"I go to BlackPOLL for my holidays,"-- ILM Artist Poll #17 -- The Kinks RESULTS THREAD

http://drbristol.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/god-save-the-kinks.jpg

well chosen thread title imho

I love results.

Woo-hoo!

I love The Kinks.

Let me start off by acknowledging this two collections, which both got votes in the album election even though comps weren't eligible. However I'll throw listing logic out the window just this once for a weirdo #10 for the albums countdown.

10. (comps special entry)

http://images.wikia.com/lyricwiki/images/5/5d/The_Kinks_-_The_Great_Lost_Kinks_Album.jpg

The Great Lost Kinks Album, 1973

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg431/soydelmonton3/KinkKronikles_320.jpg

The Kink Kronikles, 1972

9.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BBpVXu9CL._SS500_.jpg

Low Budget, 1979 -- 5 Points (2 Votes)

8.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YFk2y4dmL._SS500_.jpg

Kinda Kinks, 1965 -- 11 Points (5 Votes)

7.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518-x9aI%2BxL._SS400_.jpg

The Kink Kontroversy, 1965 -- 14 Points (5 Votes)

I think Low Budget is my least favorite of the Arista years, but I did vote for a track from it.

6.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51da1susz5L._SS400_.jpg

Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, Part One, 1970 -- 17 Points (8 Votes, 1 #1)

Kinda Kinks and Kontroversy should probs be higher, but it's only a top 10 anyway so I can live with those placements.

Lola Vs... should be lower. ;)

Kinda surprised Low Budget made the list. It definitely sounds like a "comeback" album, but the more I think about it, the more it strikes me as a less-ambitious/less-tuneful Schoolboys.

Love the cover of Lola vs Powerman even though it hasn't figured much in my ballot.
Have been quietly anticipating these poll results, will admit that.

I was so tempted to post this as the image for #7:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VZX3D11AL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

One of my fave vintage ILM memes from Cover Connections threads.

5.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y9c7fL5GL._SS500_.jpg

Muswell Hillbillies, 1971 -- 20 Points (8 Votes, 1 #1)

4.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-uNPUblhL._SS400_.jpg

Face To Face, 1966 -- 53 Points (18 Votes, 2 #1's)

3.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hnMnS-goL._SS400_.jpg

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), 1969 -- 53 Points (16 Votes, 5 #1's)

2.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51boryEV27L._SS400_.jpg

Something Else By The Kinks, 1967 -- 67 Points (19 Votes, 5 #1's)

can't believe schoolboys in disgrace took the top spot

Quick question: What's up with the blue Something Else? I've been posting the Castle/Sanctuary covers (non-deluxe) when applicable, but my copy of their edition of the album is gray.

I used to like Muswell more than I do now, but this is a solid top 5.

I think the blue Something Elses are just cruddy scans.

I didn't vote in the albums poll, but would have voted "Arthur" for #1 (also let me be the first to say "Lola vs Powerman" is too low).

xp I've only ever seen gray Something Elses. First US Kinks album artwork not to be fucked with by Reprise, though.

1.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/a8/4c/0c5581b0c8a037ecd0b0c110.L._AA300_.jpg

Think Visual, 1986 -- lol Points (haha Votes, yuckyuck #1's)

har har

yuckyuck #1s ftw

I wonder if a single track from that album even got a vote from anyone. The band's nadir? Possibly.

No really,

1.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rWPP0EAEL._SS400_.jpg

The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, 1968 -- 73 Points (20 Votes, 7 #1's)

xp "Working at the Factory" might've made my top...50.

BTW, this was up as a customer image on the amazon Think Visual page:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/b6/a0/66bc810ae7a0d30be5a31210.L.jpg

heh yukyuk

xp "Working at the Factory" might've made my top...50.

Yes. That's a real good song, although it gets tiring listening to Ray whine about the music industry.

I remember liking "The Video Shop" too, but thinking it was twice as long as it needed to be.

I think other people must enjoy the Kinks differently from me, because "Village Green" is easily my least favorite of the 1966-1971 Kinks albums. It sounds like de-clawed Kinks to me.

random Kinks catalog question: how many songs has Ray Davies written about/referencing his sister emigrating to Australia. 10? 20?

Now the "Most Hated"

5 (Three-Way Tie)

http://www.spirit-of-rock.com/les%20goupes/T/The%20Kinks/A%20Gallon%20of%20Gas/A%20Gallon%20of%20Gas.jpg

"A Gallon of Gas"
Low Budget, 1979

http://www.demotivationalposters.org/image/demotivational-poster/small/1009/destroyer-paranoia-poster-day-cubby-kinks-tribute-demotivational-poster-1284127934.jpg

"Destroyer"
Give The People What They Want, 1981

http://www.techxplode.com/wp-content/uploads/white-people-stole-my-car.png

"Somebody Stole My Car"
Phobia, 1993

Each 3 Points (2 Votes)

i voted for "Destroyer" -- i will try not to troll this thread too much but in the course of putting together my ballot and listening to a bunch of songs (I'm mostly familiar with them from the Ultimate Kinks 2xCD comp) i realized that i kinda sorta hate this band, or at least RD's voice/sense of humor.

4.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/6039781.jpg

"Harry Rag"
Something Else By The Kinks, 1967
6 Points (3 Votes, 1 #1)

3.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Lazy_Lester.jpg/220px-Lazy_Lester.jpg

"Naggin' Woman"
Kinda Kinks, 1965
6 Points (2 Votes, 2 #1's)

Harry Rag is so weird. never heard this euphemism for weed anywhere else.

BTW, That's Lazy Lester, who did the original. (xpost)

2.

http://img.wax.fm/releases/1572018/kinks-come-dancing-1310276.jpeg

"Come Dancing"
State of Confusion, 1983
7 Points (3 Votes, 2 #1's)

Weird. Had no idea that song was hated by Kinks fans at all. Always thought it was widely seen as a resounding return to form.

well, 3 votes. and one of 'em is me, who just came out as a non-fan.

1.

http://images.45cat.com/the-kinks-a-rock-n-roll-fantasy-1978-s.jpg

"Black Messiah"
Misfits, 1978
9 Points (3 Votes, 3 #1's)

I was 8 when Come Dancing came out, but I thought it was great if not a little confusing thanks to the video, which I watched over and over and over while we were on vacation because I had MTV for the first time in my short life. Had nfi what a Pally was, that's for sure.

I didn't know anyone hated it either.

some people need to listen to 'art lover'

And that's it for today.

Will be back to begin the "Top 50" Rollout tomorrow.

well, 3 votes. and one of 'em is me, who just came out as a non-fan.

haha, no, I wasn't saying "Grr, you're not a fan if you don't like this." I'm just surprised is all.

Kink Kronicles is one of the best compilations ever made and it's downright essential even if you've got all the studio albums since half of it is non-album/single tracks

The big 50th anniversary reissue box set of Arthur is coming out in a couple months. Theres a few different super deluxe versions of it with tons of extras and bonus discs and toys, but none of the bonus material really tempts me that much, my vinyl copy still sounds great and endless alternate mono mixes don't really excite me. But I'll probably still get whatever the cheapest CD version is that still comes with the book-length liner notes -
I know the broad strokes behind the context & making of the album but I'd love to dig deeper into it.

Which reminds me, imago, don't sleep on the unreleased Dave Davies album, which is pretty easy to find in various versions, amazing stuff there!

picked up a nice copy of Arthur been listening a lot... lyrics to Some Mother's Son are so brutal, what a songwriter


Two soldiers fighting in a trench
One soldier glances up to see the sun
And dreams of games he played when he was young
And then his friend calls out his name
It stops his dream and as he turns his head
A second later he is dead
Some mother's son lies in a field
Back home they put his picture in a frame
But all dead soldiers look the same
While all the parents stand and wait
To meet their children coming home from school
Some mother's son is lying dead

Wow. Makes me think of the Kipling poem "The Beginner"

On the first hour of my first day
In the front trench I fell
(Children in boxes at a play
Stand up to watch it well.)

For such a 'Lost Album' there's been loads of Official reissues of the Dave stuff. Your best bet is a single disc called Hidden Treasures that collects the most relevant stuff (and then some) with superb annotation.

"Creeping Jean" is one of the great lost Kinks songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m07i8jUpFxg

Yeah the Hidden Treasures disc is the one I've got, definitely recommend it, seems like the definitive version of that group of tracks.

"Creeping Jean" is an all-time track for me, would have been very high in my ballot if I'd voted here

whoa, I did not know abt these old Dave tracks

just realized the last track on the “hidden treasures” comp is a spider john koerner cover !

also, does anybody know if the tracks collected here are available elsewhere, in print and preferably legally ?

i think i used to have the mp3s somewhere but not anymore and i wouldn’t mind investing in a physical disc

link:

https://www.discogs.com/The-Kinks-Neue-Revue-The-Great-Lost-Album/release/4713595

Seems like a bunch of those have been spread out as bonus tracks on expanded/deluxe editions.

Several are also on The Great Lost Kinks Album (Kink Kronicles sequel the Ray had pulled after the initial pressing).

https://www.discogs.com/The-Kinks-The-Great-Lost-Kinks-Album/master/293040

it’s mostly the demo stuff (particularly “tell me now so i’ll know”) that i’m after

Ok, based on the fine-to-good Something Else and the so-far-incredible Arthur, there's a clear moment when this band became great - TKATVGPS.

if you haven't heard Face To Face, I think that's where the greatness begins fwiw

I won't leave it out! Arthur is just next-level though for all sorts of reasons

esp "Shangri-La" :)

yes sir, no sir is a personal fave from arthur
i will also stan for sleepwalker but i know it's not esp popular

good to know, i have that one but I don't think I've re-listened in a long time

It’s fun and funny (Life on the Road), has at least one jam (Mr Big), and the whole thing isn’t great but the songs I love are among my fave Kinks songs. Sleepwalker, Jukebox Music come to mind. It’s a fun rock album. I keep it in my car bc it’s perfect for listening to while driving.

I basically spent an entire summer as a teenager listening to VGPS on repeat and playing old Zelda games

I thought Village Green was the one album I could never wear out, though I have, kinda. Still the only album I've regularly listened to in every decade of my life. (save 0-9).

I’m with UMS on Some Mother’s Son. Just devastating and flawless the way he moves back and forth through the three different viewpoints/time periods of the song (mother of young child, soldier, parents of fallen soldier).

the bridge of shangri-la is monumental

imago - you’ve heard “See My Friends” and “Autumn Almanac” right? There are so many singles comps and bonus track editions now that I’m not sure what you find where.

This thread revive has got me revisiting the peak-era albums over the past week, right now I'm thinking Arthur is their best.

that seems pretty clear to me too

autumn almanac obviously mega-classic and long-beknownst to me, dunno why I didn't check out the albums sooner

timely message in arthur concerning the british tendency to genuflect before wealth and power even as it destroys you. quite dispiriting that he ended up accepting a knighthood

New mix of "Australia" from the reissue sounding pretty good this morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FKOzZwODO8

Happy birthday Ray Davies! Long live THE KINKS
Their music always puts me in a good mood, feels like home :)

"Some Mother’s Son" missed the top 50!? I figured that that was widely beloved.

A good countdown, the only song in the top 50 that I dislike is "Dedicated Follower of Fashion".

Favourite deep cut not included: "Supersonic Rocketship" or "He's Evil".
Favourite Dave song: "Lincoln County".

Chatting with a buddy tonight about all things Kinks on Ray's bday, & he contends Ray is UK's best songwriter, & I do believe I may agree with him. Arthur sounding great tonight. They should have never trashed those Holiday Inns. America missed out. But maybe that's what made em great.

I absolutely love "Destroyer" what the fuck was wrong with ILX in 2012?

i've got red hot kinks fever. i really love this live cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGkUwSiJ7VQ

this would be my ballot, or something like this:

till the end of the day
picture book
dead end street
days
i go to sleep
i need you
waterloo sunset
session man
strangers
tired of waiting for you
big sky
death of a clown
you shouldn't be sad
party line
starstruck
david watts
you really got me
the world keeps going round
do you remember walter?
victoria
all day and all of the night
animal farm
i'm not like everybody else
when i see that girl of mine
she's got everything
20th century man
shangri-la
mr. pleasant
ring the bells
get back in line

i have no idea on the albums. i do think that i favor arthur/lola less than a lot of others, and i think their earlier garage stuff is wonderful even when they're on autopilot. ray davies sounded cool as hell on some of those songs.

Nice to see your appreciation for some of the more obscure tracks on The Kinks Kontroversy.

yeah i love that album so much! it flows really well. songs like "what's in store for me" are kind of the "autopilot" mode i was talking about - it would fit in really well on the Beatles Help, I think from the same year, which is high praise imo. i'm not sure who's influencing who at that point, in '65. but i think it's impressive for the kinks to hang with the beatles on a kind of deep cut like that, from the same year, because at the point the beatles had played a billion raw garage shows in germany/liverpool etc and they were probably tight as hell. the kinks seem to just kind of arrive and immediately sound like an absolute unit. underrated drumming, in the pocket/ringo style

Plus they had like half an hour to record their albums in Pye's second rate studios.

Steven Hyden has a ranking of the Kinks' 50 best songs on Uproxx: https://uproxx.com/indie/the-kinks-best-songs-ranked/

There's a surprise #1! Nothing post 1984, and only two songs from 1975-1980, but I've got to give him points for including my beloved "He's Evil" from Preservation Act 2.

He makes some interesting points in his blurbs that might read better if not chopped up in the list format, but there's observations I haven't thought of and anecdotes I haven't heard:

Another Ray Davies contradiction: “Love me! Okay, now stop loving me!” The song reiterates the message. It’s about how bad things happen in life, but that is okay, because nothing really matters in the long run. Is this comforting? Or is it just profoundly sad? These are not the right questions as it pertains to the worldview of Ray Davies.

The central dynamic of The Kinks — the tumultuous relationship between brothers and Ray and Dave — is best summed up by an anecdote shared by Ray about the death of their mother. “I was in New York cutting a record,” Ray said, “and he was by her bedside, and he rang me and he said: ‘She’s dead.’ I said: ‘Will you check?’ And he said: ‘I’ve checked already.'”

Listening to (almost all) of the Kinks selections in his list, I realized for the first time while listening to "Arthur" that I'm the subject of the song rather than the voice of the singer. I also realized that too often I am the Big Sky, trying to look down on everyone.

kudos to that writer for putting young and innocent days so high, my favorite deep cut. how many different keyboard sounds are on that one?

david watts came up on a jog last week and i wondered how many other davies songs are double character studies? two sisters obviously. but david watts, maybe i was loopy from my jog but i pondered if davies was implying the dull and simple narrator lad was actually attracted to david watts without realizing or suppressing that he was gay? i checked out the history of the song and was pleased to see the real david watts was gay but the song was also based on a presumably straight kid from ray's school days that he was jealous of.

wonder what the point of the jam's cover of it was, i doubt they even clocked it was homoerotic-themed. i suppose it was chosen by foxton subliminally suppressing his envy of weller.

My kingdom for a Spotify playlist of the top 50 tunes. Did that ever get made?

I am good with that #1 tbh

XP This poll was conducted back before there was much Kinks on Spotify. Give me little bit and I build a playlist.

...and here we go: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jEikofhLoBF6jh6e2B8FH?si=fItxqSEtQUiWDiaYQotxDw&pi=SvLbQ9ghQbW7-

Went with the Mono versions up through Village Green, as that was the way I (mostly) first heard them on the Castle/Sanctuary remasters in the '00s (and was listening to when running this poll). Missed seeing that they have a Mono Arthur up as well until I was too far in. IIRC, that mix is just a fold-down that was barely released at the time, so no big deal.

Give me little bit and I build a playlist.

<IN RAY DAVIES CALYPSO VOICE>

Xp thanks for this!!

luv y'all and luv The Kinks but fuck Spotify. Some cool picks in that list that I don't have, I tap out at Preservation.