen to people, and it seems The Kinks is one of the best and most popular bands from the 60s, and then suddenly, woosh, no one has heard of them. Bands like The Who, The Beatles, The Doors, Rolling Stones, etc are known to most people, whether they are fans of them or not, but Kinks don't fall into the same category.

I'll start reviewing their albums in order.

[X.]

I love the 60s bands! Especially nutters like DEVO who were part of the art rock/punk movement.

I'm not familiar with The Kinks so this series of yours sounds very interesting...

[animatedude]

madali, since most of us not familiar with the bands that you are gonna review.how about you save yourself some time and everytime you open a thread about a band, just tell us which songs we should download.

[madali]

I dont view music as a group of hit songs. Thats why I almost never get BEST OF albums.

An album should be listened and judged as a whole. Specially a lot of the old albums which have a running theme.

Plus, reviewing  them is personally more satisfying!

[shariqq]

An album should be listened and judged as a whole. Specially a lot of the old albums which have a running theme.

This came to me as a realization when I first heard Metallica's self titled treasure cove ( also known as the Black Album). Even though I like quite a lot of their singles from earlier and later albums, some more than individual songs of the Black Album too - nothing beats the pleasure and satisfaction I get from listening to the whole Black Album.

[madali]

Kinks (1964)

Like most early 60’s bands, the first few albums are usually not as interesting as the latter ones. The Kinks debut album is only of an interest to Kinks fans, and they’ll only be Kinks fans by listening to their later albums.

There is nothing memorable in this album, as most of them are weak covers anyway. The songs are not bad, they are just for the most part uninteresting and forgettable.

Personally, I suppose I sort of like “Long Tall Shorty”, musically not good, but I do like the cocky lyrics, “They call me Long Tall Shorty / cause I know what love is all about / Well, I can tell you where the lights go / ooh, when they go out”.

“I’m a Lover, Not a Fighter” has a fun cheesy chorus, with typical early 60s random claps.

So, yes, weak album overall. Except two major highlights. “Stop Your Sobbing” is a well-done, ballad that stands out among the rest.

But the highlight here is the ultimate and probably most famous Kinks song, “You Really Got Me”. Put the song on, raise the volume as high as you can, and then try to realize this was in 1964. The simple cords have by now become legendary, and there have been countless covers of it. The Kinks, nor any other band, have been able to recreate the magic of this song, simple and powerful, “You Really Got Me” is a classic in rock music history.

The album isn’t though.

The re-issue with bonuses also has “All Day and all of the Night” which is an essential listen to those that enjoy “You Really Got Me”.

2/5

YouTube Samples:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M96NaKDaots&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M96NaKDaots&rel=1</a>: This clip doesn't nearly much the intensity of the studio recording, but it is fun in its own way. This was still the early 60s, and they couldn't just smash shit up yet. As a bonus, check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YRqkRmRocQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/0YRqkRmRocQ&rel=1</a>. Hats off to Van Halen, its a great cover.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QePUfGXvV8k&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/QePUfGXvV8k&rel=1</a>: Strange time the 60s. You have a bad ass song like this one, and the live show is screaming girls, go-go dancers, and the Kinks looking like they are going to go to a dinner party.

[madali]

Kinda Kinks (1965)

It is a step forward, but it is still fans material. Huge improvement on the previous album, and is overall more enjoyable.

“Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'bout That Girl” is a decent effort by them. A slow number, that is carried by Ray Davies’s voice, and Ray is one of those rock musicians that probably doesn’t have a great singing voice, but they are able to make it unique and enjoyable.

A better song is “Tired of Waiting for You”, one of the few indications of where The Kinks are heading. A catchy, harmless, and likable tune. A bit like “Come on Now”, another likable song. If those songs are starting points to Kink’s future pop songs, then “Something Better Beginning” is a beginning of Kink’s better ballads.

The reissued album does have some essential bonuses, such as “Set Me Free”, which I consider a minor Kinks classic. The other bonus essential is “I Need You” which is like the sibling of “You Really Got Me”, a simple, catchy, and powerful song. And in the bonuses, there is also “A Well Respected Man”. It is too early to realize this, but one of The Kink’s better trademarks is the songs about characters, and “A Well Respected Man” is probably the first example.

A few good songs, especially if the bonuses are taken into account, but again, it is an album that one better not start with, as The Kinks are still not fully developed.

3/5

YouTube Samples:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oaojZhoeE5s&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/oaojZhoeE5s&rel=1</a> Beautiful song, Ray Davis still looks like a doofus.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4WsmSgBRUe4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/4WsmSgBRUe4&rel=1</a> I'm sorry, I dont know how anyone can get into this band, with Ray Ravis looking like that.

[madali]

The Kink Kontroversy (1965)

The Kinks are still growing, and they are growing fast. This was the early 60s, and in the early 60s, it did not take 3 years to make an album, so when “Kinka Kinks” was released in 1965, it only took a few months for “The Kink Kontroversy” to get released in the same year.

It starts off “The Milk Cow Blues” a fast moving and loud rocker. This would be the last time for a while where Ray Davies would do such a number. After this song (and album) things take on a different turn.

From now on, it will have more songs like “Where Have All the Good Times Gone”. This is The Kinks as I love them. Ray Davies, in 1965, comes dressed up as a pop-rocker, but suddenly, out of now where, decides to become a social commentator. Which the young generation looking forward, who else looked back? “Let it be like yesterday/please let me have happy days” and “daddy didn’t have no toys/mommy didn’t no boys” are the kind of lyrics Ray Davies is best at. Simple and nostalgic, Ray Davies remained out of place in the 60s lyricists.

While “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” is where Ray Davies has finally arrived in the spot where he would be for the next few years, other songs also point the same way. With “I’m on an Island” might seem it is about a girl, but it is obviously about isolation, something strange and heavy to sing about in 1965.

For those that still have “You Really Got Me” stuck in their head, Ray gives them “Till the End of the Day” another rocker. On the bonus side, similar to the previous “A Well Respected Man”, we have “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”, another Kinks character classic. Ray Davies mocks a person who just follows the latest fashion.

A vast improvement in only year. But it will be their next album, that the Kinks finally arrive.

3/5

[madali]

Face to Face (1966)

Finally! This and the next album (“Something Else by the Kinks”) will the two albums that are full of great songs, but are not conceptual. After these two albums, most Kinks albums have concepts. I love concepts, but for a collection of great unrelated songs, here is a fine place to start.

Almost all of the songs here are great. The album starts with a phone ring, with someone answering the phone with ‘Hello, who is that speaking please?’ And so “Party Line” starts, a fun song to begin the album.

Next we have “Rose Won’t You Please Come Home?” A pleading song asking a girl (Ray Davies singing as the girl’s mother) to come back home. Songs like this show that Ray Davies was not bothered with being a cool hip rockster. Everyone else might have been singing about love and freedom, Ray Davies was thinking about how the mothers of run away girls felt like.

And that’s not the only way he is different. Sexual revolution? In “Dandy”, Ray Davies mocks the playboy, Dandy. “When you are old and gray/you will remember what they said/two girls are too many/threes a crowd/and four you’re dead”

The album is full of character songs like that. He also sings about “Session Man”, and in the bonus, there is also “Mr Pleasant” and “Mr Reporter” (a very biting and harsh attack on reporters, “Do you like what you’re doing/or is that you can do nothing else?”

On the bonus side, there is also one of my favorite teenage anthems, “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”. I’m still angsty enough that on bad days, I like to raise the volume, and shout along with, “I don’t want to live my life like everybody else”, even though I pretty much am.

Back to the original tracks, I have very soft spot for “Little Miss Queen of Darkness”. If there were any justice in the world, young sad teenage girls would listen to songs like this instead of whatever emo or goth crap they listen to. “Little Miss Queen of Darkness/dances sadly on”

And there is another one of Kinks classics, “Sunny Afternoon”. My favorite song to relax and let go of my worries. The taxman has taken all his money and his girlfriend has left him with his car, but “now I am sitting here/sipping up my ice cool beer/lazing on a Sunny Afternoon/in the summertime”. What is more pleasant than that?

There is even a Tolkien, mystical tune called “Rainy Day in June” about elves and gnomes.

A great Kinks album, “Face to Face”, shows the various sides of Kinks, without bogging you down with conceptual themes.

4/5

[madali]

Something Else by the Kinks (1967)

Another great album. An extension of the previous album, giving you more songs of various styles.

It starts with the fa-fa-fa song, “David Watts”, a song about a guy who wanted to be like the popular boy at school, and envy never sounded so catchy.

“Death of a Clown” is a sad song, and probably the only song Dave Davies (Ray Davies’ brother) ever did. The vocal here seems here drowned in the music, and the la-la-la is sad and depressing. “Let’s all drink to the death of a clown”

My friends’ favorites has always been “Harry Rag”, a song that I can’t ever see anyone not likable. Because this is the kind of song where if you listen to it two or three times, then on the next listen, you will be certainly singing along with the chorus of “Harry Rag/Harry Rag/do anything just to get a Harry Rag”

Songs about people are still there in songs like “Tin Soldier Man” and “Two Sisters”, but they are not as good as previous or later attempts.

A favorite song of mine in this album (which is only my favorite, it is not really a song that is ever brought up by others) is “Lazy Old Sun”. A love song to the sun, it starts off with a whiny vocal and, well, lazy music, but suddenly it stops and Ray goes, “Kiss me with one ray of light/from your lazy old suuuun”. There has never been a better love song about the sun.

But if you are looking for classics, then it is “Waterloo Sunset”. The Kinks sing about a location called “Waterloo Sunset”, and no place has ever sounded so enduring. “But I don’t need no friends/as long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset/I am in paradise”. A beautiful sound with gorgeous vocals, a listen to this song, and wherever you are living will sound terrible, and you just want to drift to Waterloo, wherever it is.

Other gems might exist depending on your taste, for example, if you like tea, then what better song to celebrate it than “Afternoon Tea”.

“Something Else by the Kinks” is a bit less diverse than “Face to Face” but still full of great songs, and it is more mature.

4/5

[madali]

17 more albums to go!

[X.]

Keep 'em coming!

[weirdo]

I cant believe we are talking about the Kinks here! Not many movie boards talk abt Kinks!

[madali]

Not many movie boards have madali as a member!

[kaytee]

Not many movie boards have madali as a member!

Amen to that.