aotw mardi gras 2015: the kinks

[dime in the gutter]

thank you, btb.

i've run out of words to properly describe the genius of the davies brothers.

and i use huge pictures.

[dime in the gutter]

7. Shangri-La

You can go outside and polish your car
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
Here is your reward for working so hard
Side 2 begins with a song showcasing various tempo and stylistic shifts. A precursor to “Stairway to Heaven”? This one also stretches out over five plus minutes. We also get the return of the harpsichord. Arthur sacrificed and suffered all his life and what does he have to show for it? This track seems to divide Kinks enthusiasts. Personally, I love it.

obvious influence is obvious on righteous path and screwtopia from patterson.

Shangri-la
Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Chord file

Lyrics:

Now that you've found your paradise
This is your Kingdom to command
You can go outside and polish your car
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
Here is your reward for working so hard
Gone are the lavatories in the back yard
Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car
You just want to sit in your Shangri-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher
You're in your place and you know where you are
In your Shangri-la
Sit back in your old rocking chair
You need not worry, you need not care
You can't go anywhere
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

The little man who gets the train
Got a mortgage hanging over his head
But he's too scared to complain
'Cos he's conditioned that way
Time goes by and he pays off his debts
Got a TV set and a radio
For seven shillings a week
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

And all the houses in the street have got a name
'Cos all the houses in the street they look the same
Same chimney pots, same little cars, same window panes
The neighbors call to tell you things that you should know
They say their lines, they drink their tea, and then they go
They tell your business in another Shangri-la
The gas bills and the water rates, and payments on the car
Too scared to think about how insecure you are
Life ain't so happy in your little Shangri-la
Shangri-la, Shangri-la la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher
You're in your place and you know where you are
In your Shangri-la
Sit back in your old rocking chair
You need not worry, you need not care
You can't go anywhere
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

generally speaking. arthur is an beast of an album. magnum opus material. possibly with a bullet. astounding.

most excellent post on that lp.

[dime in the gutter]

5. Brainwashed

You look like a real human being
But you don't have a mind of your own
Another catchy, up-tempo song with snarling guitars and featuring more horns. More political musings from Ray chiding the common man for being too content with his life and allowing the dirty rats (the aristocrats & bureaucrats) to brainwash them into accepting their mundane existence.

6. Australia

Opportunities are available in all walks of life in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Late 50’s/early 60’s Great Britain witnessed large scale emigration to Australia with the promise of more opportunities and a better life. As mentioned above, the former Rose Davies and her husband were two of those people. Musically, this is much different from previous Kinks stuff. Clocking in at just under seven minutes, it closes out with a four-minute instrumental jam with Dave noodling and the horns calling out.

rock god guitar clinics.

brainwashed: that fucking scuzzzz tone.

australia: love boat high seas flamenco and shit strumming and then he does mick taylor's solo from the end of can't you hear me knocking. before mick did it.

[cortez the killer]

Everybody’s in Show-Biz (1972)
Somewhat of a transitional album, Everybody’s in Show-Biz is a double record with the first part being studio material and the second part a culled from a two-night stand at Carnegie Hall in March of 1972. The album’s central themes are Ray’s reflections on being a rock star and the monotonous existence of life on the road, material that would be heavily mined on future Kinks records. With the US touring band lifted, Everybody’s in Show-Biz provides us with Ray’s first real examination of America. He seems particularly intrigued with Hollywood and the hollow, isolated existence that lurks beneath the glitzy façade. He is also oddly obsessed with food. Many of the songs are rooted in the vaudeville/dance hall traditions from Ray’s childhood. The live record showcases a loose, boozy version of the band and borrows heavily from Muswell Hillbillies and Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround ("Top of the Pops" and "Alcohol" are standouts). In the live setting, Ray drunkenly settles into the role of vaudeville ringmaster, providing commentary, leading sing-a-longs, introducing the band (and himself as Johnny Cash). Not as solid as the incredible run of Kinks records that preceded it, Everybody’s in Show-Biz exhibits a unique charm and serves as the gateway to the theatrical period the band was about to embark upon.

1. Here Comes Yet Another Day

Here comes yet another day, creeping through my window
Drank myself to sleep last night, beer stains on my pillow
Album ushered in with someone leaning on the organ. The boring, mundane aspects of touring detailed against a backdrop of punchy music with Toussaint-inspired horns and the rhythm section settling into a groove.

2. Maximum Consumption

Don't you know that you gotta eat food
Don't you know that you gotta refuel
The first song detailing one of the album’s stranger central topics, food. Loose & boozy, it sounds like a track strongly influenced by the Muswell Hillbillies sessions. Big brother with a shout-out to little brother - “Dave Davies on lead guitar."

3. Unreal Reality

All around me is such unreality
Optical illusions as far as my eyes can see
Is the whole thing a fake, or the ultimate reality
Ray starts out the song sounding like a circus ringmaster. Horns featured prominently again. Ray investigating matters of perception and reality. Contributes to the album's theme, but, musically speaking, a pretty forgettable track.

4. Hot Potatoes

I said I don't need your fancy cooking
I like the simple things in life
Just give me those plain hot potatoes
Another song about food, at least metaphorically. On the surface, goofy lyrically, but musically they nail that ramshackle Faces vibe. Disillusioned with fake, glossy things, Ray yearns for something real and simple. Something like plain, hot potatoes. Brothers share vocal responsibilities and are accompanied by some fantastic barroom piano and slide guitar.

5. Sitting in My Hotel

Sitting in my hotel, hiding from the dramas of this great big world
Seven stories high, looking at the world go by-y
Gorgeous, melancholic piano ballad with Ray reflecting on his life, where he came from and where he is today. Conveys the growing sense of isolation his stardom has fueled. Love the roller coaster melodies on this one. One of the album highlights. Obvious influence is obviously Elton John.

6. Motorway

Motorway food is the worst in the world,
The coffee tastes weak and the cakes taste stale
And gasoline fumes are the worst to inhale,
Your stomach rolls over and your face turns pale
Peppy country cut that is yet another song centered around food. Another lyrically silly song that works its way into your brain. Great candidate for a road trip mixtape.

7. You Don’t Know My Name

I keep moving on
I keep rolling on
But does anybody know my name
Dave contributes a cosmic cowboy-sounding song where he sounds a lot like Faces’ Ronnie Lane. The flute on this song inspired The Marshall Tucker Band to form - obvious influence is obvious.

8. Supersonic Rocket Ship

On my supersonic rocket ship
Nobody has to be hip
Nobody needs to be out of sight. Out of sight.
Fucking love this song. Kinks soaking in that Island beat. I guess this is as close as we’ll get to Reggae Kinks. Lyrically, Ray is building his own Noah’s Ark, except this one is a rocket and flies to some outer space utopia – “Nobody's gonna travel second class. There'll be equality and no suppression of minorities.” Another anti-hipster anthem.

9. Look a Little on the Sunnyside

They're gonna put you down for a while
You've got to learn to grit your teeth and smile
Vaudeville is in Ray’s blood and takes center stage on this track. Lyrically, we have Ray providing some prospective on how to handle the flood of negativity when you live life in the public eye – “You gotta laugh, don't let your critics ever upset you, 'cos for a while the cynics will all be out to get you. You gotta be shrewd, you gotta be strong, you've gotta convince yourself that you are not wrong.”

10. Celluloid Heroes

Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a star
And everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you are
Incredible song to close the studio side. One of Ray’s crowing achievements, particularly the hushed vocal delivery. He crafts a lachrymose ballad centered on the lives of the old Hollywood elite – “People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame. Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.” These are the people Ray can relate to. An undisputed, all-time Kinks Klassic.

[beantownbubba]

One of Ray’s crowing achievements,

An undisputed, all-time Kinks Klassic.

Some days I think "Celluloid Heroes" is their greatest song. It's certainly among 'em.

Nice work on the felt forum pic

[cortez the killer]

6. Australia

Opportunities are available in all walks of life in Australia
So if you're young and if you're healthy
Why not get a boat and come to Australia
Late 50’s/early 60’s Great Britain witnessed large scale emigration to Australia with the promise of more opportunities and a better life. As mentioned above, the former Rose Davies and her husband were two of those people. Musically, this is much different from previous Kinks stuff. Clocking in at just under seven minutes, it closes out with a four-minute instrumental jam with Dave noodling and the horns calling out.

rock god guitar clinics.

australia: love boat high seas flamenco and shit strumming and then he does mick taylor's solo from the end of can't you hear me knocking. before mick did it.

Great call/association on the "Can't You Hear Me Knocking-ish" outro on "Australia".

We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.

Hat tip to The Beach Boys.

[cortez the killer]

Nice work on the felt forum pic

No problem, Big Daddy. I'm always looking out for you & your Kinks Kock.

[Clams]

INPO:

1. Celluloid Heroes
2. All Day and All of the Night
3. Low Budget
4. Father Christmas
5. Better Things

HM: Sunny Afternoon, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, Waterloo Sunset, Destroyer, Come Dancing

[cortez the killer]

Only 2 purple patch songs, Clams? Nothing off Village Green, Arthur, Lola Versus or Muswell Hillbillies?

[Iowan]

INPO:

1. Celluloid Heroes
2. All Day and All of the Night
3. Low Budget
4. Father Christmas
5. Better Things

HM: Sunny Afternoon, Where Have All the Good Times Gone, Waterloo Sunset, Destroyer, Come Dancing

Keep in mind the majority of my Kinks experience has been gleaned in the past month.

1. Lola
2. All Day and All of the Night
3. Muswell Hillbilly
4. Strangers
5. Low Budget

Waterloo Sunset, Victoria, Contenders, The Village Green Preservation Society all knocking

[Clams]

Only 2 purple patch songs, Clams? Nothing off Village Green, Arthur, Lola Versus or Muswell Hillbillies?

I'm relatively new to those records while the songs I listed have been swimming in my brain for 35 years.

[beantownbubba]

Let's see...Waterloo Sunset...Low Budget...Waterloo Sunset...Low Budget...Waterloo Sunset...Low Budget.

May I ask you guys to listen one more time?

I don't really get the You Really Got Me v. All Day and All of the Night thing either, but I suppose it can be argued that it's 6 of one, a half dozen of the other. But why not pick the original? Cue "Same Old Song" and fade...

[Iowan]

In the battle of sleazy v. beautiful, I tend to go sleazy.

Prairie vs. Fancy, I guess.

[dime in the gutter]

wicked annabella from vgps

obvious influence is obvious for t-rex.

also covered by uncle acid and the deadbeats....i think.

[cortez the killer]

1. 20th century man: lazy acoustic opening giving way to driving tempo. protagonist is paranoid and out of touch with the times and possibly reality, itself. bonus points for trippy interlude while detailing the welfare state.

I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

[beantownbubba]

In the battle of sleazy v. beautiful, I tend to go sleazy.

Prairie vs. Fancy, I guess.

So I figured I should take my own advice. Maybe I wasn't remembering "low budget" right, so I listened to it a couple of times. It's a little tighter and sharper than I remembered, but not too much different.

"Low Budget" is a hit single. That's not an insult of any kind. It's a good song; somebody 8 to 10 years younger than me (someone like, say...clams!) probably has great associations w/ that song because it was part of the soundtrack to some really good times. "Why do we like what we like" and all that. But the song is AC/DC playing to radio programmers or The J. Geils Band on a "let's make some money" kind of day. There's nothing wrong w/ any of that. It's catchy, you can dance and drink lots of beer to it, Ray Davies can't help sneaking a couple of superior lines in there and it hits the melodic arena rock sing along spot. It's a highlight for a one shot wonder kind of band and a perfectly respectable middle of the catalog thing for a band like the Kinks. But there are a whole bunch of low budget's out there. As I'm typing, "Gallon of Gas" came on. It's everything wrong w/ "Low Budget" w/out its redeeming qualities, so maybe listen to that one to understand what I'm trying to get at - it's well played, it's professional, it's catchy, it's the kinks after all, but OMG it's so derivative it's like it was constructed, not written, and lyrically it's so short of what Ray Davies is capable of, so settling for easy and cute that one might assume that he wrote it while he was watching tv or something.

I don't want to say much about "Waterloo Sunset" 'cause I will undoubtedly come off as fancy, pedantic and curmudgeonly at best. I will say that nobody can accuse it of being generic or of being tossed off while multi-tasking.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Picking Kinks songs out of a hat and calling them favorites it's a fools errand in my opinion but hey, you do what you gotta. All I'll say is this, Celluloid Heroes was the first song that I can remember that made me cry. As such I avoided it for at least the next ten years after I first heard it, since I believed the whole "men aren't supposed to cry" mythos, only revisiting it when I realized other songs made me cry too and maybe that wasn't so terribly awful. It's a beautiful, sad song that anyone that spent hours and hours and hours watching black and white classics on the TV can relate to.

[Iowan]

In the battle of sleazy v. beautiful, I tend to go sleazy.

Prairie vs. Fancy, I guess.

So I figured I should take my own advice. Maybe I wasn't remembering "low budget" right, so I listened to it a couple of times. It's a little tighter and sharper than I remembered, but not too much different.

"Low Budget" is a hit single. That's not an insult of any kind. It's a good song; somebody 8 to 10 years younger than me (someone like, say...clams!) probably has great associations w/ that song because it was part of the soundtrack to some really good times. "Why do we like what we like" and all that. But the song is AC/DC playing to radio programmers or The J. Geils Band on a "let's make some money" kind of day. There's nothing wrong w/ any of that. It's catchy, you can dance and drink lots of beer to it, Ray Davies can't help sneaking a couple of superior lines in there and it hits the melodic arena rock sing along spot. It's a highlight for a one shot wonder kind of band and a perfectly respectable middle of the catalog thing for a band like the Kinks. But there are a whole bunch of low budget's out there. As I'm typing, "Gallon of Gas" came on. It's everything wrong w/ "Low Budget" w/out its redeeming qualities, so maybe listen to that one to understand what I'm trying to get at - it's well played, it's professional, it's catchy, it's the kinks after all, but OMG it's so derivative it's like it was constructed, not written, and lyrically it's so short of what Ray Davies is capable of, so settling for easy and cute that one might assume that he wrote it while he was watching tv or something.

I don't want to say much about "Waterloo Sunset" 'cause I will undoubtedly come off as fancy, pedantic and curmudgeonly at best. I will say that nobody can accuse it of being generic or of being tossed off while multi-tasking.

Maybe I like Low Budget because it's comfortable and familiar for all those reasons.

I'd honestly never heard it before the past few weeks, but it immediately grabbed me as the dirty 70's sleazy blues based riffing rock song. I fucking love that shit. This is my wheelhouse, baby!

[Clams]

In the battle of sleazy v. beautiful, I tend to go sleazy.

Prairie vs. Fancy, I guess.

So I figured I should take my own advice. Maybe I wasn't remembering "low budget" right, so I listened to it a couple of times. It's a little tighter and sharper than I remembered, but not too much different.

"Low Budget" is a hit single. That's not an insult of any kind. It's a good song; somebody 8 to 10 years younger than me (someone like, say...clams!) probably has great associations w/ that song because it was part of the soundtrack to some really good times. "Why do we like what we like" and all that. But the song is AC/DC playing to radio programmers or The J. Geils Band on a "let's make some money" kind of day. There's nothing wrong w/ any of that. It's catchy, you can dance and drink lots of beer to it, Ray Davies can't help sneaking a couple of superior lines in there and it hits the melodic arena rock sing along spot. It's a highlight for a one shot wonder kind of band and a perfectly respectable middle of the catalog thing for a band like the Kinks. But there are a whole bunch of low budget's out there. As I'm typing, "Gallon of Gas" came on. It's everything wrong w/ "Low Budget" w/out its redeeming qualities, so maybe listen to that one to understand what I'm trying to get at - it's well played, it's professional, it's catchy, it's the kinks after all, but OMG it's so derivative it's like it was constructed, not written, and lyrically it's so short of what Ray Davies is capable of, so settling for easy and cute that one might assume that he wrote it while he was watching tv or something.

I don't want to say much about "Waterloo Sunset" 'cause I will undoubtedly come off as fancy, pedantic and curmudgeonly at best. I will say that nobody can accuse it of being generic or of being tossed off while multi-tasking.

1. Bubba I think you're under-appreciating the song. It's a borderline masterpiece at describing the life of the masses who are scraping by and not keeping up with the Joneses.

2. This is why all "best of" lists should really be "favorite" lists.

[RMD]

For me the earlier stuff is great, later stuff garbage. But you can say that about tons of bands really.

[Markalanbishop]

Too lazy to scroll through and see if this has already been posted. Nothing rare, just more awesomeness.

[Markalanbishop]

Ray indulging himself. Shocking I know, but 2 great songs.

[cortez the killer]

Speaking of Celluloid Heroes, Waterloo Sunsets & favorite Kinks songs, I recently came across a 1974 interview with Ray Davies in Circus Magazine. The last part of the interview certainly fits some of the recent discussion in this thread.

Circus: What's the difference between London and Hollywood?
Ray: Hollywood is the film capital of the world. "Waterloo Sunset" came out of London and "Celluoid Heroes" came out of Hollywood and they're both the same as far as I'm concerned. The difference is you can't be in two places at once.
Circus: Do you remember seeing your first palm tree?
Ray: I remember saying how strange it is to see a palm tree in England. The first one I saw was in England. It was in a seaside resort called Torqueay in the southern tip of England.
Circus: Is everybody in showbiz?
Ray: Yeah. Everybody could do a performance of what they do. I remember when I was in drama school we had to act out an everyday living scene, ad lib, and everybody else was doing clever things, really inventive things and I couldn't think of anything. I'll tell you what I did. I sat in a chair and I fell asleep. Everyone else was running around and they noticed me not doing anything so they asked me what I was doing and I said I was watching television. I was doing a performance and I wasn't doing anything. I was contributing to the performance around me and I believe everybody does.
Circus: Is that why you make your audience perform by singing and clapping along?
Ray: They wouldn't be there if they didn't want to be involved. But they're not at all overwhelmed by what I do. They go and see a great guitar player, or a great musical band, and it's their performance to sit there. It's their part to play, to be absorbed or be overwhelmed by it, so they're contributing the same as our audience is.
Circus: Which star's footprint in Hollywood is your favorite?
Ray: One thing I noticed about the footprints and hand thing is the size of Jean Harlow's hand. It's the tiniest. She was an enormous property but she had little hands. I really wanted to put that line in "Celluloid Heroes" but never did.
Circus: Is "Celluloid Heroes" the Kinks best song?
Ray: No. Perhaps it's the most dramatic. It moves along nicely and builds up an image. I don't know if I have a favorite song.

[beantownbubba]

"It moves along nicely."

[John A Arkansawyer]

So I figured I should take my own advice. Maybe I wasn't remembering "low budget" right, so I listened to it a couple of times. It's a little tighter and sharper than I remembered, but not too much different.

The songs to focus on are "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" and "Catch Me Now, I'm Falling".

On so many songs--and look at how Arthur is subtitled!--Ray is singing the leaving of Liverpool (by capital, the consequence of the fall of Empire and the inability to capture then the value looted from working people and exfiltrated to the cash havens of the rich), but here they're turning in to Americans (whose internal empire, the fifty states had reached its peak, the so-called middle class having been built from the spoils of empire, of land stolen from natives and an economy built on the Southern slave society feeding the raw materials of blood and cotton into manufacture, and the clawback beginning.)

Ray has a sharp understanding of class politics and an inability to come to terms with the conflict between the white working class and the non-white working class which was exploited to give the white working class the illusion of being the middle class, said swimming pools now being clawed back by finance capital.

That's why he's a genuine Celluloid Hero and not the leader of a movement. The only such path open to him is the nationalist, racialist politics with which he occasionally flirts and then rejects. I think he understands that to embrace the (O irony!) Dark Side in that manner is utterly rational and utterly wrong.

And yet, before Reagan and Bush and Clinton, he intuited that Our Time Had Come. The next song to matter was "A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country".

[beantownbubba]

"Waterloo Sunset" came out of London and "Celluoid Heroes" came out of Hollywood and they're both the same as far as I'm concerned.

Proving that either Ray Davies is full of shit and will say anything to sell records or that he doesn't really know what he's saying. I suspect the former.

"Waterloo Sunset" is about a sense of place, permanence, rootedness. "Celluloid Heroes" is about transience, anomie, rootlessness. And I think Ray Davies knows that.

[Tequila Cowboy]

"Waterloo Sunset" came out of London and "Celluoid Heroes" came out of Hollywood and they're both the same as far as I'm concerned.

Proving that either Ray Davies is full of shit and will say anything to sell records or that he doesn't really know what he's saying. I suspect the former.

"Waterloo Sunset" is about a sense of place, permanence, rootedness. "Celluloid Heroes" is about transience, anomie, rootlessness. And I think Ray Davies knows that.

Couldn't you fairly call them two sides of the same coin though? That's what I took out of the statement, but maybe that was reading between lines that weren't there?

[beantownbubba]

"Waterloo Sunset" came out of London and "Celluoid Heroes" came out of Hollywood and they're both the same as far as I'm concerned.

Proving that either Ray Davies is full of shit and will say anything to sell records or that he doesn't really know what he's saying. I suspect the former.

"Waterloo Sunset" is about a sense of place, permanence, rootedness. "Celluloid Heroes" is about transience, anomie, rootlessness. And I think Ray Davies knows that.

Couldn't you fairly call them two sides of the same coin though? That's what I took out of the statement, but maybe that was reading between lines that weren't there?

I don't know. I don't hear/see that, but could be.

I do think a sense of nostalgia pervades both so maybe they're linked by the passage of time and what it does to cities and people. But I'm kinda stuck on "they're both the same as far as I'm concerned." To me that diminishes both songs (and both cities for that matter), which is especially unfortunate because both songs are important to me. Calling them two sides of the same coin would solve most of my problems with Davies's comments, but I can't get there from here.

But now that you mention it, 2 sides of the same single would be amazingly awesome. "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields" only better.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I don't know. I don't hear/see that, but could be.

I do think a sense of nostalgia pervades both so maybe they're linked by the passage of time and what it does to cities and people. But I'm kinda stuck on "they're both the same as far as I'm concerned." To me that diminishes both songs (and both cities for that matter), which is especially unfortunate because both songs are important to me. Calling them two sides of the same coin would solve most of my problems with Davies's comments, but I can't get there from here.

But now that you mention it, 2 sides of the same single would be amazingly awesome. "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields" only better.

They are two of my favorites too. The one thing that I always try to understand when dealing with the Kinks, and similarly with The Jam, is just how British they are and how sometimes the songs are more difficult to permeate from a perspective of understanding and right along with that how Ray describes his work. I didn't consciously think that in this case until you posted but by him describing one as being coming out of London and the other coming out of Hollywood I get the sense that he's discussing the sense of place with both but keep in mind that one place is home and the other is not. Or I could be full of shit. It happens.

[beantownbubba]

by him describing one as being coming out of London and the other coming out of Hollywood I get the sense that he's discussing the sense of place with both but keep in mind that one place is home and the other is not.

Sense of place is hugely important in Davies' writing and I absolutely agree that the one song is rooted in London and the other in Hollywood and that he knows one better than the other. I just don't think they're the same.