Nudeviking vs. The Kinks

I intended to do that album as well as it's the one I'm probably most familiar with, but poor copying and pasting on my part when copying the top chunk of their discography into my introductory screed lead to its exclusion. I've corrected my boner and added it to the lineup.

The Kinks - Kinks (1964)

So why The Kinks? That's a very good question that I don't have a very good answer to. I suppose it's because they always sort of struck me as the Candlebox to The Beatles and Stones' Nirvana and Pearl Jam. This is probably an unfair comparison to make but as an American growing up in the 1980s and 1990s they never seemed to have the same sort of cultural cachet that the Beatles, Stones, or Who did as far as the British Invasion bands of the 1960s went. I guess in exploring their discography (at least their output from the 1960s) I want to see if their American standing as sort of a second or third tier British Invasion group is entirely warranted.

Today we're looking at their debut LP, Kinks. The version I'm listening to is some sort of reissue from the early zeroes which includes about an LP worth of additional material not present on the original release. It looks like a lot of this bonus stuff ended up on one of the Kinks US only releases so I'll cover that material here and entirely ignore the existence of the US only albums and US versions of UK albums with slightly different track listings for the sake of simplicity.

Preexisting Prejudices
There are a lot of covers on this album, some of them I've heard the original versions of. I don't think I've ever actually heard any of the Kinks versions before though. I also know I've heard at least "You Really Got Me," in my life. It's a perfectly cromulent 1960s "British Invasion" song.

Songs
"Beautiful Delilah" - This is a pretty straight forward cover of a Chuck Berry song. The Kinks switch the name of the woman who doesn't allow them to fool around with Beautiful Delilah from Rebecca to Betsy and speed the tempo up a bit, but otherwise there's not much here to distinguish their version from original. It's an okay version of an okay song but very much indicative of the fact that we're still in the "an LP is merely a collection of random-ass singles and cover songs" era of rock music.

"So Mystifying" - The guitar riff on this one's decent enough but other than that it's nothing all that special. It sounds similar to the sort of stuff The Rolling Stones were doing better at this same time.

"Just Can't Go to Sleep" - The way that they drop the word "to" during the verses ("Every night I just can't go sleep uh-huh without you!") kind of bugs me. It's not a bad little song, but that one lyrical choice bugs the shit out of my so thoroughly that I doubt I'll ever listen to this song again.

"Long Tall Shorty" - This is another cover though I've never heard the original before. Were it not for the presence of a shit-tonne of harmonica all up in this mug on the track it'd be just another generic early 60s rock and roll song.

"I Took My Baby Home" - Again, I am well aware that the album as a concept was not what it would become yet, but as a person listening to this in 2019, having back to back harmonica heavy rock and roll songs is poor sequencing. It's bordering on some real serious Blues Traveler shit. I'd personally would have separated them a bit if both truly needed to be on the album. That being said, the comparison of their baby's kisses to a pile-driver is pretty outstanding.

"I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" - Another cover I've never heard the original version of. It seems like it was super easy to be a rock and roll band in England in the 1960s. Step 1: Get a bunch of American rock and roll and blues singles. Step 2: Learn how to play straight forward covers of those songs. Step 3: Become famous by virtue of being clean-cut white British guys in suits playing mediocre covers of songs that African-American artists wrote but that white suburban kids had never heard before.

"You Really Got Me" - This is such a goddamn awesome song. Just a perfect garage band song. It's dumb and sloppy as fuck and probably lead directly the the creation of a million suburban garage bands.

"Cadillac" - Bo Diddley cover. It's pretty inessential. Also I know this will seem odd coming from me but replacing the saxophone of the original with a harmonica seems like a downgrade.

"Bald Headed Woman" - This is another cover. I don't know who the original artist is but I've heard the Who cover this same song. The Who did it better.

"Revenge" - A minute and a half of harmonicas and wordless chanting and rock and roll vamping. It guitars have a similar sound to the guitars on "You Really Got Me," which is a very good sound for guitars to have, but overall this is pretty much the definition of album filler.

"Too Much Monkey Business" - Another cover of another Chuck Berry song. It's sounds like a mediocre cover of a mediocre Chuck Berry song.

"I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain" - Fuck is the singing on this terrible.

"Stop Your Sobbing" - This is an okay song. I think the cover the Pretenders did is probably better than this version though.

"Got Love If You Want It" - Another cover that I can't tell if the Kinks are being serious about. Whoever's singing here sounds like a Muppet most of the time to the point that I can't tell if this is some huge piss-take or not. The raucous guitars and harmonica and drumming that's on the verge of going off the rails works pretty well for an album closing track, but I feel like this is too little too late.

Bonus Tracks
"Long Tall Sally" - Another perfunctory cover. It's not bad but you've heard a dozen other artists cover this song before and all of them did so better than the Kinks.

"You Still Want Me" - This song's a decent little power pop (proto-power pop?) song. I'd have been a hell of a lot happier if this had been on the album proper instead one of the million of cover songs that were there instead since it's a hell of a lot more interesting than "Random Cover of an American Blues and/or Rock n' Roll Song from 1959 #5" was.

"You Do Something to Me" - Another decent pop song. I don't think it was as good as "You Still Want Me," but like that track would have preferred this on album over the bulk of the stuff that ended up there.

"It's Alright" - This is a decent enough blues-rock song. It's a perfectly cromulent for what it is, but isn't really all that special.

"All Day and All of the Night" - This is another song I've actually heard before. This song rules. It's sonically kind of similar to "You Really Got Me." I kind of wish there were more songs on this album that felt like this, since shit like this is way more in my wheelhouse that warmed over blues covers and songs with too goddamn much harmonica.

"I Gotta Move" - Another fine blues-rock sound. The driving drum beat and slinky guitar licks are okay but this doesn't really cover any new territory or have anything particularly memorable to it.

"Louie Louie" - In my years of listening to punk and power pop and garage rock I've heard more bands cover this song than perhaps any other song ever written. The Kinks version is not the worst version of this song I've ever heard, but there's nothing here that The Kingsmen didn't do a bajillion times better in their version.

"I Gotta Go Now" - This song is really boring. It's repetitive and never really goes anywhere and at 2:53 is one of the longest songs on this album though it feels much, much longer than that.

"Things Are Getting Better" - This song sucks. Is this what skiffle is? If it is, skiffle also sucks.

"I've Got That Feeling" - Piano driven pop rock. This is one of the better tracks on the album, primarily because it feels different from most of the other songs here and because I'm a sucker for a good "Woah oh oh oh!" in pop music.

"Too Much Monkey Business (Alternate Take)" - Another version of the Chuck Berry song that appeared on the Kinks album proper. This one is a lot faster than the album version. I think it's better than that version but this is still the sort of thing that probably should have just been a b-side to a single.

"I Don't Need You Any More" - The vocal harmonies are pretty good here. Another song that would have been better than just about anything that appeared on the actual album.

Final Thoughts
It's kind of remarkable how unremarkable this album is. Without considering the bonus material the only song on the album proper that was memorable at all was "You Really Got Me." The remaining material ranged in quality from "decent, albeit inessential cover," to complete and utter crap.

The bonus material actually fared much better, added another great song ("All Day and All of the Night") and a handful of other songs that were pretty good ("I've Got That Feeling," "I Don't Need You Any More," "You Still Want Me," "You Do Something to Me"), but again overall added a ton more chaff. When all is said and done there's probably about an EP's worth of stuff here that's good enough to warrant repeated listens by people who aren't Kinks zealots while everything is more or less for Kinks superfans only.

I hope that the quality of the Kinks output rises above the level of decent cover band that played at your local bar sooner rather than later because I don't know if I can take 30 more songs of this sort of mediocrity.

Best Song: "You Really Got Me"
Worst Song: "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain"

One album in I'm still of the mind that Candlebox is the better comparison. They've got a couple pretty good songs, but are still primarily doing stuff that their contemporaries were doing better. I don't really fault them or think that things aren't going to get better though since they're all super young here. I think Dave Davies was only 16 or 17 years old when they were recording these songs so this album is basically his high school band's demo tapes.

After the first outings, they switched from being an American-aping band to being perhaps the ultimate English band. Whether or not that'll be more to your liking is another question, of course.

I added a perhaps to give me wriggle room. And I meant ultimate as in the most English, not the best English.

They released a song called Have A Cuppa Tea. Case closed.

Kinda Kinks (1965)

We're going back to the Kinks well today with their 1965 sophomore album Kinda Kinks. Released a mere five months after their debut (a common trend during this time period that still boggles my mind today) will this album be more of the same or reflect incredible growth in The Kinks' songcraft? Since I don't immediately recognize any of these song titles it's a question that's going to require I listen to the album before answering. As was the case with the first album the version I'm listening to is a later reissue that includes stuff that appeared on various EPs and/or the American Kink albums I'm ignoring.

Preexisting Prejudices
As I mentioned above, there's nothing here I recognize my name alone so I don't have any preconceived notions about this album. That being said, there's a chance that I've heard some of these songs since classic rock radio stations exist(ed) and my parents also played music that they listened to when they were teens when I was a child.

Songs
"Look For Me Baby" - Pretty standard issue 60s guitar pop fare. Call and response vocals. "Oohs" and "Aahs." It's all here. The drums are probably the best part of the song.

"Got My Feet on the Ground" - I kind of dig the twangy guitar solo as well as the yippie yelping of "I don't need no one!" that pops up as the song fades out.

"Nothin’ in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl" - Too many apostrophes in the title. Acoustic guitar delta blues riffage. I think I've heard this song before. It's decent enough but the production on it is very muddled and kind of sucks. I'd like it better if the bass and drums weren't so buried in the mix.

"Naggin' Woman" - Another goddamn blues cover song and not a particularly inspired one either. Just another half-assed "white boys plays the blues for teeny-boppers" cover. The guitar solo here is particularly awful. Skip.

"Wonder Where My Baby is Tonight" - This is a bouncy piano and bass driven jam. The bridge is pretty good. The rest of the song is decent enough but not all the special.

"Tired of Waiting for You" - OH! THIS SONG! I've heard this song many times in my life. Some 90s alterna-rock band(s) covered this but I don't have my record collection here to see what random version(s) of this I listened to 900,000 times in 9th grade. This is a good-ass song but I'm kind of a sucker for ramshackle three chord guitar-based pop songs. Your mileage may vary.

"Dancing in the Street" - I know this song too, though I don't think I've heard the Kinks version before. It sucks. Go listen to the Martha & The Vandellas version instead or the goofy Van Halen version or the homoerotic David Bowie & Mick Jagger version. All of those versions are better than this nonsense.

"Don't Ever Change" - I don't like how they try to jam too many words into too few bars of music during the verses. The recording is also kind of shitty. Whoever produced this album did a bad job. It's not all terrible. The acoustic guitar part is pretty good but not enough to save a poorly recorded musically mediocre song.

"Come on Now" - This is a decent rocker with gang vocals during the chorus and a driving drum beat, but it's short (it clocks in at like a minute forty-five) and feels kind of half-baked.

"So Long" - FOLK!! We got a simple drum beat, some acoustic guitar strum-fuckery, and vocal harmonies. This is a far cry from the garage rock and blues covers that have thus dominated the Kinks songs I've listened to. This is a nice enough song but not the sort of thing I general am into musically. That being said, I appreciate the songcraft and appreciate that the Kink lads are willing to try different stuff.

"You Shouldn't Be Sad" - Harmonies and power chords! I like the "Ahhh ahhhs!" and "Oooh oohs!" going on here, but wish there was something else going on here; a guitar solo or a rock organ or something. This was another song that felt kind of underdeveloped.

"Something Better Beginning" - This isn't a terrible song but Ray Davies seems bored as fuck on vocals. The choruses are ready made to be belted out but Ray's seemingly just not that into it. Someone with a bit more dash-fire could probably do a good cover of this.

Bonus Tracks
"Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" - My daughter is a small child. English is her second language. On occasion when people around her are laughing she will clap her hands and bellow, "EVERYBODY'S HAPPY!" in English. This song is the 1960s guitar pop equivalent of that. It's upbeat with handclapping, but it's ultimately it's just kind of silly and frivolous.

"Who'll Be The Next In Line" - Decent enough garage rock. Nothing all that special but as a thing that was originally a b-side it's fine for what it is. I like that it ends with a fade out. When I was a small child I thought that songs that ended with a fade out meant that the band was still playing that song somewhere so to this day when I hear a song end with a fade out I chuckle to myself and picture a band stuck in a studio somewhere still rocking out years after their record got released.

"Set Me Free" - Are songs directed at "little girls" problematic in 2019? I kind of hope not since outside of that this song's pretty good. The creepy vocals on the bridge are a nice change of pace vocally speaking.

"I Need You" - "Hey guys wasn't our song 'All Day and All Night' great? What if we do a rehash of that with a tambourine that overpowers everything else in the mix?" "That's a great idea!" This isn't a terrible song or anything, but it's covering the same sort of ground the Kinks covered on their first record without really adding anything to it (except a really loud tambourine).

"See My Friends" - Did this predate the Beatles "Norwegian Wood?" It's got a similar vibe to that song with a vaguely "Eastern" tinge to the music. It's not as good as "Norwegian Wood," but again it seems to hint at some of possible directions the Kinks will go musically which has me kind of excited to see where they go going forward.

"Never Met a Girl Like You Before" - "Hey guys the riff from 'So Tired of Waiting for You' was great wasn't it? You think anyone would notice if we used it for the intro to another song that's maybe 23% as good as that song is?" "Probably not. Let's go for it!" This song is not particularly good and the "So Tired..." fake out intro just pissed me off.

"Wait Till Summer Comes Along" - Jangly folksy stuff. It's musically a nice change of pace.

"Such a Shame" - This is plodding and repetitive. Nothing to see here folks! Move along.

"Well Respected Man" - Ray Davies thinks uppercrust British gentlemen are dull. This song kind of rules. "He's a well respected man about town, doing the best things so conservatively," is such a good lyrical turn of phrase.

"Don't You Fret" - This song also sounds vaguely familiar to me. I like the organ buried low in the mix but this isn't that great.

"I Go to Sleep" - This is maybe the weirdest Kinks song I've heard yet. It's just creep-ass piano, vocals and maybe a kazoo (I can't tell if it's a kazoo or just someone humming). The lyrics are kind of stalkerish and menacing. I kind of wish that this had been included on the album proper since it's so weird.

Final Thoughts
This was kind of a weird album. Overall I think it was better than their debut but nothing here ever really reached the heights of "You Really Got Me," off that record. Cutting back on the mediocre blues covers in favor of original compositions was definitely a step in the right direction and some of the weirder stuff that showed up in the bonus material hinted at things to possibly come. If nothing else, this record has me looking forward to where The Kinks go from here.

Best Song - "Tired of Waiting for You"
Worst Song - "Dancing in the Street"

See My Friends does predate Norwegian Wood ... but Heart Full Of Soul by The Yardbirds predates them both. It hadn't been released when The Kinks recorded this, though, so they might not've been influenced. 

Not long to go now to the really good stuff.

For your consideration: the Kinks were the Pavement to the Beatles/Stones :: Nirvana/Pearl Jam. Their early career was characterized as “shambolic” and derivative of earlier innovators (in Pavement’s case, the Fall). They have a couple fun songs that got attention but it’s their albums that are cerebral and cultishly adored.

The Kink Kontroversy (1965)

The Kink Kontroversy was the second album the Kinks released in 1965, coming out some eight months after Kinda Kinks. Wikipedia makes the claim that, "The album's title is a mocking reference to the notorious reputation the band had developed over the previous year, including onstage fights and concert riots in Europe, which led to a ban on the group's concerts in the US." If this performance ban in America is true, it would partially explain why, at least in the US their lasting importance was somewhat diminished, but who knows? Lots of people can write a lot of crap on Wikipedia. Let's look at a record!

Preexisting Prejudices
Sleater-Kinney totally jacked the cover layout for their album Dig Me Out. That's legit my favorite Sleater-Kinney record and quite possibly in my top ten records of all times so if this album influenced that record beyond just the artwork I'm in for a treat.

As for the songs, I heard the David Bowie cover of "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," back when I was running roughshod on Bowie's discography on this very website. I recall it being one of the few songs on Pin Ups that I did not utterly hate so it's got that going for it. Other than that I don't recognize any of the song titles on this album so I've got nothing.

Songs
"Milk Cow Blues" - Decent blues sleaze. Based on the linear notes I think this is another cover, but at least here the band seems to be into what they're playing as evidenced by the raucous rave up towards the end which makes this song vastly superior to the lifeless covers that appeared on their first two LPs.

"Ring the Bells" - At this point in their career there seems to be a weird dichotomy with the Kinks where they are equally well adept at wild three chord garage band freakouts and pretty, introspective acoustic ballads. "Ring the Bells" is the later of the two. Whichever of the Davies Bros. is on vocals here turns in an excellent vocal performance that work well with the guitar work.

"Gotta Get the First Plane Home" - Overall this is a pretty generic 1960s rocker. There's some swag to the guitar riff, decent piano flourishes, and a brief harmonica solo that elevate the song a bit, but ultimately it's a middling track.

"When I See That Girl of Mine" - This is basically the template for every power-pop song that ever existed. It's got earnest lyrics about a girl, major chords, a bouncy drum beat, hand claps, an awesome bridge, and vocal harmonies. As a fan of power-pop as a musical genre I'm kind of about this song but feel like most people will probably think this is a lesser track on the album. Shrug.

"I Am Free" - Is this a sequel to "Set Me Free" off Kinda Kinks? There's some saloon piano here and country-western inspired guitar licks. I think it kind of drags a bit but it's not a bad song and gives a bit of variety to the album which is generally a good thing.

"Till the End of the Day"- Another power chord heavy rocker in the same vein as "All Day and All of the Night" or "You Really Got Me." There's a great bullshit guitar solo here that I absolutely love. It's not a technically impressive solo or anything but it's the kind of solo that made me want to play guitar when I was 13 years old. Apparently solos of this sort still speak to me some 35 years later.

"The World Keeps Going Around" - I'm almost positive I've heard this song before but don't think it was the Kinks version I've heard. The chorus is a big triumphant 1960s pop chorus but the vocals during the rest of the seem tired and bored. On the record this song was the lead off track on the b-side which probably worked better than it does in a digital format. Back then you'd have to stand up and flip the record giving you a brief respite between the power of "Till the End of the Day" and this laid back track but when this comes on immediately following that song it's kind of a let down.

"I'm on an Island" - This is kind of a goofy song. There's a calypso feel to it and rollicking pianos while Ray(?) sings about being lonely. I don't care for this song that much. I think it's too gimmicky with ship bells and nonsense and the singer doing goofy voices.

"Where Have All the Good Times Gone" - Is Ray Davies "throwing shade" at the Beatles with the, "Well, yesterday was such an easy game for you to play / But let's face it things are so much easier today / Guess you need some bringing down," lyrics? It seems like he is. Anyway, I'm going to be totally honest here: I like the David Bowie cover off Pin Ups better than this one. Part of it might just be the fact that Bowie's version is a much better recording in terms of audio quality. Or it could be that Bowie's version has more muscle to it. That's not to say this is a bad song. I think it's a fine song that suffers a bit from crappy production.

"It's Too Late" - Mid-tempo blues-rock. There's a real good blues piano solo, but it's not enough to elevate this above the level of "album filler."

"What's In Store For Me" - More generic 1960s pop-rock. It's not terrible but there's nothing here that the Kinks haven't already done better on other songs.

"You Can't Win" - Pretty good guitar work here over a stead chug of drums, bass, and piano. The piano and guitar licks make this a more enjoyable song than it might have otherwise been.

Bonus Songs
"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" - Ray Davies mocks a dandy. Between this and "A Well Respected Man," I think Ray Davies as a cultural critic for a time and place I never lived is my favorite version of Ray Davies: Lyricist. I do wonder, however, with songs like this if they're written about an actual person rather than just an archetype. Like was there an actual guy dressed in polka-dots that Ray Davies knew who was absolutely furious when he heard this song on the radio?

"Sittin' On My Sofa" - A decent enough 60s R&B song I guess. It's kind of repetitive.

"When I See That Girl of Mine (Demo Version)" - Slightly faster and less polished than the album version but otherwise more or less the same. Precisely the sort of thing you expect to find on an reissue of an album. Completely inessential to all but the kraziest of Kinks fans.

"Dedicate Follower of Fashion (Alternate Stereo Take)" - The guitar and piano stuff is a bit clearer on this version, but I think I prefer the mono version of this song. Another fairly inessential cut.

Final Thoughts
While not an outright masterpiece The Kink Kontroversy is the first Kinks album I've listened to that felt like an actual album as opposed to a collection of singles. Further, the Davies Boys continue to demonstrate that they aren't afraid stray away from what brought them to the show and try new things musically. It doesn't always work (I think "I'm on an Island" is one of the dumber original songs they've released up to this point) but it definitely makes for an infinitely more interesting album listening experience than, "Here's our big single and nine random covers of American blues and rock n' roll songs."

Best Song(s): "When I See That Girl of Mine," "Ring the Bells," or "Till the End of the Day"
Worst Song: "I'm on an Island"

Is/was Ray Davies a dick? After doing my write-up I read some article where he was talking about the song, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion." He talks about how he beat the shit out of some designer, blooding him up, and that fight was what lead to him writing the song. The Wikipedia page about the song quotes him as saying he also "kicked his (the fashion designer's) girlfriend up the arse," though in the more recent article he leaves that bit out. This coupled with the kontroversies you klarified kind of make him seem like a massive douchebag in 1965.

For someone of his working class background, not to mention temperament, beating people up as a first resort wouldn't be an unusual reaction. See also Roger Daltrey, Paul Rogers. The UK likes a good punch-up.

Even in later life he seems to be a pretty difficult person to be around, or interview, or work with. My beloved Big Country had a dispiriting experience with him in their later years: he co-wrote a couple of songs on their last album, but then backed away from taking things any further, wouldn't give them studio time or get involved with the recording.

As for the album, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion (as with A Well-Respected Man) is the signpost. He must've known he was hitting a seam then.

Oh yes it is (OH YES IT IS)

Knew it! Thrilled you like this album so much - I must admit to just a little trepidation that the sameyness of those first couple of albums might have derailed you a bit, but this is such a strong album I was sure you would dig it. So many great song here, but Sunny Afternoon is such a stand-out, just brilliant. And I completely agree about the ebb and flow - this is the first Kinks album that actually sounds like an album and not just a dozen or so randomly assembled tracks. It really does make a big difference and I think you can really tell how Ray and Dave have developed their craft - not only as musicians and songwriters but also what it is they can actually achieve with their music.  Yes, quite outstanding!