The Kinks has never been as important to me as the Beatles, Stones & the Who. I don´t quite know the reason. Maybe one is that they have quite many songs with that "ramtitandi"-beat I don´t like. Also when I was young, nobody seems to have their greatest albums to borrow me (only one I heard then was Schoolboys in Disgrace, that includes that quite irritating Jack the Idiot Dunce which has been made Finnish translated irritating cover).

I have quite recently listened very lot Face To Face, Something Else, Village Green, Athur & Lola and of course they´re great, but still I don´t believe Kinks will ever become one of the most important bands to me. Maybe just because I haven´t listened it all of my life like many others. One thing I don´t understand how people who like Arthur don´t like Tommy? I find them lot in common like also Pretty Things S.F. Sorrow.

galaxie 500 - peel sessions (2005 - recorded '89-'90)

i hadn't listened to this before. half of it is a nice bunch of pleasant, mellow covers. opens with the sex pistol's slowed-down "submission" & ends with jonathan richman's "don't let your mouth go to waste". not bad for morning office work-- lively enough that it helps you function, quiet enough that it doesn't interfere. it reminds me of... mazzy star, a little bit, though not as mellow-- maybe with a touch of... what... damn i hear it and i can't name it. nico? well, everybody will hear something different. no-- the doors! yes, distant, and different sound, but there's a bit of the doors on the richman cover. if i only had the language to describe what i hear in musical terms my life would be easier.

The fucking Kinks are almost as boring as the Who.

Been listening to this on full blast in my new car

See, this guy knows what I'm talking about.

The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is also a kind of concept record about a "simpler time" in England's history (the proverbial "village green" is the metaphor here, for a better, simpler Britain.) The Society is committed to preserving that way of life. Kinda like how right wing Americans want their lives to be like Leave it to Beaver with guns, only... y'know... not insane.

Read the Wikipedia article on the band. It's pretty well done and addresses the band's constant use of English culture, society, history and politics as an inspiration for their work.

Kind of like the rock n' roll Monty Python, if that makes any sense at all.

Arthur and Tommy are only alike in the sense that they're concept albums. Aside from that, I don't think the two records share much. They have a totally different sound, feel, story... Just my opinion.

well, it's not like you were explaining derrida & deconstruction, so nobody missed anything i think, but i think you missed what i was driving at, and that's my fault for not being more clear-- that rock isn't folk music, and that lyrics help but are not essential to get that feeling of running naked in the woods with a hatchet in your hand-- the thing that makes you scream the chorus outloud even if you're mangling the words. of course good lyrics help/don't hurt. but not everyone in the planet is american/british/australian/etc, and yet the music still works all over the planet.

but anyway.


of course it makes sense--i'm just not very interested in that though (ha ha, sorry, not trying to be a dick, just don't know how to say this in an oblique way that will make the point across). i like monty python but i'm really not much of an anglophile in general. but thanks for the shared knowledge-- i might some day look into it-- honest. maybe it will be fun.

FILPPER - GENERIC (1982) - i don't understand a single word of this but it's... fucking... great!!!

Yes it is. I'm putting it on now.

Ever live a life thats real
Full of zest but no appeal
Ever had to really cry
Cry so much you want to die
Ever feel like you've been had
Had so much that you turn mad
Ever been so depressed
That those you turn to, you bring distress
Ever sit in tormenting silence that turns so loud you start to scream
Ever take control of a dream, and play all the parts, and set all the scenes
Ever do nothing and gain nothing from it
Ever feel stupid and then know you really are
Ever think your smart? And find out that you aren't
Ever play the fool and find out that you're worse
Ever look at a flower and hate it
Ever see a couple kissing and get sickened by it
Ever wish the human race didn't exist
Then realize you're one too
Well… have you? Ever?
I have
So what

those are some decent and not unintelligent lyrics actually but i think they kind of ruin it for me ha ha ha.

ignorance = bliss

I disagree. Seems you haven´t listened Tommy enough. Of course they´re stories not complitely same, but anyway both tells the story of one person. Times of both stories are after war. Both are kind of growing stories, the main characters try to go to something better. Even Arthur could have happened more in the reality than Tommy, there is also imaginational elements in Arthur (Shangri-la).

But the most similarities are musical. Even both bands have already had experimental elements in their music, I think in these albums both really break the limits of ordinary pop songs structures. They both go towards musicals, even classic music structures. Also both use very great way horns. You could have put this song in the middle of Tommy, if it had sung By Daltrey or Townshend, I think no-one has noticed anything:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt0IXkIVvo4

Even both albums have interesting instrumental outro in the middle of album (the Kinks the end of Australia, The Who Underture). Also, I find the sound little bit same even the Who had clearer (I think those little bit muddy sounds of Kinks are also great). If you compare the sound of Who Sell Out & Tommy and Village Green & Arthur, there has happend lot of progression in both bands sounds and into same direction (lot clearer sounds).

I don´t know had Davies heard Tommy at all when making Arthur, but he was accused to plagiarism then. Even I read Pretty Things was accused to plagiarism from Tommy althought S.F Sorrow was released earlier than Tommy. Anyway I think there are no plagiarism, all those three albums have similarities but they´re just great in their own. If you haven´t heard S.F. Sorrow, I think it´s really time to listen it.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...K9i3DH6Pgn2LfD

Really great!

I don't spin this enough. Such a great album, in the old rock and roll way. The Flamin Groovies made some good albums.

interpol - turn on the bright lights (2002). not unlistenable, but a bit boring. part imitation joy division, part explosions in the sky, all the song sounds the same, with that monotone klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin guitar everywhere. very narrow dynamic range too-- everything mixed at the same volume. like a thin wafer. why do men even sing? okay i'm tired of this now.

Okay. I just wasted an hour listening to Tommy, which is worse than I remembered, although the riff to "I'm Free" is better than I remembered. So boring, so few good tunes, and such a stupid, stupid story.

This was a hit and Arthur bombed? I wonder if Ray considered suicide.


What? By whom?

the first side of this is amazing. the B side? notsomuch.

klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin-klin...

don't know what goes on what side but it's true it changed midway.

the most boring ass concert I ever ever saw was Interpol after the Antics record. It looked like 4 young men who absolutely detested being on stage together, who hated the tepid and overly lugubrious music they were trying to promote, and who had absolutely no clue how to "fake" it for the audience.

people forget that performance is play-acting, even in punk bands, or bands known for their hit-or-miss nature when performing live (sebadoh, Dylan, etc.). The audience came to see a fucking SHOW

faek it til you make it. no band will ever be "ON" every single night. audiences are never the same, illness can strike, fatigue can strike, etc. that is why I love the way KISS and Van Halen used to do shows. every song is treated like it's the last one, and every concert is important, whether in NYC or in Baytown TX.

Yeah, I have always been almost embarrassed by Tommy. Like, culturally embarrassed. That "supple wrist" line is one of the most painful rock lyrics ever. It's sounds alarmingly covetous to me... but nobody else seems to find it unsettling, so maybe I'm just a prude about grown men writing weirdly erotic stories about young boys with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Arthur all the way.
And for all we know, Tommy's success might have been exactly what drove Ray Davies to madness and near suicidal behavior.

^

Dancing In Your Head (1977)

Hell yeah man, OC & Prime Time. Shit is classic!

Here´s lines from Wikipedia´s Arthur sites:

The album was critically acclaimed at the time of release, especially in the US rock press.[31] It was favourably compared to contemporary works, namely Tommy by The Who, released earlier in the year.[31] In Rolling Stone magazine, Arthur was spotlighted in its lead section, with back-to-back reviews by Mike Daly and Greil Marcus.[28] Daly called it "an album that is a masterpiece on every level: Ray Davies' finest hour, the Kinks' supreme achievement".[2] Rolling Stone reviewer J.R. Young also praised the record, and said: "Less ambitious than Tommy, and far more musical ... Arthur is by all odds the best British album of 1969. It shows that Pete Townshend still has worlds to conquer and that The Beatles have a lot of catching up to do." A review by Sal Imam ran in Boston's Fusion magazine read that "If Tommy was the greatest rock opera, then Arthur most surely is the greatest rock musical."[28][31] Writing in his Consumer Guide column of The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the record a positive review, saying, although Ray Davies' lyrics could get "preachy at times", that the album featured "excellent music and production".

There is nothing about plagiarism accusations, I can´t find where I read it now. There has said Arthur project started lot earlier than it´s release so the plagiarism accusations was unneccessary. Anyway Athur has compared to Tommy and I think it´s for reason. I think similarities is just coming for that time. And I don´t think it´s not impossible if Davies & Townshend had played themselves their masterpieces before their release, it´s was quite common in that time (I don´t have any ideas were Towshend & Davies friends, but the friendship between rockstars was common in that time).

Again I can´t say how good Tommy´s lyrics are when I am not english spoken. But I think Tommy´s story is not just a fool hippie story with indian & drug use influences. I think it has many important things from a man psycholical development in a certain kind of family (Tommy could also be a symbol of those kids who are not seen in their family). Also, I see there important themes from religion & how mankind acts. I think Tommy is like Pink Floyd the Wall seen just a reflection of it´s makers artistic egoism, which they´re not. And I don´t see Tommy very erotic. There is just that sick Uncle Ernie. That kind of things sadly happened in the world and to put those in the art doesn´t make that art disgusting. Lou Reed wrote sick things so do you think he´s art is embarrassing?

And again, you seem to concentrate on lyrics. I find the most greatness in music. Both Arthur & Tommy deserves more than just one listening.

And Severian you´re not alone. I haven´t seen anyone else after me than Pookie saying Who´s 1965-1975 Records great here in SYG. Here Tommy is judged generally. And after that Pookie´s comment there were big silence. Like he´s just confessed he`s big Wham & George Michael fan (I don´t have anything against Wham or George Michael listeners, just thinking Wham & GM are horrible, but you know what I mean).

Yes!

Home alone, reclining in the dark because we have no power due to the storms......listening to various tracks by, Sun City Girls on my phone.

This very well may the perfect Friday afternoon!

Wait, are we talking about Turn on the Bright Lights or Antics?

It's true, the first half of TOTBL really does hold up, at least musically. The first song haunts me... NYC is equally disarming... Obstacle 2 and PDA are just too good to not love, despite the so-so lyrics. The last minute of PDA is superb.

The rest of the album is really quite silly, though I think the music would have worked if the lyrics had been a bit more obscured, or possibly in a different language.

It totally clear that they were all about Joy Division, Wire, the Cure, etc. but I think that first record was a step above a straight soulless ripoff. while the JD influence was there, Interpol never put out anything that truly sounded like Joy Division. They had "Disorder" moments, but nothing like the frosty dark procession of "Day of the Lords" or anything from Closer.

[EDIT:] Antics, though - I am not a fan. Great album title though. Seriously.

Actually I don't want to start a beef or anything, so let me redact that comment about Antics "just plain suck[ing]" ...

The truth is that I enjoyed some of the singles from the album well enough, but the fact that the music videos for those singles would play on 5 screens at Fred Meijer on repeat really turned me off. Also I didn't hear anything in the singles that hit me the way the opening track or PDA did from Bright Lights.

2003/4 - 2009/10 was a really bad period for indie rock. I think it might have actually killed indie rock as we knew it in the '90s. All these brainy college rock bands, who would've been vying for he spot of Pavement or GBV of the 00s were instead rocketed into fame on a whole other level. I think the only band that came out of this unscathed was Deerhunter, who luckily clung to adventurous weirdness while Arcade Fire were off winning Grammies.

What was I saying again?
Oh yeah, sorry if I insulted any Antics/Interpol fans. I haven't listened to anything after Antics from start to finish, so I shouldn't judge.

i don't think bright lights sucks completely but that album is pretty poor to be branded one of the better records of that decade by the likes of pitchfork. the rating is cackle-worthy. i think some tracks in that album are okay, they don't make me want to poke my eardrums with an icepick, but if that's the best music of the decade then we should burn down that decade as a fucking disgrace.

see: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-...he-2000s-20-1/

but of course we don't have to, because there were much better records that didn't sound like an imitation of an imitation of weak tea. they were just underreported.

but yes, indie rock is pretty much dead. and that's okay. nothing gold can stay, lololololol.

I think Deerhunter is a magnificent band. I've loved them since their first record. They didn't have the flash in the pan stink of the Shins, or the utterly dismal post-breakthrough album track record of Interpol and Trail of Dead.

they're one of the only bigger name indie bands that still holds my attention. And I think they were the best of the 00's, aside from the older bands who matured and grew into awesome new versions of themselves, like Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and Wilco.

Best "indie" bands of the last few years have been Black Bug, Dub Thompson, maybe Perfect Pussy, maybe Viet Cong. But those first two aren't likely to get a nod of recognition from most folks. But they're both explosive fucking bands.

My morning started very well listening this great, really underrated album:
Love Sculpture: Forms and Feelings

As far as I can tell, "indie pop" has taken over. Melodic, slightly quirky, occasionally unusual instruments. More toe-tapping than foot-stomping.

http://theindierockplaylist.com/

I was told the guitar was dead in 1989. Then shoegaze happened. Something good will come along, I'm sure. The guitar-drums-voice combo is just too powerful to die, and there's no fucking way a laptop or even a ukulele can be a permanent replacement. We're just in the desert now, for the most part.

Hm. I seem to be in an unusually optimistic mood today.

i don't know that the beatles-evoking ensamble that recorded monomania is even the same band that did the excellent cryptograms-- im not talking about deaths & replacements really, but while deerhunter got a lot of praise around these parts in their earlier days, it's now a lot more easy-listening/dumber band that at times approaches oasis. still good, though not as good---but i won't bitch about it ha ha




yes! yes...


since the days of the blues. but so are brass bands and therefore preservation hall. and so is the piano, or the violin...

Well, yeah there's definitely a big difference between Turn it Up Faggot! or the incredible, immersive, soaring celestial noise of Cryptograms and ... Well, anything that came after. Not just Monomania.

I too had a hefty respect for their early work, and have at times struggled to reconcile post-Cryptograms Deerhunter with the band I initially fell in love with. I actually didn't really like Microcastle as a whole... And I still don't listen to all of it. But it has enough excellent songs to warrant the occasional spin.

I thought they came back in a way with Halcyon Digest, which had a more traditional art-rock feel to it, almost like REM. Monomania sure sounds different but the songs are still tight and occasionally touch on perfection.

I think their transformation from noise to noise-rock to noise-pop to garages jangle has been no more of a shock than the changes Sonic Youth made to their sound between Bad Moon Rising / Evol and, say, Dirty / Experimental Jet Set. And I don't think Sonic Youth ever sounded like Oasis.

And seriously, Oasis? Have you ever even heard Oasis? They'd have to take lessons in irony and subtlety from Jim fucking O'Rourke for years to make an album that wasn't just Butt Rock. I think you're being really hard on Deerhunter with that comparison, brother.
Imagine Oasis making a song where the chorus was crafted around a series of whispered *huffs* into the microphone.... You might as well compare Deerhunter to Kings of Leon. No fair.

ha ha ha

i like microcastles just fine-- it's more structured but it's not dumb... monomania..."tight" but a little bit dumb... hence-- oasisfied. ha ha ha.

i said approaches not equates though. tendencies, you know. not absolutes.

like a compass needle that points at the north but isn't in it.

Well, I'm lumping in the first two Atlas Sound albums with the greater Deerhunter "brand," and those records were incredible. What the fuck happened on Parallax? Yuck!

But you know, even Deerhunter seems very "old" to me at this point. It's been 8½ years since Cryptograms. Monomania came and went with very little fanfare. I just realized that I haven't even thought about them for a good year before bringing them up in this thread. If they have a new album coming, I don't know about it.

Times they are a-changin'

they never stopped. and speaking of that-- and of violin and pianos earlier-- i'm about to start a bout of work while listening to beethoven's kreutzer sonata.

i love it not just because the way it sounds, which is great, but also because it reminds me of the tolstoy novella of the same name-- the one in which a wife killer rants about the terrible shortcomings of romantic love by comparing it to the emotional whirlwinds and emptiness of the kreutzer sonata.

i'm down with whirlwinds though. beethoven had more rocknroll than most, ha ha.

I need to get some Sun City Girls records.

is this the worst record cover ever?



probably-- it's so cheesy in the way contemporary "classical" covers try to market female players as hot babes. but still, good record.

it looks like a very uncomfortably wrapped bed sheet

i know! satin sheets even, for the worst idea of "sexay". even though tolstoy decried the kreutzer sonata as a disturbing aphrodisiac, this look is common to all sorts of recordings

she's a fantastic violinist though...

but observe how men are portrayed instead (same composition on 1/2 the record, same label, not sure of the difference in years)



from this juxtapositon one deduces

men = serious business
women = sultry sultanas

i'd like to see a photo of a barefoot pinchas zuckerman with pirate pantaloons and a puffy shirt open down to his navel, showing his pecs and abs, like some romance novel hero, ha ha ha ha. (no i wouldn't like that. but that would be the equivalent.)

isn't that sad? and i had never heard of zuckerman before, but now that image is infinitely amusing