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bhikkhu 
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 Topic: The Kinks; where do they fit in?
Posted: May 24 2006 at 00:01 |
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I love the kinks, and a lot of their more creative music is not widely known. They are definitely not prog (which is why I came to this forum), but I think the music would be appealing to most prog people.
So, let's discuss. Are they one of the most underrated bands (IMO, yes)? What are their high, and low points. Should Ray Davies have left rock opera alone, did he get it right, or should he have persued it until he perfected it? These are just some suggestions.
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Kid-A
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 07:23 |
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They're not underrated, they are very highly rated (at least in England)
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chopper
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 07:30 |
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I would agree. "You really got me" is generally recognised as one of the first "heavy" rock songs and, "Waterloo sunset" is a classic. Very influential band, although perhaps only widely known for a handful of songs. I've never heard any of their albums.
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mystic fred
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 07:40 |
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I have heard many references to the Kinks over the years stating they invented the heavy rock riff, with songs such as "you really got me", "all day and all of the night" and "til the end of the day". they are very highly respected among rock fans and though i was never a huge fan i loved their early music, including "Waterloo Sunset" and "Lola" which are all time classic songs. i never really followed their later music so i can't really comment on Ray Davies' rock operas, but i agree about the riff theory!
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Sibbe
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 08:52 |
Kinks are well respected band but sometimes it feels that people forget them. I've listened Kinks since I was a kid and I still love them. I was lucky I once got to see Ray Davies in concert. He's perhaps the greatest lyric writer I know of.
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"I came here for a party and what do I get? Nothing. Not even ice cream."
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wolf0621
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 11:30 |
The Kinks are a great band & one of my personal favorites...Don't think they're necessarily underrated, but they had the bad fortune to be around at the same time as the Beatles, Who & Stones, so I think a lot of what they did (especially early on) was overshadowed by those others. Also, they were banned from touring the US from summer 1965 - spring 1969 due to a falling out w/US tour promoters over $'s. This probably hurt their visibility in the States tremendously, and I don't think their early work really got much recognition here until the 70's & later...There were also some legal issues with their own music publishing company & management during the 60's...And of course they didn't play mega-concerts like Altamont, Woodstock, Isle of Wight & Monterey...Also considered to be "too British" by many...
Great concept records:
Face To Face (Dead End Street is great, so's Sunny Afternoon)
Village Green Preservation Society (considered to be their "answer" to Sgt Pepper's - Johnny Thunder & the title track are great)
Arthur (competing with the Who's Tommy - Victoria & Shangri-La are great tracks)
Muswell Hillbillies (not top-tier for me, too much country influence...20th Century Man and Skin & Bone are good)
Everybody's In Showbiz (Celluloid Heroes is awesome, fantastic lyrics!)
Preservation Act 1 (One of the Survivors & Sitting In the Midday Sun)
Preservation Act 2 (Nothing particularly stands out on its own, but I like the overall "vibe")
A Soap Opera (I love this record, about "normal Norman"..."She's got ducks, ducks, ducks on the wall...")
Schoolboys In Disgrace (also great, some dynamite riffs in I'm In Disgrace, The Hard Way, Jack The Idiot Dunce & Headmaster. Schooldays is a tour de force...The Last Assembly, No More Looking Back & The First Time We Fall In Love are beautifully written & almost haunting...)
As far as non-concept albums go, Lola vs Powerman, Low Budget, Sleepwalker & Misfits stand out for me, plus the excellent early compilations The Kink Kronikles & Greatest Hits (from '89)...I basically lost interest from the late 70's on. There were some good singles here & there, and others were starting to rerecord their older material & producing hits (The Jam, Pretenders, Van Halen) which gave them a boost for a while...
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Equality 7-2521
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 12:02 |
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I agree, an amazing band unfortunatly dwarved by the sucess of much larger bands at the time. Ray Davies had an amazing knack for telling a story and he's probably the best narrative lyricist there ever was. He did a great job with rock operas and I think he really hit the nail on the head. Schoolboy's In Discgrace is easily a five star album as well as Arthur. I think they would appeal to many prog fans as they were quite inventive and had some interesting melodies.
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Dick Heath
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 12:09 |
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The Kinks had the misfortune to run into a year plus of legal procedures, which meant they could not record or perform during the period. Unfortunately I guess this allowed the Pretty Things and the Who to record and release their respective rock operas, SF Sorrow and Tommy. Who knows whether the Kinks would have had the first rock opera without this embargo - however, I have come to the conclusion that a rock opera is a 'concept album' the group have decided to tell the world is a 'rock opera', and hence the Kinks released either concept albums, or the musical soundtrack for a TV play.
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bhikkhu
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 12:21 |
 chopper wrote:
I would agree. "You really got me" is generally recognised as one of the first "heavy" rock songs and, "Waterloo sunset" is a classic. Very influential band, although perhaps only widely known for a handful of songs. I've never heard any of their albums. |
I would highly reccomend exploring the albums. I too was only familiar with their best known tunes, until a few years ago. Once I started to investigate, it became clear that there was a lot more to these guys than "You Really Got Me," "Lola," "Waterloo Sunset," etc. "The Village Green Preservation Society," and "Arthur" are both phenomenal albums, and stray from what might have been expected of them at the time. The period that facinates me the most, is between "Lola" and "Low Budget." My favorites are "Muswell Hillbillies," and "Misfits."
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Zac M
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 14:34 |
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Muswell Hillbillies is a must hear!
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"Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression."
-Merleau-Ponty
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Mikerinos
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 20:22 |
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I only have Village Green Preservation Society and Muswell Hillbillies, they're both great. I wouldn't call them underated at all though, since they get a good amount of radio play and are popular.
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bhikkhu
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Posted: May 24 2006 at 23:51 |
Bluesaga wrote:
I only have Village Green Preservation Society and Muswell Hillbillies, they're both great. I wouldn't call them underated at all though, since they get a good amount of radio play and are popular.
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I guess that maybe "undrerated" was the wrong term. What I was tring to convey was, that for a well known (and respected) band, a good portion of their work is not widely known. I had never heard anything from those two albums, until "Picture Book" was used in that commercial.
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Intruder
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Posted: July 20 2006 at 05:54 |
Saw the Kinks in the USA during their arena rock days of the early 80s....they actually opened at one of those 100,000 person stadium shows for such "heavyweights" as Foreigner and .38 Special. They put on the EXACT same show at a few years later in front of 5,000 as they were riding out their "Father Xmas"/"Don't Forget to Dance"/"Come Dancing" MTV fame. Had tickets to see them at a 1,000 seat venue in the late 80s but they had to cancel 'cause they only sold about 100 seats! THE KINKS ONLY SOLD 100 SEATS....goes to show why some Americans may think they're underrated/underplayed.
Saw Ray Davies at a large club in London and the audience was entranced....much more appreciated in the UK than in the US.
Edited by Intruder - July 20 2006 at 19:31
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I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there.....
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Witchwoodhermit
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Posted: July 22 2006 at 02:41 |
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I think the Kinks are great. This prog site is too obnoxious. Lets take it over and dedicate it to straight up ROCK AND ROLL!
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Here I'm shadowed by a dragon fig tree's fan
ringed by ants and musing over man.
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Rocktopus
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Posted: July 22 2006 at 07:36 |
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I love and have everything by Kinks up to Muswell Hillbillies. Don't
know them as well after that. The flawless Village Green... peaked at
something 150 in the british charts when it was released (not charted
in the US). I think they are underrated as a great album band, and that
their strongest albumefforts are quite unknown.
While some of their early hits are well known and often played. Played, not forgotten, but still underrated maybe?
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Over land and under ashes
In the sunlight, see - it flashes
Find a fly and eat his eye
But don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
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Guzzman
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Posted: July 22 2006 at 07:36 |
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Much has been said here praising the Kinks and all of it is nothing but the simple truth. Ray Davies is a great storyteller and songwriter, easily among Britain's best.
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The Kinks; where do they fit in?
