Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Ray Davies' Later Stuff Was Better


EDIT: Welcome, KindaKinks readers!

Exhibits A, B, C, D and E


"Don't Forget to Dance"



"Property"



"Summer's Gone"



"Return to Waterloo"



"How Are You"





12 comments:

  1. Love your assertion, but would be interested in why you feel this way. I somewhat agree but would say that I like most of what he has written and can find a silver lining in even his “worst” material. Anyway thanks for the post, best of luck! Cheers!

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  2. Thanks for your comment. I think this material is great because Ray was writing about real adult concerns, moreso certainly than most of his contemporaries. "Don't Forget to Dance" is sung to a lonely, middle-aged woman and celebrates her dignity and her quiet strength."Property" is a hard, aching story about a divorce. You get the idea. There was also at the same time some great, pointed political stuff, especially in songs like "Not Far Away" and "Expectations" (the latter a scorchingly bitter non-love letter to Thatcher's Britain). This was a period of Davies's career that went largely unnoticed, which is a real shame, and I don't think he's ever matched it since.

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  3. I was enjoying the last video "How are You" very much, as I like Ray Davies, and I love dogs! Everything was oojah-cum-spiff if that's the expression I want, until I saw somebody put a mug of hot tea on a piano! Why must musicians set a bad example like that? It's gonna leave one heck of a ring.

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