My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl
All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night
Written by Ray Davies
Produced by Shel Talmy
Single, Pye Records [U.K.], 1964
When discussing the monolithic 1-2 punch of the Kinks' first two U.S. hits, "You Really Got Me" tends to grab all of the loud 'n' grungy glory. But its follow-up "All Day And All Of The Night" is even more savage and relentless, and if it lacks a tiny bit of the mesmerizing single-mindedness of its immediate predecessor, it compensates with sheer combustibility. "All Day And All Of The Night" sounds like it's 'bout to explode, and it sounds loud (if never quite loud enough) at even the lowest volume.
My appreciation of Muswell Hill's finest manifested during my senior year in high school. In retrospect, I realize that my path through 1977 was paved with dominoes, each falling in its proper place. The path began in December of 1976, when I saw my first rock concert: KISS with Uriah Heep at the Onondaga County War Memorial. It wound its way through Christmas gifts that deepened my appreciation of the mid '60s British Invasion, through increased attention to freer-form FM radio as I left AM Top 40 (partially) behind, through a tabloid rock rag (Phonograph Record Magazine) that introduced me to something called punk rock, a friend in high school who intensified my appreciation of the Monkees, and my discovery of the pop magic of the Rubinoos. Each domino fell with its own melodious thud. I turned 17 in January. I would graduate from high school in June, and begin college in late August. 1977. The dominoes never knew what hit them.
Setting the stage for '77, my Christmas gifts in 1976 included both The History Of British Rock, Vol. 2 and The Best Of The Animals. I was already a fan of the Animals, so the latter just reaffirmed preexisting obsessions; the former made me a fan of the Kinks. I quickly went from being a kid who remembered and loved the Kinks' 1970 hit single "Lola" into a full-on dedicated follower of well-respected men. The British Invasion set included "All Day And All Of The Night," and my sister pointed me toward "You Really Got Me."
And that really got me goin'.
The early Kinks can also be considered my gateway drug to the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, two groups I would embrace with manic fervor as '77 raged on. "All Day And All Of The Night" was the catalyst, the spark, the cantankerous shot heard 'round my world. Essential. And loud! Yeah, loud even at low volume...but why would anyone wanna play "All Day And All Of The Night" at low volume? Not content with the daytime, wanting the nighttime, and line-in-the-sand insistent that everyone's gotta hear about it. Any time. All of the time. The good Lord above invented the phrase Turn it the hell UP!!! specifically for "All Day And All Of The Night." God save the Kinks.
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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
THE KINKS: I Took My Baby Home
Written by Ray Davies
Produced by Shel Talmy
Single [B-side of "Long Tall Sally"], Pye Records [UK], 1964
For a very brief flash of time, "I Took My Baby Home" was the most exciting track that the Kinks ever released.
It didn't have a lot of competition for that title, since it was the B-side of the very first Kinks single, and much more distinctive and interesting than the perfunctory cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" on its A-side. The Kinks' second single, "You Still Want Me"/"You Do Something To Me," paired a couple of fine beat numbers, though I'd say "I Took My Baby Home" was still the pick of this four-song run.
The Kinks' third single was the greatest record ever made, and its release ended the short reign of "I Took My Baby Home" as the best of the Kinks.
Nonetheless, "I Took My Baby Home" remains a superb rock 'n' roll track, with its strutting harmonica come-on and its euphoric tale of a helpless chap gleefully seduced by his girl (whose high-powered kisses really knock him out, they knock him oh-oh-over).
And it was one of the songs I acquired in my first year as a Kinks fan. I started with "All Day And All Of The Night" on a various-artists LP at Christmas of 1976, added "You Really Got Me," the Kinks-Size LP and maybe Sleepwalker before heading off to college the following August, and scored my first Kinks compilation album during the fall semester.
This Kinks volume of The Pye History Of British Rock introduced me to "I Took My Baby Home," right alongside "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," "Sunny Afternoon," "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," "Where Have All The Good Times Gone," and "Till The End Of The Day." I knew "I Took My Baby Home" before I knew "Waterloo Sunset," though I would discover that one soon enough. Not a bad way to get to know the Kinks, I say.
(And I still mentally change the song's line "And she put her hands on my chest" to "And she put my hands on her chest." Aggressive girl. I bet her name was Lola.)
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit toCC's Tip Jar.
My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramonesis also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
This appeared here previously in a different context. It is not a part of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), though I may re-use bits of it in an eventual GREM! piece about "It's My Life."
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
Guitar.
The late Hilton Valentine played guitar for the Animals. That means Valentine's playing was the very first thing most of us heard when we were introduced to the Animals' music: the distinctive, bluesy lick that opens "The House Of The Rising Sun," the Animals' first hit in these American colonies in the British Invasion year of 1964.
It was a traditional folk song, dating back to at least the early 1900s. The Animals rearranged it into a powerful, mesmerizing rock 'n' roll record, a ballsy move that particularly impressed Bob Dylan. The Animals' take on "The House Of The Rising Sun" was (along with the Beatles) among the key influences upon Dylan's eventual act of ignoring folk purists' ignorant catcalls of JUDAS! as he went electric himself. Animals keyboardist Alan Price took the lucrative credit for the song's arrangement--that's a rant for another day--but it had been a group effort, and a group execution. Price's swirling play propels the record, the rhythm section of bassist Chas Chandler and drummer John Steel lock into an authoritarian groove, and the incredible lead singer Eric Burdon wails like the possessed soul he is. Hilton Valentine plays guitar. He hooks you first, and keeps you hooked, bound, helpless, boarding a train for New Orleans to wear that ball and chain. The House of the Rising Sun. It's been the ruin of many a poor boy. And God, you know you're one.
I was fortunate enough to see Hilton Valentine perform on a few occasions. He came to Syracuse a couple of times to participate in BeatleCuse, a wonderful concert series captained by local musician Paul Davie. Valentine seemed friendly and easy-going, secure in his position within the history of our beloved beat music. In the early '80s, I got to see the Animals themselves--Eric, Alan, Chas, John, and Hilton--and that was a dream come true.
I've been a fan of the Animals even longer than I've been a fan of the Kinks or the Rolling Stones. As a senior in high school, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the state of pop music circa '76 and '77 by scrawling a desperate WHERE IS ERIC BURDON NOW THAT WE NEED HIM? on the underside of an office cabinet. I, Rebel. Sort of. The stated plea was for Burdon, but it was a wish for the Animals. Eric, Alan, Chas, John, and Hilton. Vocals, organ, bass, drums...and guitar. Hilton Valentine played guitar. One foot on the platform, the other foot on the train. The ruin of many a poor boy. Play it, Hilton.
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
This is unfinished, a work in progress. The Yardbirds' "Heart Full Of Soul" is one of my all-time favorite tracks--Top 40 at least, probably Top 10. When I first began to pursue the idea of a Greatest Record Ever Made! book, I absolutely planned to include a chapter about "Heart Full Of Soul." Book it! No pun intended (nor accomplished).
But I never quite figured out what I want to say about the song, so that chapter never gelled to my satisfaction. I put it aside, separate from my current blueprint for the still-proposed book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), with intent to return to it for the hypothetical GREM! Volume 2.
The unexpected passing of guitar legend Jeff Beck prompts me to want to share this embryonic sample of what I have written about this wonderful record. This coming Sunday's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl was already programmed and recorded before we heard the news of Beck's death. We will be playing some Jeff Beck material on our January 22nd show.
For now: An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
THE YARDBIRDS: Heart Full Of Soul
Written by Graham Gouldman
Produced by Georgio Gomelsky
Single, Columbia Records [UK]/Epic Records [USA], 1965
The Yardbirds' "Heart Full Of Soul" is a permanent fixture in my Hot 100. Significantly in the development of my pop cosmology, it was the Flashcubes' live cover of that very song during my first 'Cubes show in 1978 that made me realize that the Flashcubes were always gonna be stars in my eyes. Later on, when the 'Cubes played a private gig in a fellow fan's garage on July 1st, 1979, I stumbled forward and delivered an urgent, drunken song request to guitarist Paul Armstrong: YARDBIRDS!! At PA's direction, the Flashcubes then did "Heart Full Of Soul" live for the first time in over a year. After that, bassist Gary Frenay asked Paul why he'd suddenly added a Yardbirds song to the set; Carl said! was his response. "Heart Full Of Soul" was the first Yardbirds song I ever heard, courtesy of Utica, NY's WOUR-FM in 1977. It was part of my 1970s embrace and exultation of the '60s, particularly the British Invasion, that same whoosh of delighted discovery that hooked me on the Kinks. A clip of the Yardbirds performing "Heart Full Of Soul" was included in Rock Of The '60s, a presentation of vintage rock videos put on by Syracuse University one night in '77. I scored a used Yardbirds Greatest Hits LP at the flea market or somesuch, and I've never been without my own copy of "Heart Full Of Soul" since then. I'm a fan of the Yardbirds. I love "Over Under Sideways Down," I love "Evil Hearted You," I love "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and "Little Games" and "Still I'm Sad." I love "For Your Love," the hit song that made blues purist schmuck Eric Clapton flee the group. I liked the Yardbirds better with Clapton's replacement, Jeff Beck. In fact, I love the Yardbirds with Beck more than I like anything his predecessor Clapton or his de facto successor Jimmy Page did at any point in their celebrated post-Yardbirds careers. And it ain't even close.
(When the Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Beck's acceptance speech found him deadpanning something like, "I'm told I should feel honored. But I don't. They fired me. Fuck them." Most of all, I love "Heart Full Of Soul." It has a hook. It has that riff. Like the Bevis Frond's "He'd Be A Diamond," it has the hopeless regret of lost love. And it has a chorus that would almost sound like a suicide note if it weren't so damned catchy. It's...everything. And it's The Greatest Record Ever Made. Deep in dark despair, the riff cuts through.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
I've been writing a book called The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Last week, I posted the book's chapter about "Get Off Of My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones. This is an earlier version of the same chapter, written with my original intent to spotlight "Happy" instead of "Get Off Of My Cloud." An infinite number, my friends.
THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Happy
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Produced by Jimmy Miller
Single from the album Exile On Main Street, Rolling Stones, 1972
Selecting just one Rolling Stones song for celebration as The Greatest Record Ever Made is a daunting task. Given my own preference for the Stones' catalog prior to Brian Jones taking his last dive, a '60s track would seem my obvious choice. There are moments when I believe "Paint It, Black" is The Greatest Record Ever Made. Ditto for the Stones' ace cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," and their take on Lennon and McCartney's "I Wanna Be Your Man." I've certainly never surrendered my enthusiasm for "Get Off Of My Cloud," and still regard both "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as deservedly iconic. But the riff and groove of Keith Richards' "Happy" create a juggernaut that could fell a fortress. You can hear the riff right now in your head, and it's always there for you, whenever you want it. I need love to keep me happy. Basic, obvious, and monolithic, even as Keef delivers it all with a shrug and a wink. Baby won't you keep me happy. So say we all.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project: Volume 1: download Volume 2: CD or download Volume 3: download Volume 4: CD or download Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:CD or download
"Get Of Of My Cloud" was the first Rolling Stones song I remember hearing. Which means that distinctive drum intro by the late, great Charlie Watts was also my introduction to the sound of the Stones.
This will be the Rolling Stones chapter in my proposed book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). An earlier version of the chapter appeared previously as part of a different piece. It has been tweaked and expanded for its GREM! spotlight.
An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
THE ROLLING STONES: Get Off Of My Cloud
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham Single, Decca Records [U.K.]/London Records [U.S.A.], 1965
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here. The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project: Volume 1: download Volume 2: CD or download Volume 3: download Volume 4: CD or download Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:CD or download
10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. Given my intention to usually write these on Mondays, the lists are often dominated by songs played on the previous night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This special 12-song edition of 10 Songs collects previous 10 Songs entries celebrating the music of THE KINKS! The collection appeared at Pop-A-Looza on June 29, 2021.
THE KINKS: All Day And All Of The Night
It's important to note the significance of "All Day And All Of The Night" in the story of how I became a fan of the Kinks. "Lola" was the first Kinks song I ever knew. My sister's copy of The Live Kinks was the first Kinks album I ever saw. But "All Day And All Of The Night" was the first Kinks track I ever owned, contained on the 2-LP compilation History Of British Rock Vol. 2 I received as a Christmas present in 1976, less than a month prior to my 17th birthday. Essential. And loud! The track was also on my first Kinks LP, Kinks-Size, purchased early in '77.
When discussing the monolithic 1-2 punch of the Kinks' first two U.S. hits, "You Really Got Me" tends to grab all of the loud 'n' grungy glory. But its follow-up "All Day And All Of The Night" is even more savage and relentless, and if it lacks a tiny bit of "You Really Got Me"'s mesmerizing single-mindedness, it compensates with its sheer combustibility. "All Day And All Of The Night" sounds like it's 'bout to explode, and it sounds loud (if never quite loud enough) at even the lowest volume. As revealed in my Everlasting First piece about how I discovered the group, "All Day And All Of The Night" was the first Kinks track I ever owned. There would be many, many more to follow.
THE KINKS: Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
When I was in the process of becoming a Kinks fan at the age of 16 and 17 (circa late '76 and into '77), "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" was a mystery track. I had seen the title listed in reference works, but it wasn't a Kinks song I knew, like "Lola" or "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," "Tired Of Waiting For You," "A Well Respected Man," or even "No More Looking Back" from Schoolboys In Disgrace. I recall hearing Status Quo's "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" on the radio, and wondering (with no real-world justification) if that might be "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion." I have no memory of where, when, or how I finally heard "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," but I do remember that I was initially underwhelmed by it.
Well, that reaction sure changed over time. In the summer of 1979, the first time I saw the fab local combo the Dead Ducks, my pal Joe Boudreau and I bellowed along with the Oh yes he IS! as the Ducks covered the song. Many, many years later, I have a specific memory of strolling through a shopping mall with my wife and daughter as "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" came on the sound system. Just as I'd done as a teenager, I began to bellow along, Oh yes he IS! My then-teen daughter was mortified. Hmph. It's as if she didn't think her Dad was in fashion.
THE KINKS: I Took My Baby Home For a very brief flash of time, "I Took My Baby Home" was the most exciting track that the Kinks ever released. It didn't have a lot of competition for that title, since it was the B-side of the very first Kinks single, and much more distinctive and interesting than the perfunctory cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" on its A-side. The Kinks' second single, "You Still Want Me"/"You Do Something To Me," paired a couple of fine beat numbers, though I'd say "I Took My Baby Home" was still the pick of this four-song run. The Kinks' third single was the greatest record ever made, and its release ended the short reign of "I Took My Baby Home" as the best of the Kinks. Nonetheless, "I Took My Baby Home" remains a superb rock 'n' roll track, with its strutting harmonica come-on and its euphoric tale of a helpless chap gleefully seduced by his girl (whose high-powered kisses really knock him out, they knock him oh-oh-over). And it was one of the songs I acquired in my first year as a Kinks fan. I started with "All Day And All Of The Night" on a various-artists LP at Christmas of 1976, added "You Really Got Me," the Kinks-Size LP and maybe Sleepwalker before heading off to college the following August, and scored my first Kinks compilation album during the fall semester. This Kinks volume of The Pye History Of British Rock introduced me to "I Took My Baby Home," right alongside "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," "Sunny Afternoon," "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," "Where Have All The Good Times Gone," and "Till The End Of The Day." I knew "I Took My Baby Home" before I knew "Waterloo Sunset," though I would discover that one soon enough. Not a bad way to get to know the Kinks, I say. (And I still mentally change the song's line "And she put her hands on my chest" to "And she put my hands on her chest." Aggressive girl. I bet her name was Lola.)
THE KINKS: Muswell Hillbilly
I have a black t-shirt emblazoned in white letters with the Kinks' classic '60s logo. It's my favorite t-shirt. When I wear it, some random stranger will often notice it and express approval (even from a socially-distanced vantage point). I've had people insist I'm too young to even know who the Kinks are (which means I'm either older than I look, or that I wasted my money on those three Kinks concerts I attended; I enjoyed those shows, so I don't feel like I coulda been too young to know the Kinks at the time).
Yes, I DO wear this shirt all day and all of the night!
It's not unusual for the sight of my Kinks shirt to inspire strangers to want to chat, however briefly, about these well-respected men. Recently, a gentleman just over six feet away from me admired my shirt, and mentioned his favorite Kinks album: 1971's Muswell Hillbillies. This is not the first Kinks record that most passers-by will cite in reaction to my dedicated follower of fashion choice of wardrobe. "Lola." "You Really Got Me." One guy said "Come Dancing." Muswell Hillbillies isn't exactly an obscure record, but it doesn't usually come up in casual conversation out in the real world, the vast playground beyond our own shared but insular rockin' pop universe. I was pleased. And I made sure to play the album's title track on that week's TIRnRR.
THE KINKS: Set Me Free
I'm not 100% sure where I first heard the Kinks' 1965 single "See My Friends." I initially knew "See My Friends" from the great British group the Records, who included their version in an all-covers EP that came with the purchase of the Records' debut LP in 1979. My first exposure to the Kinks' original must have been Golden Hour Of The Kinks, a 1977 compilation I picked up as a budget cassette release in the mid '80s. With the possible exception of my bootleg live Flashcubes tape, Golden Hour Of The Kinks was my favorite cassette, even more so than the (then-) contemporary garage sampler Garage Sale. I listened to Golden Hour Of The Kinks over and over on the boom box my Uncle Carl gave Brenda and I as a wedding gift in 1984, with only a couple of Beatles tapes (Help! and Beatles For Sale) challenging its boom-box sovereignty. Golden Hour Of The Kinks hooked me on "Animal Farm," reinforced my adoration of "Days," "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," "Till The End Of The Day," "Waterloo Sunset," "Dead End Street," "Shangri-La," and "You Really Got Me," and it introduced me to the original "See My Friends." Best cassette ever? A contender at the very least.
THE KINKS: Set Me Free
1977: I was just 17, if you know what I mean. And my girlfriend and I were moving way too fast. It was almost entirely my fault, maybe even my fault alone. But I had to stop it.
Over the course of '77, I had become a fan of the Kinks. In August, I went off to college with the tentative beginning of a Kinks collection, which included the Kinks-Sized, Sleepwalker, and possibly Schoolboys In Disgrace LPs. I was still learning about this great band and its cavalcade of wonder. Late in that fall semester of my freshman year, I picked up a Kinks compilation, The Pye History Of British Rock. That revelatory set included just two Kinks tracks I already owned ("You Really Got Me" and "I Gotta Move"), and introduced me to "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion," "Where Have All The Good Times Gone," "Till The End Of The Day," "Sunny Afternoon," "The World Keeps Going Round," "So Mystifying," "Long Tall Shorty," and a superb, rockin' B-side called "I Took My Baby Home." Fantastic stuff, and an essential plank on my path to greater Kinks devotion.
And it included a song called "Set Me Free."
Set me free, little girl
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl
You know you can do it if you try
All you gotta do is set me free, free....
It wasn't her fault. It was mine. Yeah, probably all mine. I was 17. That's explanation, not excuse. I listened to the song playing on my roommate's stereo in our dorm room, looking at my girlfriend, feeling guilty for what I was thinking. But I was beginning to realize what had to happen.
We lasted until Christmas break. I wrote her a letter. It hurt her, and I regret my actions that made that seem necessary. Damn me. But it was time. Set me free.
THE KINKS: Tired Of Waiting For You
This was my first Kinks LP. Though my copy was considerably more beat-up than this one.
In my oft-told story about how I became a fan of the Kinks, 1964's "Tired Of Waiting For You" represents the tipping point, the seismic event when I heard the song on the radio in 1977 and knew, just knew before the DJ said, that it was the Kinks. The Kinks' primal oldies "All Day And All Of The Night" and "You Really Got Me" had only recently taken my fancy hostage, a mere decade and change after the fact. Radio introduced me to The Kinks with "Lola" in 1970, my burgeoning interest in the mid-'60s British Invasion prompted a deeper dive into Sire's History Of British Rock collections, and radio came back to seal the deal with a spin of "Tired Of Waiting For You." It's not an oversimplification; that really was the precise moment when I became a die-hard Kinks fan. It's your life, and you can do what you want. And I want to listen to The Kinks.
THE KINKS: War Is Over
One recent week on his SPARK! radio show Radio Deer Camp, DJ Rich Firestone played the Kinks' "To The Bone," a cut that has never been played on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. And we've played a lot of Kinks songs over the past 22 years! The song is the title track from a 1996 2-CD US version of a live Kinks album released as a single disc in the UK in '94. The US version adds several tracks, but omits "Waterloo Sunset" and "Autumn Almanac," forcing fans (like me) to buy both versions. The US set also adds the two studio tracks that are the final Kinks recordings issued to date; Rich played "To The Bone" on Radio Deer Camp, and we played the other studio track ("Animal") on TIRnRR some time ago.
We still haven't played "To The Bone," but we did want to try to program a Kinks song that we hadn't played before. We picked "War Is Over," from 1989's UK Jive, which is my least favorite Kinks album. The song's fine. The album....
I was able to see the Kinks on the UK Jive tour. It was the third and final time I saw the Kinks in concert, and oddly enough the show occurred in the same week that I saw my first Rolling Stones concert. Kinks and Stones in a single week? Awrighty!
My first Kinks show was in 1978, and it was awesome; I told that story here. Seeing them a second time at a mid '80s arena show in Buffalo was less special, but still the Kinks. The 1989 show was weird. It was staged in a gym at the State University of New York at Oswego; the arena show felt impersonal, and this felt, I dunno, somewhere in between, but still almost haphazardly disconnected.
The show was sparsely attended, so lovely wife Brenda and I were able to get THISCLOSE to the stage where the Kinks--THE KINKS!!!--were playing. But it was the UK Jive tour. I have little memory of it. I can't believe I saw the Kinks at such close proximity, but that a combination of off-putting venue and a set list emphasizing a lesser album made the whole event seem so forgettable.
But it was THE KINKS...!
THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset
"Waterloo Sunset" is one of two songs by the Kinks given its own chapter in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), where it immediately precedes the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and Holly Golightly's version of "Time Will Tell" (itself also a song written by the Kinks' Ray Davies). This is how the book's discussion of "Waterloo Sunset" begins:
It's one of the most beautiful depictions of burgeoning romance ever committed to song. And it's told, not from the perspective of the young lovers themselves, but from the viewpoint of a benevolent onlooker, wishing them well as they cross over the river, where they feel safe and sound.
I wonder what that onlooker would have thought of me when I was 18....
Our connection with the pop music we love is personal, deeply personal. We know that the songs on our stereo, our radio, our iPod, or our Close-N-Play aren't really about us, but we have license to incorporate them into our own experiences. We assign meaning. While the Kinks insisted elsewhere that it was only jukebox music, it is really so much more than that.
In the book, I place "Waterloo Sunset" directly after chapters about T. Rex, the Runaways, and "Sister Golden Hair" by America, a little trilogy threaded together with the memory of my near-disastrous freshman year in college, 1977-78. "Waterloo Sunset" follows with the potential for catharsis. Every day I look at the world from my window...Waterloo sunset's fine.
It's not the story Ray Davies intended to tell. It's the story I hear nonetheless.
THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset (worth a second entry!)
The Kinks have come to be known as TIRnRR's house band, perhaps for no real reason other than we all think it's cool to celebrate the splendor of the Kinks whenever possible. The Kinks remain the only act to ever take over an entire episode of our radio show; in fact, we've done two all-Kinks shows. God save the house band!
"Waterloo Sunset" has two additional specific links toTIRnRR. In 2019, when a bunch of our friends and supporters decided to surprise us by recording a single to benefit our cash-strapped operation, theseTIR'N'RR Allstars chose to do a cover of "Waterloo Sunset." And we were in paradise. And some years back, when Dana was out of commission for a bit, I devoted a show to something I called "A Girl And A Boy: The Story So Far." This was an attempt to create an extended song cycle to tell the story of a relationship, using preexisting songs and alternating female and male lead vocals to suggest a girl and boy looking back at their history together and apart. The boy's name was Terry, the girl's name was Julie, and as long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset, they are in paradise. It was a fun exercise, and intended as a tribute to one of my favorite songs. Sha-la-la....
THE KINKS: (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
Bert Parks' greatest hit. Sort of.
The Kinks' 1979 album Low Budget brought the group a commercial resurgence in America, moving them from modest concert halls to arenas. Its release was preceded by the single "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman," which was a seemingly incongruous mix of our dedicated followers of fashion with a disco beat. Faster than a speeding leisure suit, more powerful than a mirrored ball, able to leap over tall velvet ropes in a single bound, the record is flush with Ray Davies' characteristic cantankerousness, and it was accepted by rockers who would not have been caught dead with any kind of Saturday night fever. Disco? The Rolling Stones did it. KISS did it. Blondie had their first U.S. hit by doin' it. Even the razzafrazzin' Grateful Dead did it with "Shakedown Street," though every Deadhead I knew denied the fact and the beat. So why shouldn't the Kinks make a disco record? The Kinks pulled it off, and the Kinks got bigger.
And then...Bert Parks.
1979 was the final year that Parks would host the annual Miss America beauty pageant. He had been that show's host since about, oh, the dawn of time, and he was about to be kicked aside and replaced by someone younger, if not exactly hipper. "Hipper" and "Miss America beauty pageant" were definitely not two great tastes that taste great together. Actor (and former TV Tarzan) Ron Ely took over the job in 1980 and '81.
By '79, I was not in the habit of watching the Miss America broadcast. Whatever interest I could have derived from seeing pretty girls on my TV screen was overshadowed by the sheer hokiness of such an emphatically four-cornered spectacle. But that year, my girlfriend asked me to be her plus-one at the wedding of one of her dearest friends, so I accompanied her out of town for the event. We had some down time one evening, and we found ourselves watching TV.
Miss America.
Bert Parks.
The...Kinks...?!
No, Muswell Hill's finest didn't show up to warble "Theeeere she is, Miss America...!" That would have been odd, but interesting. Instead, Bert Parks himself lent his golden throat to a never-before, never-again, why-in-God's-name-in-the-first-place performance of "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman." Parks concluded the brief songlet by ripping open his shirt to reveal the Superman shield on his chest.
I was horrified. Transfixed, car-crash hypmotized, unable to turn away, scarred for life, damaged beyond repair, a gas-strike, oil-strike, lorry-strike, bread-strike pinned-in-place deer in the disco lights. Hey, girl. We gotta get out of this place.
You don't believe me? Lord, I wish it had only been the hallucination it seemed. But no! It was real. Check out this YouTube clip, and go directly to the 38:08 mark...IF YOU DARE!
So. Bert Parks' final gig as Miss America pageant host. Coincidence? Maybe. Or further evidence that you don't tug on Superman's cape. And, for God's sake, you don't mess with the Kinks.
Other than Schoolboys In Disgrace, I mostly missed out on the Kinks' concept album phase. I saw Preservation Act 1, Preservation Act 2, and The Kinks Present A Soap Opera in the bins at Gerber Music, but I didn't hear any of that until many years later. And while I appreciate them and dig each of them in its own right, I can't rank them alongside the Kinks' 1960s album masterpieces like Face To Face, The Village Green Preservation Society, or Arthur.
With that said, "You Can't Stop The Music" is (along with "[A] Face In The Crowd") one of a couple of standout selections on Soap Opera. It serves as a de facto statement of intent, and a reminder of the resilience of the sounds we adore.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project: Volume 1: download Volume 2: CD or download Volume 3: download Volume 4: CD or download Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:CD or download
