The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

I listened to this on Apple and, no, I don’t know it.

 

I have the cd version of this

Absolute Anthology 1965 to 1969 - Wikipedia

 

Yea, that is surprising.

The Shadows, Bowie and Gary Moore did covers of it

 

To add to Mark’s excellent summary, I think it was noted during our discussion of Arthur and migrant hostels in Australia that the Easybeats were formed in a hostel. English + Scottish + Dutch migrants = classic Australian group.
Harry Vanda and George Young also had a short but successful career as Flash and the Pan (Down Among the Dead Men).
Stevie Wright was one of a kind though. His comeback performance of Evie at the Sydney Opera House is one of my all-time favourite live performances.

 

I’ll take a seat at the back of the class.

 

A slight tangent, but it’s such an epic song - with three distinct parts - that it took a one-off supergroup of Aussie performers to match Stevie Wright at a charity gig 20 years later. This song brings tears to my eyes so why do I keep playing it?

 

I only discovered them last year, I think they sound a lot like the Kinks in their Face to Face/Something Else era. Pretty great, in other words.

 

I hope this didn't bug you!

 

10 - Bug (Bug)
I had this at #13 on my Dave list. It could be classified as certifiably bonkers, but I like the riff and the confidence of Dave singing he’ll be the bug your ar$e. It’s got a great change up bridge too.

10 - London Song (The Storyteller)
Unranked by me, as this album has been kind of overlooked by me. It’s not available on the streaming sites which means it doesn’t come back around easily for me. Very wordy, and I prefer pretty much every song off his two proper solo albums.

Today, Dave wins for me.

 

I’m 2 for 2 today, and partially responsible for today’s two pick’s placement. Both came in at #3 for me.

For Bug only three Avids had it in the top five, one Avid had it at #2 and another at #4, so at least I’m not alone, and I can rest easy knowing I’m not totally bonkerz. I haven’t read all the posts yet, so don’t know if the song’s other boosters have come forward. Just for the record, I don’t believe in alien abduction and UFOs, but I find the song very entertaining. I like the guitar riff, the rap-rock and the melody of the more melodic section. Here’s what I said originally:

 

For London Song, my other #3 pick for today, as I said originally, I’ve always loved it. No need for the slightly defensive posture I took for my choice of Bug.

 

I'm 2/2 today.

Dave:
Hmm, I had thought surely all the young dudes would like Bug as much as I do. Laughed my ass off on first hearing ... and then I played it again. Yep, this one goes directly to the list. Classic Dave. I love it - no. 4 for me.

Interestingly(?), this is not entirely autobiographical. As Dave tells it to Mark Hamill, it's a bit of a character study:

I’ll tell you a story about Bug. As you know, I’ve always been interested in the mind and psychic stuff. Around that time, I knew this woman who was a psychic, and she told me that she had been implanted with something in her brain which she thought might be aliens, maybe the government. I wrote a song about a character with a bug in my brain, trying to make it funny as well. A year later I was in London doing radio and became really faint. I was with Christian, my son – he says hi by the way – and I was in the throes of having a stroke. Same year that I write that story about a bug in the brain, and I was in hospital having a stroke. Something going on in my brain.​

(Seems like this interview is a companion piece to one with Ray, a week earlier, wherein Hamill tells Ray about singing Supersonic Rocket Ship in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. I know this has been mentioned in the thread, but I didn't see a link to the article, so tossing it in here.)

Ray:
And don't forget the Kray twins... How could I? I saw the The Krays sometime in the '90s specifically because I had heard/read that at one point the Davies brothers were potentially going to portray the twins in the movie. I could picture them in place of the Spandau Ballet brothers: Ray as the Come Dancing spiv, Dave in Glamour mode. Some years later it came out that the Krays had also wanted to manage the Kinks. I see both of these tie-ins were mentioned in the original discussion of the song. (Don't remember how I learned about the movie connection, but it was probably in relation to the Storyteller show. The earliest reference I could find online is a 1997 piece in Salon.)

Anyhow, London Song squeaked in at no. 20 for me. There was no question this one had to be on my list. I see it as a kind of sprawling love letter to London, calling out the people (both great and unsung) and places that shaped the city, shaped Ray, and populate his songs. London - the city on the dirty old river estuary that eventually opens to the sea, the city of Blakean greens and Dickensian big [black] smoke, with its dark alley-ways and stunning vistas (on a clear day). And despite trying to escape, despite having chosen the road, London pulls him back irresistibly:
I feel that I'm a Londoner still ...
There's a part of me that says "Get out" ...
But if you're ever up on Highgate Hill on a clear day,
I'll be there [I'll be there]
Yes I will be there [there]

As far as I understand he is still living in Highgate and has, essentially, come full circle, back where he started, just next door to Muswell Hill. In other words:
And I can't get away,
Because it's calling me, (come on home)
Hear it calling me, (come on home)....

 

Ray certainly aims for a different entry point.

 

In that case should the song come on please remain seated for the entire performance!

 

@palisantrancho's may be should that eventuate!

 

On the bright side you can now invite one more buddy over for a cold ale!

 

Do they talk about how they roped in Stanley Unwin?

 

Should I be more ashamed as I know good and well exactly who they are am an Aussie and have no records or cds of theirs?

Disclaimer: I just remembered that i do own 1 Easybeats DVD by default!

 

A truly great Aus rock moment!

 

Sounds a little Byrdsy!

 

That's a great clip!

 

I always thought this sounded like it could be a Kinks song.

 

That sure looks like it's The Living End's Chris Cheney on guitar!
It's all pretty great but I wouldn't use the word match.

 

I think so, but it’s over a decade since I listened to that disc!

 

I'm trying to find my Easybeats compilations on Discogs, it's a nightmare. I'm sure I owned these, in one version or another, in CD:
The Easybeats - The Easybeats Collection
The Easybeats - The Best From Down Under

I could swear I owned a single-CD compilation with exactly the same cover, but Discogs only has it as an LP:
The Easybeats - Easy As Can Be

Then there was this one, that looked like an album, but was actually a reissue of a sort of Kronikles or Great Lost Easybeats Album from the 70s:
The Easybeats - The Shame Just Drained (The Vanda & Young Collection Vol.1)

I spent a lot of time browsing the Easybeats reissues in record stores, so many covers are familiar, but I may or may not have bought them, like this one:
The Easybeats - The Best Of The Easybeats + Pretty Girl

I also bought Vigil, Friday on My Mind and Friends with bonus tracks when I finally could find them.

Finally, I have this Stevie Wright Compile, with the great Evie suite (that I also had on The Best From Down Under compilation). At some point, I had to sell some of my CDs to get some money. I went to a famous record store that took CDs back for reselling. They took all my CDs except for this one. I'm glad I (probably) still have it!
Stevie Wright - Facing The Music