Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Something Else About The Kinks

So my chum Allan Rosenberg has heard -- as have you, probably, if you're a regular reader of this here blog -- the rumors about a possible reunion by the Battling Davies Brothers, aka The Kinks. The other day, (8/20/14, on his intertube radio show) he read the following manifesto in response, which I thought should get a wider airing, and hence I reproduce it here.

What's a hardcore Kinks fan to do with all this talk of a Kinks reunion. With the Davies Brothers making demands of each other before they will agree to a reunion, it's time that this Kinks fan lays down his own set of demands before he will get on board with the reunion. Here they are:


1- There must be an album of quality new material to prove The Kinks are a living, breathing, working band.

2- Mick Avory should participate in all recording sessions and follow up touring. He was a great drummer and a great Kink.

3-All disagreements, arguments and fights should take place in public (preferably) on stage for all the fans and press to see just like in the old days.

4-With Pete Quaffe gone Ray and Dave should try to secure John Dalton and John Gosling if possible.

5- Ray and Dave should be in the studio at the same time helping each other so there is a true Kinks album not two parallel solo albums hiding as a band album.

6- The album should be recorded as live as possible to avoid the sound of the lifeless over rendered later day albums.

7- Finally the band should play in theaters of varying sizes to avoid the their lifeless arena rock performances of the 1980's and 90's.

I hope these suggestions will serve as guidelines to a viable Kinks' reunion compared to the nothingless void or travesty we will most likely get.

Your thoughts?

27 comments:

Blue Ash Fan said...

My fave '60s British band. As such, I feel compelled to comment.

1. Yep. Goes without saying.

2. Ditto.

3. Beg to differ. I'm not paying to watch disagreements, arguments, etc. I'm paying to hear one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. Loved the Replacements: never wanted to see them falling down drunk, slurring through Beach Boys covers all night. You get the idea.

4. Again, goes without saying.

5. Couldn't agree more.

6. Excellent point.

7. Well, if they only play theaters, a helluva lot of people who want to see them won't be able to get in. I say this as somebody who saw them from the fifth row of a theater in '82 and was blown away. The perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

Brooklyn Girl said...

Saw Ray's one-man show several years ago at the McCarter Theater in Princeton and loved it. The room was the perfect size.

I don't care if they do another album, unless the idea excites them. If they want to reunite simply because they think they will enjoy it, well then, I'm all for it.

Bill Sammon said...

I'd be all for Ray & Dave fronting The Smithereens, who could open the show as themselves. Yeah, it would amount to a Kinks cover band, but at least The Smithereens love The Kinks as much as anyone could, and would play the songs with heart and abandon. Maybe that's the inspiration that the Davies brothers need.

steve simels said...

Bill--that's actually a very cool idea.

Blue Ash Fan said...

OK. I'm going to go full-on sacrilegious here: I think the Smithereens idea is one that we should leave off the table. For one, it's the Kinks Experience and not the actual Kinks. And as for that sacrilegious part, I really don't get the fascination with the Smithereens. I have a few of their disks. They'll likely never see my CD player again. Flame away, I guess.

steve simels said...

They're the best Brit Invasion era cover band ever, my friend. Trust me--live they are totally awesome.

Anonymous said...

If they wanna get together for their 50th Anniversary it's cool with me. But if they wanna play only new material, as I've read both of the brothers would prefer, then forget it. Ray and Dave are afraid we might perceive them as old men who are only in it for the money if they do all the oldies.

What a couple of flakes [and likely phonies]. How out of touch are they with their audience? Don't they know that they are beloved? Haven't they seen how other bands have taken to the road and performed classic albums in their entirety in concert? Jesus Christ, give the people what they want. For years they've missed out on opportunity after opportunity to not only please their followers, but get the true personal satisfaction which comes from doing that.

Though it would be nice, I suppose, I don't really care if Mick Avory is on board or not.

Venues should be 1500 capacity or less. And no medley's!!!!

Last time I saw the Kinks was in the mid 1990's when they played the House of Blues in Hollywood. They didn't even play for an hour. And half of that was wasted with Day-O's and the tired and countless false starts of Lola. It was very depressing. They just didn't care. But a few months later Ray did not disappoint as a solo act.

First time I saw the Kinks was at the Bowl when they opened for the Beach Boys. I took some pix of that show with my mom's Zeiss Ikon. The Byrds, Sir Douglas and Sam the Sham were also on the bill. My sexy and cool uncle, who I had beyond a major crush on, took me. We had pretty good box seats for that one. We went to Canter's after the show and I remember how cool it made me feel to be part of that scene. I wore a strapped yellow and white summer dress, to highlight my substantial starter boobs, with huaraches and pig tails. I guess I was intuitively going for the surf-Donna Loren naughty-but-nice look even then.

I've seen the Kinks high and low around twenty times since then. Liked Ray's one man solo shows until he beat them into the ground. Saw Dave at Luna Park circa 1999 before the stroke and enjoyed that too. He signed my boobs with a silver Sharpie afterwards. His idea, not mine. It was kind of awkward. Hell, I brought The Album That Never Was and a killer 11x14 photo I had taken of him when he did a Midnight Special shoot in Burbank circa 1974. A girlfriend of mine goes out with one of the guys in his band.

On Ray's first solo go round I patched my D-7 into the soundboard at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana [I think this was the first solo gig]. He did a couple additional songs that night that weren't in the set at other shows, plus his stage banter was phenomenal. Word got out at a local record meet and I had this bootlegger Gary "Not So" Bright, who had business cards which read "Sir Frankie Crisp",following me around like a puppy dog offering me 500 bucks for the tape. He wanted the people at Vigotone to put it out. I flat-out turned him down asking for a G. He shrugged and went back to selling Voodoo Brew, Buddy Holly What You Been A-Missin' and other Vigotone product out of the trunk of his mom's Lincoln Continental.

Wouldn't it be great if the Kinks did five-night stands in each town and performed a different album every night followed by the singles? Something Else, Village Green, Arthur, Lola Versus the Powerman, Muswell Hillbillies. But I think that might be too much hard work for these grumpy old men.

Vickie Rock - Once I get started, I go to town

P.S. The Wedge is fuckin' EPIC today. It's the perfect combo of ecstasy and danger.

BTW: McConaughey got robbed.

buzzbabyjesus said...

I don't think they'll do any of the above. I saw the Kinks but once, at The Santa Monica Civic, performing "Preservation" in all it's glory with films, and costume changes.

buzzbabyjesus said...

I used to body surf the Wedge on days like that. What a rush!

Anonymous said...

BBJ: I liked the Preservation shows and albums [Sweet Lady Genevieve and Sitting In the Midday Sun knock me out. I think Stereo Review designated Preservation Act 1 a Recording of the Month, or maybe special merit. Most critics did not agree. But[t] fuck 'em]. Saw them at the Shrine just before Preservation Act 2 came out. Very campy and fun.

The Santa Monica show was around Christmas, if I recall correctly. I had flown in from Michigan for my mom's birthday and the holidays. Sandy and I had tenth row seats and some amazing Black African weed, which I've never seen again since the mid Seventies.

I've always loved the Santa Monica Civic and its proximity to the ocean. But it was a bit too cold to make a beach day of it.

Early in the day we went to Hollywood and bought tickets for two of Zappa's shows at the Roxy. Then we grabbed some enchiladas at El Coyote. We met a cool guy at the bar who invited us to his place for further libations.

When we got to his[?] place a few people were already partying there in varying states of undress. Sandy and I had our bikinis on underneath our clothes so we took a swim in the pool. This was after we shared our weed and he packed our noses.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, cocaine is a drug that is only good for one thing. Dumbshit amateurs sit around a mirror and babble ceaselessly, hypnotized by its sparkly wonder while craving more, more, more. Smart girls do a quarter gram line up each nostril, load a toot chute, grab the guy of their choosing and proceed to fuck each others' brains out.

Doing blow with a guy is foreplay. As soon as the powder hits my nose, I get horny. Part of the reason is because I know he's gonna be a stud in the sack [provided he didn't do too much]. Guys have to work real hard to get their rocks off when they're coked out. It's always a treat for girls when they can express themselves fully without having to worry about that gun going off. I loooove begging for the butter and being denied. It takes it to a whole new level.

Anyway, Sandy and I had ourselves a crazy fun afternoon. She ended up fucking Kim Milford, you know, Rocky Horror. She raved and raved about that guy. She was making a man with blonde hair and a tan who was good for relieving the tension:-)

We really dug the Kinks campy stage show for Preservation. Saw them at that venue a few years earlier behind Muswell Hillbillies and they were great. But no 20th Century Man unfortunately. Ray had the bottle with him on stage. Don't know whether it was a prop or not.

Re the Wedge yesterday: that doesn't happen often. I even wore a full suit for the occasion. Something I don't often do. Me and my crew are at Malibu today and the surf is really goood. Gonna see Lee "Scratch" Perry at the S&M Pier later after lunch at Neptune's Net.

Vickie Rock - the only thing I've come to trust is an orgasmic rush of lust

buzzbabyjesus said...

Wow. The Kinks show I saw was December 10th, and my experience, unfortunately was not as interesting as yours.

Anonymous said...

Vickie, Vickie, Vickie-

I wrote this blog to poke some fun at a possible Kinks' reunion and now you've made the blog feel so…..unclean and twisted. Please refrain from including anymore of your sex life in this blog!!!

…..Unless you were screwing one of The Davies Brothers (or Mick Avory), then that's a different (and possibly kinky [like the pun?] story.

Show some dignity, your a mother!!! (in oh so many ways!!!!)

Allan R. (Captain Al)

Anonymous said...

Down with sex and sin
Down with pot, heroin
Down with pornography
Down with lust
Down with vice lechery and debauchery

We are the new centurians
Shepherds of the nations
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation

We are the national guard
Against filth and depravity
Perversion and vulgarity
Homosexuality
Keep it clean

Down with nudity
Breasts that are bare and pubic hair
We are here to cleanse humanity
From the man in the raincoat's
Pale faced glare
So sodomites beware

We are the new centurians
Shepherds of the nation
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation

We are the national, guard
Against filth and depravity
Perversion and vulgarity
Homosexuality
Keep it clean

I visualise a day when people will be free
From evils like perversion and pornography
We'll cast out Satan and we'll set the sinners free
So people of the nation unite

Put all the pervs in jail
Bring back the birch, and the cat of nine tails
Bring back corporal punishment
Bring back the stocks
And the axeman's block
Let righteousness prevail

Down with nudity and hard core magazines
We'll bring religion back
And keep our country clean
Keep it clean

We are the new centurians
Shepherds of the nation
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation

We are the national guard
Against filth and depravity
Perversion and vulgarity
Homosexuality
Keep it clean
Keep it clean

Anonymous said...

BBJ: That December 10 date makes sense. Same show. Where were you sitting? Got any pix?

I took my mom to Vegas for her birthday and we saw Loggins and Messina with Linda Ronstadt at the Sahara. Her birthday is December 16 and I'd been in town at least a week before.

Sandy and I also saw the Beach Boys at the Swing and Zappa with Johnny Otis at the Long Beach Arena during that holiday period. Fun times.

Vickie Rock - misunderstood alpha female

Sal Nunziato said...

Breaking news from Mojo Magazine just a few days ago: Ray is going forward with a 2015 Kinks reunion whether Dave participates or not.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Dave will love that. More of Ray bossing him around.

I was about 20 rows back just right of middle. No pix, just the ad clipped from the LA Times.

Brooklyn Girl said...

Vickie Rock - misunderstood alpha female

Hardly.

You're a self-indulgent narcissist. Your narcissism is so profound you are completely blind to it.

Simply put: in spite of your knowledge about music, ultimately you just annoy people with your relentless self-centeredness. Nobody gives a shit about your sex life. Your childish attempts to arouse the men here should embarrass you. How many times do you have to be told before you get it?

Anonymous said...

This reunion will never happen. And frankly, a reunion of geezers doesn't do anything for me. I adored the Kinks in their hey day and saw a dozen shows in the New England area. Let it be.

Visions

P.S. Vickie, sometimes I do wonder why you don't get your own blog. I thought this one was Steve's. But now I'm not so sure.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Not the floor, must have been the concourse. My memory says the seats were good.

Anonymous said...

BBJ: Pretty much every seat at the SMC's pretty good. I think it maxes out at 3,000 or something like that.

I found another crumby photo from that Shrine show. My seats were pretty terrific. One of the chick backup singers is ex-Dan Hicks Hot Lick Maryann Price. Although you can hardly see him in the photos, I think this time period is when Dave looked the coolest.

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/VanessaStone/To%20the%20Nth%20Degree/The-Kinks-Shrine-Auditorium-1974-05-10-a_zpse0bacd05.jpg

Vickie Rock - off to the Coach House

buzzbabyjesus said...

I just downloaded The Deluxe Lola Vs etc and found this bonus track that is my new favorite Kinks song.

http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/kinks_anytime.mp3

Anonymous said...

Wow! Never bootlegged before either, as far as I know.

Sanctuary delivers again. I wonder how many times I have bought each Kinks album? Looks like another solid upgrade. Thanks BBJ.

Vickie Rock

buzzbabyjesus said...

I'm a long time fan, and thought I'd heard everything.
Apparently there were plans for Lola Vs Etc Part Two. The Deluxe Edition is paired with Percy. If you take all bonus tracks and mix them with the handful of good songs on Percy, it's a close to Part Two as possible. And it feature's "Anytime".

buzzbabyjesus said...

Vickie,
You know your shit. One of the first Kinks albums I actually bought was "Everyboby's In Show Biz". One of their best I think.
-BBJ

Anonymous said...

BBJ: My first Kinks LP was The Kinks Greatest Hits! which I bought right after it came out at White Front's record department [along with The Beatles Revolver & Yardbirds Over Under - all three for under ten bucks]. Even though I already had all of the relevant singles up to that point, I kinda wore them out, both A & B sides. The record grinder we had for a phonograph back then saw to that.

Thus, the welcome sight of a Greatest Hits LP. Reprise did a pretty good job, although Something Better Beginning, though a nice song, absolutely did not belong there. It was neither a hit or a flip-side. Why not any of the truly great B-sides, or See My Friends? But in summer of 1966, there was little reason to quibble.

I got all the early albums from You Really Got Me to Face to Face in one fell swoop. One of the girls that I did junior modeling gigs with wanted one of my dresses really bad. This was late 1967 and she had given up on the Kinks and gone totally psychedelic - you know, she got "experienced" [we were both Junior High acid heads]. So she traded me her six albums for my outfit.

It was a dress my mom bought me at Judy's, which came with one of those go-go hats. You know, it looked like it came right off of the set of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. I had never worn it but it was really cute.

My mom used to love to buy me clothes. She overbought. Plus I was more into dressing casual than going for contrived fashion statements. But I loved my mini-skirts and the power they gave me.

Because of the modeling, and sometimes TV "Extra" work [my mom was a frequently used eye-candy "Extra" for Universal and Paramount television productions - she hooked me and Sandy up], I always had my own money at an early age. I liked the independence it gave me. Hedonism can get expensive.

From Something Else on, I bought each album as it came out. I think that Kink Kronikles is an absolutely fabulous collection and plays nicely as a whole. I brought Kronikles with me on a ski trip to Mammoth at which the president of the Ski Club and I consummated our lust. He's an OB/GYN now. I'd like to think I got him interested in the subject:-). We used to get fucked up and goof to Wilesden Green while close dancing in the raw. We gave tribute to Nobby.

Everybody's In Show-Biz isn't my fave, which is not to say I don't like it. How can you not like a blues called "Hot Potatoes":-) The live stuff is fun and I always loved Sitting In My Hotel, You Don't Know My Name, Supersonic Rocket Ship, Celluloid Heroes and such.

I'm pretty crazy about everything from Village Green to Muswell. I guess I'd give Lola and Muswell the nod as my faves.

Vickie Rock - It's very hard to please the people every single time

buzzbabyjesus said...

In 1965 I couldn't tell the difference between "You Really Got me" and "Satisfaction". I didn't care, all I wanted was more of those riffs.
"The Kink KroniKles" was the second album I bought, which led to all the others. "The Kronikles" hold up rather well as they are now like the best of the bonus tracks, still relevant in other words.

Anonymous said...

Kronikles and Show-Biz are both from 1972. So I imagine your Kinky kumming of age was circa 1973, correct? What made you decide to buy Show-Biz, if you recall?

I just dug up some old tix stubs in reference to Kinks and Davies solo 1995 shows. I keep 'em Kronologically [I know] organized inside three-ring albums with pocket page protectors. I got sick of rummaging through shoe boxes full of them. Excuse the blurry shots:

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/VanessaStone/To%20the%20Nth%20Degree/Kinks-Ray-Davies-1995-Stubs_zpsf133d0f1.jpg

http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a535/VanessaStone/To%20the%20Nth%20Degree/Kinks-Ray-Davies-1995-Stubs-b_zps26eff321.jpg

The Kinks 1995 show at the Hollywood House of Blues, which I did not enjoy, was apparently cut short because Ray was pissed off about something. They actually played three nights at the venue. Normally I would have gone to all three, but I had tix to other stuff on the 1st and 3rd nights. I heard the other shows were fine, according to friends.

I had perfect seats for all three premiere Davies solo shows. At the Fonda Theater we were dead center front row. I captured all three nights on DAT [It wasn't a concert unless I taped it. Makes for a better souvenir than a T-shirt]. I got the Galaxy shows from both the board and audience [I had three D-7's at the time]. Maybe someday I'll do a matrix of the two versions [when I can find someone to hassle with it for me]. It was just Ray and the accompanying guitarist. First night was the best and most off the cuff. Can't remember which night, or even if it was this group of shows, but on one of the tapes Ray makes a comment about two lovely ladies in the audience between songs and there is a short back and forth between us. Kind of awkward when you are stealth recording the guy.

Vickie Rock - Where no Christian man has been.

P.S. Speaking of the Galaxy Theater, Stiff Little Fingers tonight at the Observatory [which used to be the Galaxy a few years back]. They may not be the Vibrators, but I'll make dew with the Fingers. Also, eat dookie, Billie Joe.