Dave: 6/10 with ‘Don’t Wanna Grow Up’ not making the cut mainly because I just overlooked it. If I had a do-over I’d find a spot for it (offhand, at the expense of ‘Let Me Be’). Ray and his ‘One More Time’: A wonderful song with astute, clever lyrics set to a meandering melody. Lovely but I didn’t have room on the list. 4/10 for Ray.
I've just realized I forgot to thank @palisantrancho for reminding me that the Let Me Be high voice gimmick was similar to Wilco's Hoodoo Voodoo. Of course it is. A mix between Mumbo and Hoodoo Voodoo. Hoodoo Mumboo perhaps. Or Mumboo Voodoo. Take your pick ! I don't think so. I'm afraid any 80 Days track will have difficulties finding its way on to here. I hope I'm wrong, but with only 10 slots remaining and many good released songs still missing, I'll be surprised. Yeah, lots of cool Scattered, one by Neil Young, one by the Posies, now one by Gilmour… Not sold on the first song yet, but it may grow on me. About Ray's song of the day, whenever One More Time starts, I'm immediately sold: here's one of the best aching melodies in his solo "œuvre", and a highlight of Working Man's Café's second half, just after the mighty Imaginary Man. I love the first verse immensely, I think it's effective, contained, immediate, just wonderful, with the sublime B minor chord change (one of Ray's aces in the sleeve) and some superb singing. Then, it's like Ray couldn't develop the melodic idea in a satisfying way for a while, it kinda stalls, meanders a bit, the song drifts into less inspired lalala's, I kind of lose interest (which doesn't happen to me very often, especially when lalala's are involved), at least until the great hook, "let's sing it loud with feeling / Come on / One more time". It's a very long melody (always a treat in itself) and I guess Ray never found anything better to get from the opening melody to the hook, which sadly prevented the song from being a serious contender in my list. That and of course the out of place second verse, that @Steve62's been so vocal about a couple of times already. Steve being too shy to re-post his re-writes of old Kinks klassiks to prove his point, I thought I'd copy paste them for him. Still cracks me up ! Thank you for the days, Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me. I'm thinking of the economic vultures Stole our dreams and told us tales I won't forget a single day, believe me. The tax man's taken all my dough, And left me in my stately home, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. And corporations get the tax breaks While the city gets the crime All I've got's this sunny afternoon
Another day and yet another Ray song not on my list. I'm beginning to think I don't like his solo career, which is partly true. My top three songs are from 80 Days, which was never even released. I do have four songs from Other People's Lives and four songs from Working Man's Café. I'm guessing I will have most of the top ten songs on my list or Dave is going to blow Ray out of the water. Something I never expected to happen. "One More Time" is fine, but I find it a little bland and it fails to excite me. It's not one of my favorites on the album. I see I even felt the same way 734 pages ago! As for Dave, he continues to surprise me. I think "Don't Wanna Grow Up" is lovely. He takes chances and mixes up his styles so much that at least he is never boring or predictable. This has a beautiful piano melody and a touching vocal. It was #10 on my list. Song #11 goes to Dave Dave- 7 Ray- 3
'Don't Wanna Grow Up' isn't in my list, not that is shouldn't be, it could well have been, it's that, amazing as it sounds, I didn't have space in my top 20! I think 'Open Road' is Dave's most cohesive album. I hope his next one follows this template. 'One More Time' is a top 5 entry for my Raylist. I think it's great, especially the offending verse ending in the depot in South Wales. About a specific event moving the famous Manchester brewery 'Boddingtons' from the city to a depot in South Wales. When we get our final countdown, I'm thinking 'Working Man's Cafe' will be top of the pops. There are some very strong songs on there, and for me, 'One More Time' is one of them. Three of my top five are from this album. Ray takes the prize today.
I may have posted this back in the day, but for Avid Fortuleo, here’s “Australia” by the Len Price 3:
Don't Wanna Grow Up - Unranked. Good song from a very good album but I found other songs from Open Road I rate higher and not all of those ended up making my Dave list either, but a couple did. These rate very highly overall too and I'm sure at least one of these will make the consensus. One More Time - # 8 on my Ray list. I felt this one was borderline as to whether or not it would get enough votes, but the fact that it did gives me high hopes for a few others on this album. There are some very strong ones yet to show up that I would be shocked and surprised not to see in the Top 10. We'll have to have a little talk if they don't. Working Man's Café is my favorite Ray solo album as I made abundantly clear when we started that conversation back when, so the more songs from this album that make the consensus, the better in my view.
11 - Don't Wanna Grow Up (Open Road) I had this ranked #7 on my Dave list. I have 5 songs from Open Road on my list, and this is the middle of those 5, so I have two higher and two lower. I love this one. Dave's older vocal is still good, and that melody that permeates through the song is so memorable and catchy. It sounds perhaps the most contemporary melody on the album, in that I could see that same intro melody being in a big hit song today by an artist like The Weeknd. It has this sort of throwback classic 80s melody line that I see has become popular the last few years again in pop. 11 - One More time (Working Man's Cafe) Well, this is my #1 Ray solo song, according to my list. I love all the verses, even the one with economic vultures and corporations and tax breaks and crime and depots in South Wales. I think that is key to the song, and why he wants to sing for the old country. What used to be. Not only of walking those hilltops with someone he had to leave, but also the county that they loved. The political verse is not much different from the verse of Demolition which rails against capitalistic greed. Anyway, the melody of this song permeated my soul when I rediscovered this song on the thread. Couldn't get enough of it. I played it on loop. Still do sometimes. Yeah, I had owned Working Man's Cafe since it first came out, and I recalled several songs from it when we covered it here, but not this one. How could I have ignored it all those years? I just love that rolling melody. There's a flow to it, and it changes slightly from line to line I think, perhaps up a little or down a little, I dunno, I'm not expert. But it seems like a single long melodic idea, made up similar repeated fragments.... It's such a well crafted song, and a perfect Ray Davies bridge. Interesting combo with these two songs today, both have an extremely memorable melody that repeats often throughout the song (but I never get tired of hearing it), and they both feature lovely "la la las", just like some of the greatest Kinks songs from the 60s. I love them both, but Ray wins this round.
Thanks for digging up those “economic enhanced Kinks lyrics”. Sadly, I think my reworked Days and Sunny Afternoon are just as rhymey (another tech term) and internally consistent with the rest of the lyrics as is Ray’s clunker. I’m relieved to be reminded that my mind hasn’t changed. Sorry for banging on about it though. When I dislike a lyric I can’t hold myself back.
Another Dave tune that is not on my list but has me wondering why not. I am also one of those that likes WMC the most of Ray’s solo output. I had today’s song at #15.
1 for 2 today. I’m still more on a Dave consensus roll, having Don’t Wanna Grow Up at #14 on my list. I’m too fried from work today to add anything else, so will just leave what I said originally. Ray’s One More Time suffered from my liking 20 songs more. I’ll catch up on reading everyone else’s posts tomorrow.
Nota bene: tonight, I wanted to listen to some Ray, and while perusing some tracks on Youtube, "The Great Highway" came on. It isn't a favorite of mine. I heard the beginning and I started bracing myself and braced and braced... and slowly relaxed. It's actually an alright song. And his vocals are mostly fine!! That's the part making me feel guilty. I remember talking about that song and using the word "geriatric" at least once, probably multiple times... it's still not my favorite Ray track, but he sounded pretty decent on the recording. Anybody else got a "grower" track unrelated to our current kountdown?
Neither Don't Wanna Grow Up nor One More Time was on my own list, but both are worthy songs with affecting vocals. It's interesting how these pair up sometimes (oh, snap, @donstemple !) ... la la la la.... Today we have a very Kinksy thematic thread - our boys are looking back in a couple of melodic, nostalgia-tinged tunes: Dave, fondly, with/about those schooldays acquaintances he made; Ray, regretfully, reflecting on lost love/leaving loved ones behind and sociocultural/economic change. PS thanks for the repost of @Steve62 's lyrical reconfigurations - my laugh for the day. Scorecard: Dave: 2/10 Ray 5/10
“Unrelated to our current kountdown”? Ha Ha - Directly related I’d say! If any of us has “grown” to appreciate and like a song a little more due to further intentional or even random listens, Avid recommendations, or pure shameless guilt due to unfamiliarity or initially and ignorantly dismissing a song after the first 5 seconds as some have gleefully acknowledged and declared as their informed methodology of determining a song's worth, then a few of these neglected songs may have had a sniff of getting on more than one list. But if what we’re doing now opens a few more doors or roads to the solo years for others, then mission accomplished. I will admit I have had a grower or two. I'll have some more later after some other songs are or are not revealed, but I will go with one here tonight since it has already been revealed to have received only one vote and is already crying like a baby on the outside looking in. The grower reveal for me tonight is Between The Towers from Dave's Rippin' Up Time. I read this one the riot act back when we first went through this album but have since come around to its charms over the last couple of months after a few more listens. And after reading @StefanWq's and your wonderful posts on this song, I now know I was hasty then and that I'm not alone now in liking this one much better than before. On the whole, Rippin' Up Time remains a disappointing follow-up for many reasons we went through at the time to what I think is a fine and neglected first true after-stroke full rock comeback Dave album I Will Be Me. The demo quality of much of the material on Rippin' Up Time dooms it from the get-go, but a few nuggets are beginning to reveal themselves despite those production shortcomings, hence Between The Towers is one of my grower tracks in spite of its first-impression spurious reach . I actually wrote up and intended to post a post on this very topic and song after reading those aforementioned posts last week but got distracted and chickened out. After a few beers tonight, I've no inhibitions now and am chickening in on Between The Towers growing taller in my estimation.
Don't Wanna Grow Up / One More Time Both tracks were in my respective Top 20 lists. "Don't Wanna Grow Up", which is at #6 in my Dave Top 20, is a really beautiful track. The instrumentation is lovely, in particular the piano and the drums enhance the reflective and empathic feel of the song. I tend to like Dave's more reflective songs and based on how much I enjoy the Open Road album (as well as the Aschere Project album) I hope he will collaborate further with Russ. "One More Time" is at #15 in my Ray Top 20. I think Working Man's Café is definitely Ray's best solo album with a great flow from one top notch track to the next. On the album, this song follows the magnificent "Imaginary Man" and to my ears the two songs enhance each other. Ray's singing is excellent and the instrumentation, including the subtle organ, is sublime. A brilliant track! My score card so far: Ray: 4/10 Dave: 5/10
Children's holiday are a busy period, especially when you have to drive all around France for them to meet their friends and grandparents. Many thoughts occurred to me while reading this week's entries, but I didn't have the time to put them into words (to Humanity's great loss). I'll try a summary once Mark recapitulates this week's songs (if he does), because I'm a lazy bum. Anyway, it's sweet to be back in Die, and I went through my routine morning walk listening to the latest episode of @ajsmith and Liam's Thoroughly Kinky. I loved it, as always. A few points: - I'm really glad that Liam, in relation to the song Denmark Street, brought up the Frank Zappa interview that I linked back here in my out-of-time attempt at catching up with the thread, 2 and a half years ago. - I found the discussion refreshing, as it brought back memories of the very first times I listened to this album: I didn't care much for the opener; "Strangers" sounded a bit bland to me; and everything after "This Time Tomorrow" failed to catch my attention. With time and this thread, the whole of the first side grew up in my appreciation, and some of the second side too. I now find "The Contenders" to be one of the strongest openers in the Kinks canon (and they have many). Also, very early in my journey with this album, my brother commanded me to lovev "Strangers", and I obeyed. "A Long Way From Home" also grew on me. The last 4 songs, though, remain a bit too slight to my ear to be able to sustain my attention until the end. The album needs a stronger track towards the end so that I have something to look forward to. I achieved this by taking "Rats" away and putting the orchestra-free "The Way Love Used To Be" in penultimate position. (I already wrote this when we went over the Lola boxset, I believe, but I almost forgot about it so I guess other people forgot it even more). - Several comments (mostly by Liam, I think) seem to make the point that the rocking songs don't rock very hard. "Powerman" is hilariously said to display average power. To a large extend, I believe this feeling is fueled mostly by the mix and the thin sound of the crunchy guitars, which probably are a choice, and not an uninteresting one. But the new mixes, especially Powerman's, show how much the Kinks could have played the Deep Purple card at the time. I used this new mix for my Lola reconstructed, as I think it really enhances the song. Also, Avory's work is great on this song.
Dave songs one person selected part 2. Glamour - Glamour - 1981 Hope - Fragile - 2001 King Of Karaoke - Rippin' Up TIme - 2014 Lost In Your Arms - Fragile - 2001 Love Will Change - Aschere Project- Two Worlds - 2010 Mean Disposition - Chosen People - 1983 Mindwash - Rippin' Up Time - 2014 Nosey Neighbours - Rippin' Up Time - 2014 One Energy - Purusha And The Spiritual Planet - 1998 Remember The Future - I Will Be Me - 2013
Ray songs one person selected part 2. Muswell Kills - Our Country - 2018 My Big Sister - The Storyteller - 1998 Space - Arthur SDE The Big Weird - Our Country - 2018 The Empty Room - Our Country - 2018 The Great Highway - Americana - 2017 The Invaders - Americana - 2017 Invaders - Our Country - 2018 The Mystery Room - Americana 2017 The Shirt - Singles Collection/Waterloo Sunset - 1997 The Take - Our Country - 2018
So with today's Lonely Songs, I was responsible for King Of Karaoke, which came in at 11 on my Dave list
Thread Guide 1963 - Nov 2023 + top 40 countdown Soap Opera tour, Preservation section The complete 263 from the top 40 77 onward top 20 - poll 1 RCA top 20 - poll 1 unreleased tracks top 20 - poll 1 7 songs voted at 1 missed top 40 songs with no votes Live At Granada TV 1978 Black Messiah single mix AJ's podcast - pt2 - pt3 - pt4 - pt5 - pt6 - pt7 - pt8 - pt9 - pt10 - pt11 - pt12 Countdown Part 2 100/98/98 97/96 95/94 93/92 This Is Where I Belong stereo 91/90 Marina Oz mono 88/88 87/86 Muswell Hillbillies remix 82/82/82/82 81/80 79/78 77/75/75 74/73 72/71 70/69 Brainwashed alt 68/67 66/64/64 Looney Balloon live 63 60/60/60 Sitting In The Midday Sun 76mix 59/58 57/56 55/54 53/52 Lazy Old Sun alt 51/50 49/48 47/46 45/44 42/42 41 Australia alt acetate The Group 100 with stats The Pye chart - Graph(ics) Alt 100 single vote songs pt1 - pt2 the 100 w/ points and votes the 263 the 317 songs with no votes The Era Charts - with top 100 position Albums/Poll - sides Singles Unreleased Record Mirror article ------------------ Dogs D'Amour Barrence Whitfield Robbin Thompson Scott McCaughey/ The Minus 5 Tom Rapp/Pearls Before Swine Ren Nils Lofgren Michael Head/Shack Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Split Enz - info Mr Diagonal The Bevis Frond Rodriguez Sam Phillips Misha Panfilov Procul Harum Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh Mark Anne Serieyx Serieyx Serieyx Kinks/Not Kinks? pt 2 -------------------- Solo Ray tracks for poll - finished list? - thread links Solo Dave tracks for poll - neater - thread links The Ray and Dave countdown Ray 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 Dave 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 12 tie - 12 tie - 11 The Lonely Songs pt1 - pt2
The story so far Dave 20 - Who's Foolin' Who (Bug) 67 - 7 19 - When The Wind Blows (Unfinished Business) 73 - 7 18 - OpenUp Your Heart (Fragile) 76 - 7 17 - Take One More Chance (Chosen People) 78 - 5 16 - Unfinished Business (Unfinished Business) 79 - 7 15 - 21st Century (single) 80 - 7 14 - Rock You, Rock Me (Bug) 81 - 10 12 - Let Me Be (Fortis Green) 82 - 7 12 - Eastern Eyes (Glamour) 82 - 7 11 - Don't Wanna Grow Up (Open Road) 83 - 8 Ray 20 - Rock And Roll Cowboys (Americana) 76 - 7 19 - The Deal (Americana) 79 - 7 18 - the Tourist (Other People's Lives) 82 - 8 17 - After the Fall (Other People's Lives) 84 - 8 16 - Yours Truly, Confused N10 (Thanksgiving Day EP) 96 - 9 15 - All She Wrote (Other People's Lives) 99 - 9 14 - The Real World (Our Country) 105 - 8 13 - Stand Up Comic (Other People's Lives) 105 - 10 12 - A Place In Your Heart (Americana) 106 - 9 11 - One More time (Working Man's Cafe) 112 - 10
I'm not resposible for any of today's lonely songs. "Glamour" was one of only two songs that I didn't select from its parent album.
I'm with you there. Power to Powerman !!! But really… … who would've wanted that ? Just kidding… although not really. Don't forger Liam plays the new kid on the Kinks block. The young apprentice. I remember when I was a young kid myself (many small childhoods ago), I thought I had a mission to prove to the mockers that my favorite bands rocked "hard enough". I'm listening to the newly released One Hand Clapping version of Junior's Farm as I'm typing this, and it does rock along nicely but I doubt it could've convinced metal fans to appreciate Ebony & Ivory. Only when I was much older did I realize that to convince a serious hard rock/punk rock person that the Beach Boys are great, there's no use making them listen to Student Demonstration Time. You'd better play them The Warmth of the Sun or 'Till I die !! Also, @KM Dave 65-78, where are you ? I forgot to vote yesterday, but One More Time beat Don't Want to Grow Up as the song has lodged itself in my brain ever since. So yesterday goes to Ray.
I reckon it's harder to pursuade mellow rock folk that hard rock/metal is good value.... from my experiences at least... I mean, just on this thread. Shouty Ray, need I say more lol
