For examples of why I consider Ray Davies on of the greatest songwriters of the rock era, an equal peer to the famed Lennon-McCartney and Bob Dylan (although, technically, the latter is really folk despite mainstream success) I don't generally point to the hit songs of The Kinks. Although they essentially created hard rock with the driving guitar distortion in "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night," and "Lola" remains a gloriously subversive piece of brilliance that predated the height of David Bowie's gay chic androgyny phase, it's the songs of the Kinks that were not hits that I often find most powerful and moving. Songs that by right should have been hits at any other time, from any other band. But music's littered with shoulda coulda woulda and Kinks fans have long ago come to accept the fact that the Well Respected Gentlemen will always be among the second tier of rock royalty despite an extensively brilliant output and even membership in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That doesn't mean we ever stop preaching that Muswell Hills gospel, though.
Here's a particular favorite, "Misfits" from the album of the same name at onset of the band's Arista years. An uneven album (as were many of those with Arista) that nevertheless contained some absolutely marvelous music. The subject matter and lyrics are far beyond any "June with a spoon" lines breathlessly crooned by Brittany and her ilk today. But unlike a lot of so-called "message music," there's a focus on intimacy here, a crisis of an individual nature that speaks to many people separately as opposed speaking to broader social issues. I find that endlessly fascinating, and hope you do too. Enjoy.
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Thank you for paying respect where respect is due. Of course I'm a huge Kinks fan, buy I find Ray Davies superior to Lennon/McCartney (perhaps we must remember that Ray is just one person.) I'm in fact working on an analysis of why "Waterloo Sunset" is an infinitely superior song to "Yesterday," even though the latter tops many "Best Songs" lists.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Davies was better than Dylan, but I'd say Dylan was America's best and Davies was Britain's best.
I agree there are some nice songs from the Arista years -- not the best of their career, but hardly catastrophic as some Kinks fans seem to feel. Misfits is a particular favorite.
Although I'm a passionate Ray Davies evangelist, I understand that music is so subjective that it takes a LOT to say one artist is even marginally better than the other, which is why I will not say Davies is better than Lennon-McCartney or Dylan (I would give him the nod over Townshend, as more successful The Who are, stylistically, creatively and aurally the band most comparable to the Kinks. But I think Davies edges him).
"Waterloo Sunset" is sublime. Nothing more needs to be said.
The greatest tragedy of The Kinks, though, is that Dave's songwriting ability has been grossly overlooked and overshadowed by Ray's. And from all indications, that's due in no small part to intentional efforts by Ray himself. I'm not saying Dave is equal to Ray--goodness knows his solo stuff is wildly uneven--but pieces like "Living on a Thin Line," "Strangers" and to a lesser extend "Fortis Green" are masterpieces in their own right.
Thank you for paying respect where respect is due. Of course I'm a huge Kinks fan, buy I find Ray Davies superior to Lennon/McCartney (perhaps we must remember that Ray is just one person.) I'm in fact working on an analysis of why "Waterloo Sunset" is an infinitely superior song to "Yesterday," even though the latter tops many "Best Songs" lists.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go so far as to say Davies was better than Dylan, but I'd say Dylan was America's best and Davies was Britain's best.
I agree there are some nice songs from the Arista years -- not the best of their career, but hardly catastrophic as some Kinks fans seem to feel. Misfits is a particular favorite.
Although I'm a passionate Ray Davies evangelist, I understand that music is so subjective that it takes a LOT to say one artist is even marginally better than the other, which is why I will not say Davies is better than Lennon-McCartney or Dylan (I would give him the nod over Townshend, as more successful The Who are, stylistically, creatively and aurally the band most comparable to the Kinks. But I think Davies edges him).
ReplyDelete"Waterloo Sunset" is sublime. Nothing more needs to be said.
The greatest tragedy of The Kinks, though, is that Dave's songwriting ability has been grossly overlooked and overshadowed by Ray's. And from all indications, that's due in no small part to intentional efforts by Ray himself. I'm not saying Dave is equal to Ray--goodness knows his solo stuff is wildly uneven--but pieces like "Living on a Thin Line," "Strangers" and to a lesser extend "Fortis Green" are masterpieces in their own right.