Kinks

[redredwine]

Got an question for everyone on this lazy Saturday afternoon - Any connection between the Kinks and the Mats? - besides the great music that each band produced. Covers, shared stages, riffs?

[creep66]

The Mats did "All day and All of the Night" in their early shows. These days, I like the Kinks more than The Beatles. Ray Davies was, and is still, brilliant. Great stuff, especially their Village Green record and a few that followed... amazing.

Aug 7, 2010 18:20:06 GMT -5 redredwine said:

Got an question for everyone on this lazy Saturday afternoon - Any connection between the Kinks and the Mats? - besides the great music that each band produced. Covers, shared stages, riffs?

[gowhileucan]

They share a certain contempt for conformity and the "in" crowd. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" could be Paul's theme song.

The Kinks to me were always more of a singles band. Everybody talks about how great Village Green Preservation Society was, but it's not really a Rock album and the songs at the end are not up to the earlier ones on the record. It's very good but still a tad overrated.

Arthur is the Kinks masterpiece I'd say. It's VGPS....... but tighter, more focused, more rocking .........that's a tremendous record.

[redredwine]

I'm with you on Arthur - their best. All throughout their career they recorded some great songs - Ray Davies last solo album even has a couple of gems on it (Working Man's Cafe, The Voodoo walk). Paul's theme song - I like that one.

Aug 9, 2010 19:44:02 GMT -5 gowhileucan said:

They share a certain contempt for conformity and the "in" crowd. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" could be Paul's theme song.

The Kinks to me were always more of a singles band. Everybody talks about how great Village Green Preservation Society was, but it's not really a Rock album and the songs at the end are not up to the earlier ones on the record. It's very good but still a tad overrated.

Arthur is the Kinks masterpiece I'd say. It's VGPS....... but tighter, more focused, more rocking .........that's a tremendous record.

[Philip Garcia]

I love a lot of the kinks work, although I never could get into their first few albums.

I think my favorite album lately has been Preservation (not to be confused with TVGPS), which just has a great sound to it, and the lyrics seem entirely too relevant today. A lot of the Kinks late 60s and early 70s albums have some great social commentary in them. Songs on Musswell Hillbillies talking about eminient domain, and then all of TVGPS talking about social change going on in England.

I don't think these works could be called singles work by any means, just too many coherent albums: Musswell, Arthur, lola, Something else, TVGPS, and of course Preservation. Then there are some later albums that are just as cohesive. Personally, I can't think of a single later kinks album that I don't really like. As for Ray's solo albums, those are actually what had me really starting to get into the kinks in the past couple years. I had picked up Working Man's Cafe used off a few recommendations (and the fact that it was on new west records was enough for me to consider buying it sight unseen). I really dug that album, and his other solo album, and then I realized I really must've been missing something with the kinks. Growing up I knew some of the kink's hit songs, but hadn't really heard their albums much. Thankfully I've since changed that, and just can't get enough of them.

Phil

[DoseOfThunder]

The Kinks are fantastic, and while most seem to feel Preservation Act 2 is the last good thing they did, I disagree greatly. I think everything after that is greatly underrated - late 70's, the entire 80's and their three (or four, depending how you view it) 90s releases. As for VGPS, I remember listening to it before I ever heard any of the raving over it, so to me, it was just this odd little album that I liked, rather then first hearing it was the best thing ever, and expecting to hear it as such. I agree, Arthur is great!

[Man Who Never Learned to Fly]

I love the Kinks, and only recently (last ten years or so) really got into them. I haven't ventured beyond "Everybody's In Showbiz" yet. The bits of the mid-to-late 70s albums I've heard after that sound a bit too much like "Jesus Christ Superstar" for my ears.

But from "Face to Face" through "Muswell Hillbillies," they were fantastic. I even like "Percy." If I had to pick a favorite, it'd probably be "Something Else" or "Arthur."

And they were absolutely a singles band in the beginning. Their first couple of albums are basically some great singles with a whole lot of filler. But they changed and became an album band after about "Face to Face" or so.

[TomT]

Aug 10, 2010 21:36:16 GMT -5 Man Who Never Learned to Fly said:

But from "Face to Face" through "Muswell Hillbillies," they were fantastic. .

I agree with this. Great writing over this period.

There's similarities between Ray Davies and Paul. Don't think either has a driver's license. They both have been known to be ... difficult. Both are pretty much lone wolfs. Both are brilliant songwriters.

[Man Who Never Learned to Fly]

Both bands featured two brothers!

[bside]

Androgynous and Lola kinda have similar themes, I think. Some gender skewing going on in there.

[TomT]

Both bands pretty much shot themselves in the foot to ensure they wouldn't make it big. The Kinks mouthed off to the wrong guy in 1965 while on tour in the States and got themselves banned from playing in this country for 4 years.

The Mats ... well we know their story.

[bside]

Some guy trying to reunite the Kinks and they made a documentary about it: www.examiner.com/indie-movie-in-raleigh/a-great-documentary-about-the-kinks-needs-your-support

[raccoon]

The Kinks 'Do it Again' = The Mats 'When it Began' ??