The Kinks

Certain Songs #877: The Kinks – “Killing Time”

May 12, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Think Visual
Year: 1986

Think Visual was the first Kinks album in nearly a decade to show up with no fanfare. With only the Davies brothers left from the original quartet — Mick Avory left after Word of Mouth — they’d transformed into a legacy act.

While it took two decades for that to happen, it was still a fate that The Who had avoided by breaking up (remember, it was 1986) and The Rolling Stones had avoided by sheer force of will, though Dirty Work was slagged pretty hard (and somewhat unfairly), so it was really for the die-hards. I kinda doubt that Think Visual was anybody’s first Kinks album.

And given that the autumn of 1986 was a pretty major transitory period for me, I bought it because it was the Kinks, but it didn’t get nearly a much of an airing as The Smiths and R.E.M. and Elvis Costello and Robyn Hitchcock records that were dominating the hearts and minds of my peers at the time.

Certain Songs #876: The Kinks – “Do It Again”

May 11, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Word of Mouth
Year: 1984

So while I was glad that The Kinks had their biggest single in nearly two decades — number 6 in the U.S. — with “Come Dancing,” outside of the killer bridge, I didn’t feel any particularly affinity for it as a song.

And I really didn’t like the album it featured on, 1983’s anonymously-rocking State of Confusion, which I probably should have revisited for this, but I didn’t. Much better was the follow-up, 1984’s Word of Mouth, which had a pair of stellar tracks: Dave Davies’ lament “Living on a Thin Line” and Ray Davies’ umpteenth song about life on the road, “Do It Again.”

Certain Songs #875: The Kinks – “Around The Dial”

May 10, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Give The People What They Want
Year: 1982

As my favorite Kinks studio album from their hard-rocking renaissance, I was fully aware that Give The People What They Want was as cynical as its title, but I didn’t care. Part of it might have been because I saw them twice during this album cycle, the first at the Fabulous Forum in L.A. with Tim & Larry, right around the time it came out and the second time at the US Festival a year later.

I don’t remember much about the first show — other than the set list was basically the One For The Road setlist w/ a couple of new songs sprinkled in — I do remember that Ray reacted during the US Festival to some people recognizing Chrissie Hynde just offstage by yelling “Haven’t you ever seen a girlfriend before!”

Certain Songs #874: The Kinks – “Celluloid Heroes (Live)”

May 9, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: One For The Road
Year: 1980

I’m sure that some of you were wondering where the hell this was when I zipped from “20th Century Man” to “No More Looking Back” last week. After all, it’s the one song between “Lola” and “Come Dancing” that’s stuck in the culture.

It’s just that I’ve always like this live version — kicked off by a long, thrilling Dave Davies guitar solo — better than the slightly wispy original version, that’s all, especially since it’s not like they rock it up too much after the song proper starts.

Certain Songs #873: The Kinks – “The Hard Way (Live)”

May 8, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: One For The Road
Year: 1980

With each of the long-running 1960s artists that had somehow lasted into the late 1970s, there was a milestone that I call “The First Album That Came Out After I Became a Fan.” In other words, I’d been digging into their back catalogs, but look! here’s was a brand new record as well!

So for example, with The Rolling Stones, that record was Some Girls, for The Who, it was Who Are You, and for The Kinks, that record was 1979’s Low Budget.

Certain Songs #872: The Kinks – “A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy”

May 7, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Misfits
Year: 1978

In one of those coincidences that really only could have happened in the late 1970s, there was not one, but two relatively big songs written by British rockers with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” in the title.

Which makes some sense, as both Ray Davies and Paul Rodgers were pushing the ripe old age of 30, and the 1970s was pretty the peak of rock ‘n’ roll fantasy lifestyle, so not only was it not that surprising they wrote these songs, what is surprising is that Pete Townshend, Robert Plan and Mick Jagger didn’t also write songs called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy.” Though honestly, Townshend at least wrote tons of songs where that was the theme.

Certain Songs #871: The Kinks – “Juke Box Music”

May 6, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sleepwalker
Year: 1977

As if to draw a line in the sand between phases of their career, 1976 was the first year in the Kinks history without a new studio album. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the things I really like in an artist is prolificness, and The Kinks — Ray Davies, really — were more so than most.

To make a comparison with their surviving British Invasion peers, The Who had started skipping years in 1968 (skipping ’68, ’70, ’72,’74 & ’76) and the Rolling Stones in 1970 (skipping ’70 & ’75), but not only had The Kinks put out 14 studio albums from 1964-1976 (compared to 13 by the Stones and, er, seven by The Who), they would put out eight more between 1977-1989, when they finally started slowing down. By comparison, The Who only put out three albums in that period, and the Rolling Stones six.

Certain Songs #870: The Kinks – “No More Looking Back”

May 5, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Schoolboys in Disgrace
Year: 1975

FOUR YEARS LATER

For me, the albums that followed Muswell Hillbillies — Everybody’s in Showbiz, Preservation Act 1, Preservation Act 2, A Soap Opera — were all duds. For whatever reason, Ray Davies had distanced himself from his songs, either via writing strictly for characters or piling instrument after instrument between himself and his listeners.

It’s all signified by the cover of Preservation Act 1: The Kinks had tripled in size while losing 2/3 of their focus.

I’m sure there are gems on every one of them (I know there are on A Soap Opera, of all things) — including the one classic song from that period that some of you might be worried I’m skipping (which I’m not) — but my collective impression of them is that they’re overcluttered and shrill.

Certain Songs #869: The Kinks – “20th Century Man”

May 4, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Muswell Hillibillies
Year: 1971

Just as some of you think that Face to Face is the equal of the records that followed it, a lot of Kinks fans think that Muswell Hillbillies is the equal of the albums that followed it. I don’t quite share that opinion, even though I think both of those records are incredibly strong.

That said, Muswell Hillbillies does stand as a definite transition album — away from the rock and pop songs that had previously dominated their sounds toward horn-and-piano-filled roots music from both sides of the pond.

Certain Songs #868: The Kinks – “God’s Children”

May 3, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Percy Soundtrack
Year: 1971

Wait! What is the Percy Soundtrack? That’s a very good question. As Ray Davies had come off of three successful concept albums in a row, the producers of the film Percy thought it would be cool to have Ray write a bunch of songs for the soundtrack of their comedy about the first successful penis transplant.

And in case you’re wondering: this wasn’t a fly-by-night indie film. This was a relatively big production starring people like Denholm Elliott, Elke Sommer and Britt Ekland and was the 8th-highest grossing film in the U.K. that year. Even better, it was based upon a novel by Robyn Hitchcock’s father, Raymond.