In
1979 The Kinks came back . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . again.
After finding success in 1964 with their
chart topping Hit Single 'You Really Got
Me', which gave them the template for
a stream of hit singles from the mighty
pen of Ray Davies, elder brother of Dave
Davies, who's guitar style changed the
whole face of Rock 'n' Roll music, with
his what were to become known as Heavy
Metal riffs.
From 1964 -1967 "The Kinks"
had twelve consecutive Top Ten hits in
the U. K. with three number one's including
'Tired of Waiting' and the immortal 'Sunny
Afternoon'. Amazingly, 'Waterloo Sunset'
only got to number two, a travesty of
justice. During this period "The
Kinks" were considered one of the
top contenders, and were always this Dog's
favorite. "The Beatles "always
seemed a little too managed to be the
real thing, and "The Stones"
sounded like they wanted to come from
Detroit not Dartford, where they did come
from. The Kinks loved coming from England,
acted like it, and sung about it.
But somehow in 1967 the hits just dried
up and the British press kicked over the
bones, pronouncing The Kinks dead.
In 1970 out of nowhere they came up with
'Lola', a Top Ten hit all over Europe
and the States. Probably only one of two
songs to be about Transsexuals to slip
through the tough censorship rules of
the British Broadcasting Company to reach
the Top Ten on the back of massive radio
exposure. (The other one being Lou Reeds
'Walk on the Wild side'.) Maybe the man
in charge of censorship just thought Lola
was a nice girl with a deep brown voice,
and those nice Kink Chaps were perfectly
normal. Nice one, Hubert.
Following this up with more hit singles,
a hit album, and lots of goodwill through
doing popular soundtrack work for trendy
movies such as the eye-wateringly topical
'Percy', about a very delicate transplant.
With their newly re-found fame the Davies
Brothers packed their band up and moved
lock, stock, and barrel across to the
United States of America, where they were
welcomed with open arms and proceeded
to pump up the coffers with the Yankee
dollar. But slowly the hits dried up and
it was time for a bit of a re-think. An
attack on American Stadium Rock was the
way the Davies Brothers decided upon and
went back into the studios with original
drummer Mick Avory and Jim Redford, bassist.
Redford, formerly with progressive rock
band "Argent" added a lot of
bottom end into the Kinks as well as a
much needed injection of fun and enthusiasm.
Keyboard player Gordon Edwards (ex "Pretty
Things") had just been fired from
the band for indulging too much in the
Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle. So for the purpose
of these sessions Ray Davies doubled up
on keyboards, but by the time the band
went back on the road a young man by the
name of Ian Gibbons (later a long time
member of the "Ian Hunter Band"
and top Session Player) had taken over
keyboard duties.
By that time "Low Budget" had
given them their first Top Ten single
in nine years and a Top Ten album to boot.
 |
Ray
Davis
|
The music was perfect, capturing the
mood of the times with Ray's musing over
his observations on life. In 'A Gallon
of Gas' the singer rues over the irony
now that he has fame, fortune, the requisite
life style, and most importantly a shiny
new Cadillac. There is not a drop of gasoline
to power his latest acquisition. (For
those of you too young to remember, there
was an oil crisis in 1979.) Even though
times have changed the music is still
very relevant today as it was then. Slip
this newly re-mastered version of "Low
Budget" into your CD player and cast
yourself back to a time when musicians
actually had to play their instruments
and song writing was a real art. Every
song is a gem with elder brother singing
with emotion in his own unique whimsical
style. Dave lays down some typically gritty
Kinks Rock 'n' Roll guitar, whilst the
rhythm section locks tightly into the
jumpin' grooves. Filling out the sound
further is Nick Newell on saxophone on
a couple of tracks.
It's all gone a bit quiet on the Kinks
front recently again, so expect a dramatic
comeback at a time zone somewhere in your
region any day now. However, in the mean
time….
….go on - treat yourself - get a "Low
Budget".
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
