The Kinks get a large % of the available listening time in my house. They were a venturesome group artistically and pushed a lot of limits in their day + a lot of their stuff including material from their artsy/higher concept days in the early 70's holds up very well to this day.
Pop/rock music owes a lot more to those guys then I think they they ever get credit for. |
i actually thought their heyday went right up through 'everybody's in showbiz'. one night after a flight back home, i heard 'victoria' on the radio and had a religious experience(first time in my lifetime i ever heard that song on fm radio). |
Couldn't agree with you more. If you haven't heard it yet check out the double CD 'To The Bone'. It was recorded in 94' at Konk Studio in front of a small audience and includes a lot of their best hits. It's out of print but can be found on Ebay. |
got it stubby. like it alot. a last hurrah and great overview. |
Jaybo,
I think you meant inkredible.
Ray Davies wrote some great, classic, minimalist rock songs and some bizarre, mannered music hall numbers as well as the extended compositions/concept albums - the latter work produced decidely mixed results. The early stuff may be the most memorable, but a fair bit of great music can actually be found amidst the crap in his worst excesses.
BTW, I believe that Dave Davies is one of the really underrated guitars of his day. (Check out the solo in "I'm Not Like Everybody Else".)
The live shows ocassionally got surreal - elaborate sets and transvestite dancers turned up here and there. The band was a soap opera and I actually saw a (brief) fight between the brothers during a virtually no attendance show in the late Seventies (I believe it was the eminently forgetable "Schoolboys in Disgrace" tour).
IMHO, Ray's recent solo record contains his strongest tunes in some time.
Marty
PS I believe that "You Really Got Me" is the holy grail of ringtones! |
I followed them live in concert through Arthur & Muswell Hillbillies to the theatrical nadir of Soap Opera & Schoolboys(ouch!)... resurfacing with Ray's fine Storyteller tour in the mid 90s and more recent tours with a well-chosen international pick-up band. It's all great even when it isn't. Dave's solo projects are interesting (his spiritual sensiblity in some ways analogous to George Harrison; check out Dave's "Kinked" collection). With Workingman's Cafe Ray is still on top, and as always, a keen observer of the decline and fall of empire. |
The Kinks are one of the greatest groups in music, not just rock, history. Ray Davies is a brilliant lyricist and a great performer, I have seen them at least fifteen times in concert and have thoroughly enjoyed them every time. They have such a tremendous body of music and in my opinion are the most underrated group of all time. |
A great thread (for a change) and, yes, these lads are the joint. Unfairly dismissed as not worthy of "top 5" status, I'd make the case that, excepting the Beatles, who were on another planet, The Kinks are more witty, erudite and varied than The Stones, Who, Zep, Dylan. So, at the very least, if not in the top 5, how about 6 and gaining fast. |
i would agree kompletely, lindisfarne...'God bless the village green' |
"One For the Road" a double live LP released on Arista in 1980 is definitely a contender for the title of greatest live rock album. BTW, there is a new 'audiophile' pressing and it is terrible. I tried 4 different copies from different vendors and they all stunk! Find an original and enjoy. |
I totally agree with much that has been said. From the early days of Lola and You Really Got Me to later on with Everbody's in Showbiz and Give the People What They Want they were always plowing new ground. Very underrated. |
saw them back in the seventies with steve harley and cockney rebel. oh what a night(dave pissed off at ray..the works)l'll say better than the who and zep for sure..the records speak for themselves. |
I have several of there SACD's, including the SACD," One for the Road". The sound quality on the SACD's is pretty good. I really like these a lot.
But, I cant seem to find any SACD's or remastered versions that includes there older hits.
I do have a standard CD called the Kinks- "The Definitive Collection". It has 26 songs on it.
Including the older hits of;
"Well respected Man"
"Tired of waiting for you",
"You really got me",
"All day and all of the night",
"Sunny Afternoon"
"Waterloo Sunset"
"Dead end Street"
"Set me Free"
The Sound quality on this CD is just ok. I would really like to get the best recordings of these songs.
Is there a source with good sound qualty either in SACD or something remastered that has most of these songs on them ? |
ozzy..castle communications just put out a pretty comprehensive box(6 cd's and a great overview). the kinks(hi end audio-wise)sounded better once they hit their rca years, but the later pye/reprise stuff from 'something else' through 'lola' sounds better than the really early stuff(which is sonically a bit like the early rolling stones). a great place to start might be the re-issue of 'the village green preservation society'...a fully realized rock masterpiece. |
Great great group. Ray Davies is one of the most creative people in rock and has somehow managed to keep his feet on the ground.
I saw them on the Soap Opera tour and whether you like the album or not it was a great show. Ray's still going strong on his own. Storyteller and both of his recent solo works are must haves for fans.
I saw Ray a couple of years ago but his efforts were defeated by the guy on the soundboard. I think there's a rule that you have to be deaf to operate one. Or maybe my ears just can't take 130 dbs like they used to. |
I notice that the Kinks back catalog has recently been trickling out on "audiophile vinyl." I don't know how good these reissues sound in comparison to the original issues, most of which were well recorded. One of the best LPs sonically is an import of UK Jive on the London label manufactured in Holland. A copy came to me from a Radio Free Europe record station-- which seems a felicitous association. Nice to know Mr. Davies got beyond the Wall & not bad for $1.99 in the record bins.
BTW, most of early hits were collected on double LPs Pye DP02 "The Kinks" and "The Kink Kronikles" on Reprise. I believe Kronikles is on CD but I don't know about the Pye collection. |
Kronikles is on CD.
Its a very good collection of vintage Kinks material and the sound quality is quite good also. |
Love this band, especially "Muswell" and "Village". Along with the Faces, one of the best and under-rated English bands from that decade and a cornerstone of any pub listening experience. You can also see the direct lineage to modern bands like the Blur.
The original albums of the above titles rock compared to the TERRIBLE reissues that are being pawned off on the audiophile community. |
I think they may have lost the masters. All the CDs sound like second generation tapes. |
Good comparison between the Kinks & the Faces as similarly great & over-looked. I recently discovered the fantastic 4-CD set "Five Guys Walk into a Bar." Sonics of this rare demo & live material is up and down, but it's an amazing testament to the Faces, and to how once in a generation or so the stars all line up in drunkeness. |
Love that box set. In constant rotation at my house. |
Is "Bad n Ruin" the most underappreciated tune ever? |
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