Mendelsohn, however, more certainly misses the mark on a couple other songs on The Great Lost Kinks Album, one an obscurity and the other a Kinks classic with a lead vocal by brother Dave. “Lavender Hill” is an eerie and evocative slice of fantasy without a trace of summer-of-love bandwagonry about it, but the only inspiration elicited from Mendelsohn is the joke that it “reveals little, if anything, about Ray's sexual leanings.” And in the shout-from-the-rooftops declaration of personal independence that characterizes “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” the rock critic gives it short shrift, relegating this often re-issued 1966 track to hippy-dippy sloganeering and saying he “fails to detect anything other than the usual I’m-gonna-let-my-freak-flag-fly sentiments therein…”
Then again, maybe you better fly your freak flag while you can. In old age you will be just like everybody else, as the Kinks leader reminds us in “Where Did My Spring Go?” — which an on-target Mendelsohn calls “probably the most chillingly cynical of all of Ray’s songs.” It’ll surely sap any good will generated by the absurdly cheery if tongue-in-cheek “Pictures in the Sand” and “Mr. Songbird,” on which “Jimmy Page did not play the recorder.” In any case, in “Spring” Ray sings “the part of a man terrified to the point of cursing the time he spent being in love by the realization that physically he’s no more what he once was”:
- Where did the spring go?
Where did my hormones go?
Where did my energy go?
Where did my go go?
Where did the pleasure go?
Where did my hair go?
Remember all those sleepless nights,
Making love by candlelight,
And every time you took my love,
You were shortening my life.
Where did my teeth go?
Where did my hair go?
Where did my shoulders go?
Where did my chest go?
Where did my hormones go?
Where did my go go?
Where did my energy go?
Where did my skin go?
Where did my muscles go?
Where did my liver go?
Where did my heart go?
Where did my bones go?
"Thank you for the days," Davies once sang in the tender "Days," but he may not have intended the passing of time at the expense of time-lapse seasons and rapidly deteriorating vital organs. Cue Mr. Songbird, please, and show Mr. Mendelsohn the door...
Track Listing
- Side One
"Til Death Do Us Part" – 3:12
"There Is No Life Without Love"* – 1:55
"Lavender Hill" – 2:53
"Groovy Movies" – 2:30
"Rosemary Rose" – 1:43
"Misty Water" – 3:01
"Mister Songbird" – 2:24
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 . . .