Why, it seems like only yesterday [cue harp and wavy, out-of-focus visuals] when you could pore over an album's liner notes and not have to squint to garner an embarrassment of riches and a treasure trove of tidbits...
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, Ray Davies reminds us in “Til Death Do Us Part,” which kicks off The Great Lost Kinks Album, leaving him in no mood to catch up:
- In my little life,
I know that the world must keep on turning,
Even though it leaves me far behind…
A collection of enjoyable but low-key and disheveled outtakes, rarities, and B-sides, mostly from the late-'60s, the LP’s 1973 release date instantly pegged it an instant period piece — “Groovy Movies,” anyone? — but often refreshingly so, considering the then-encroaching age of hand-wringing soft-rock and cosmic bloat. The Great Lost Kinks Album — much like the previous year’s marvelous and somewhat more conventional catch-up anthology The Kink Chronicles — was indeed a Brit-centric treasure trove of provincial pop, trumping more widespread pap and prog.
But let’s not go too far. Rear-view reflecting is a great thing, but how about myopic hindsight in a house of mirrors, and the dizzying loss of historical perspective it brings? The hit-and-mostly-miss liner notes of Lost, extensive enough to provide a critical and then-updated overview of the group’s career, as well as a song-by song assessment of the album’s tracks, were written by noted music critic and Kinks chronicler John Mendelsohn. And while the commentary certainly benefits with such literate and expressive writing, it almost seems as if Mendelsohn needs to be dragged out of the Carnaby Street carny kicking and screaming L-O-L-A into the Kinks-sized ’70s. “What’s clearly amiss with the Kinks since the dawn of the present decade,” he hastily sniffs in a comment redolent of redundancy, “is that Raymond D. Davies’ songwriting brilliance as a songwriter has greatly dimmed.”
A has-been in the course of a mere two years? Let's do the math, and the poetics. First, give Mendelsohn the benefit of one doubt and put the raucous 'n' rollickiing 1970 decade-sitter Lola Vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round in the ‘60’s column -- that means the critic is basing his argument on the western-style worthy Muswell Hillbillies, from 1971, and the following year’s loopy ode-to-the-road Everybody’s in Show-Biz. Mendelsohn’s ears weren’t attuned to Muswell’s affectionate mix of boozy music hall and poignant Americana: “But in her dreams she is far away... With Shirley Jones and Gordon McRea,” Davies sings in the exquisite “Oklahoma U.S.A.” And instead of acknowledging some of the LP's roots in the Davies brothers' upbringing in Muswell Hill north of London, Mendelsohn bypasses the biographical, asserting that “Ray’s treatment of the familiar theme of the old fashioned tradition-cherishing soul’s inability to suffer the cruel modern world was largely clumsily heavy-handed and obvious.”
Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
Though I frequently disagree with Mendelsohn’s liner notes on both this and Kink Kronikles, this Kinksfan still has a big soft spot in his heart for this out-of-print “ramshackle” collection. Even though most of these tracks have since appeared as bonus tracks on CD reissues, I’d love to own a copy of this disc " saw an import version (from Holland, I think) of it once, but it inexplicably omitted the liner notes . . .
2 - Holly Hughes
I'm a pretty uncritical Kinks fan, but then so was Mendelsohn up to this point...I guess we'll never know why he turned on the band so viciously with these liner notes. This is, after all, a collection of lighter songs that Ray Davies had decided NOT to put on other albums (and I've always heard he didn't want them released on this, either), so why complain that it's not Significant Music? Personally I love the early 70s Kinks -- yes, every last track of Preservation 1 and 2, the sloppy live tracks on the second disk of Show Biz, the whole shebang. It's my favorite era of the Kinks, in fact; how can you top Muswell Hillbillies?
These liner notes are a classic example of a critic simply getting it wrong, for whatever reason. To dislike a record is one thing, but to go on for so many pages disliking it in such detail -- well, that's just creepy.
3 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Holly--agreed.
I happened to dig out the more sloppy, elaborate and theatrical '70s concept albums -- both Preservations, Soap (which immediately puts "Ducks on the Wall" into my head for hours--but that's a good thing). I hadn't played these in years, and even though I had loved these LPs (and the concerts at the time) I kind of expected something cringe-inducing and indulgent, but they still sounded marvelous, tuneful, and indeed sloppy, but gloriously so.
4 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Bill--thanks for the comment. Holland must be a good place for finds--I picked up an import of Lennon's 'Two Virgins' once, plain brown wrapper and all.
As you probably know, the liner notes for GLKA come as an insert within the album. If you want me to email me I'd be glad to mail you a copy.
5 - Josh
I'm happy to say my copy of Kinks Kronicles has been ordered and should be on the doorstep on Tuesday. I've been meaning to do this for a long time and am really looking forward to taking the first steps in catching up to everyone else.
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Enjoy, Josh!
7 - Bill Sherman
If you want to email me I'd be glad to mail you a copy.
That's okay. I've gotten along without it so far. :)
That Holland import included some demo-level tracks from Dave Davies' first attempt at a solo album (done in the wake of "Death of A Clown," apparently), so it's of additional interst to Kinks fans who can track it down. I used to have a copy of it in my own little hands, but I let it slip through my fingers . . .