We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
There are some bands that just ooze the place they come from. The Kinks are one of those bands. After the band signed with RCA Records in 1971, their old label, Reprise, hired journalist and Kinks fan John Mendelson to put together a retrospective of their work on the label from 1966 to 1971. This is the stuff post-You Really Got Me & Tired of Waiting For You- that showed how embued with their Englishness the brothers Davies really were. Ray & Dave Davies, along with drummer Mick Avory and bassists Pete Quaife & John Dalton deliver social commentary disguised as pop music in various forms. The ubiquitous Nicky Hopkins on piano joins in on many of the numbers always adding quality to whatever he touches.
It’s not a true greatest hits package although “Sunny Afternoon, “Lola” and “Apeman are here. There are gems like “Waterloo Sunset” which noted American critic Robert Christgau called “the most beautiful song in the English language”. Here’s a live version from 1973.
There are also 13 non-album singles, most released in Britian only, that most Americans had never heard. Some poppy numbers like “She’s Got Everything”, “This Is Where I Belong” and the tasty little tune simply called “Days” nestled among the acerbic, cynical offerings that detail life in England. They also do a countryfied Elvis send-up called Willisden Green which doesnt fare as well.
The word-play of “The Village Green Preservation Society” is fun and “Holiday In Waikiki” is done with tongue firmly in cheek. Other English centric numbers include ‘Victoria”, “Berkeley Mews”, and Autumn Almanac”. But it’s not all sunshine and Watneys Red Barrel, The despair of the lower classes of the crumbling empire are addressed in tunes like “Susannah’s Still Alive”, “Polly”, “Did You See His Name”, Shangri-La (a British version of Pleasant Valley Sunday) and especially “Dead End Street” , which they released a promotional video for….
This LP is considered one of the better compilation albums of all-time and will get you up to speed with one of the more influential British Invasion bands, even if they are also one of the most underated here in America.
As one commenter said on You Tube…” The Kinks are able to give you a sense of nostalgia for things you’ve never even experienced.” Well put.
Comments