Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround

Certain Songs #867: The Kinks – “A Long Way From Home”

May 2, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround
Year: 1970

The last song I’m posting from the Kinks klassic four-album run, the slowly burning “A Long Way From Home” features one of the most beautiful melodies that Ray Davies ever wrote combined with one of the most poignant lyrics he ever came up with.

While it could be addressed to a friend, or an ex-lover, it might yet be another song about his brother Dave. In a weird way, a callback to “Death of a Clown,” or at least a report card on how Ray sees his brother as the 1960s crashed into the 1970s.

Certain Songs #866: The Kinks – “This Time Tomorrow”

May 1, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround
Year: 1970

I guess that on one level, “This Time Tomorrow” is your standard “life is tough on the road” song. After all, over an energetic folk-rock backing — I don’t think there’s even an electric guitar anywhere on it — Ray could be construed as complaining about his life on the road by claiming he has no idea where he’s going be just 24 hours later.

But “This Time Tomorrow” doesn’t really come across as complaining, more like wistfulness at the life he’s chosen, airplane noises and all.

Certain Songs #865: The Kinks – “Strangers”

April 30, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Part One
Year: 1970

If I think that Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Part One is the fourth straight utterly unassailable Kinks album — capping a run that puts them up there with any four-album run by any artist ever — that seems to be a slightly controversial position, as its critical reputation hasn’t held up as well as the four albums that preceded it, or the one that came after.

But that’s horseshit, because while Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround doesn’t completely hang together as a concept album, per se, it’s an absolutely fantastic collection of folk-rock songs that often drift into rock-rock songs, free of the horns that fought for space in Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of The British Empire) or the sometimes fussy arrangements from The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society or Something Else By The Kinks.

Certain Songs #864: The Kinks – “Lola”

April 29, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
Year: 1970

The Kinks recorded better songs. The Kinks recorded more popular songs. But The Kinks never recorded a more iconic song.

Not “You Really Got Me,” which got co-opted by Van Halen for better and worse. Not “Celluloid Heroes,” even if I sing it to myself every time I walk down Hollywood Blvd. Not even “Waterloo Sunset,” no matter how beautiful it was.

No, it’s “Lola.” “El-oh-el-Ay, Lola.” From the percussive riff that anchors it to the sing-along fade out, “Lola” was the song that — more than any other — would forever be associated with The Kinks. Its unexpected popularity — their first top ten hit in the U.S. in 5 years (and their last one for 13) — was credited by Dave Davies for saving the band.