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While Liam battles on, something of a sign of hope in a miserable world - last night, for the first time in two decades... well, this happened:
Yes, Ray and Dave Davies, on stage, together, doing a Kinks Song. Without anyone getting punched at. This was at the Islington Assembly Hall.
Oh, the horror. Gordon publishes photos today of Ray Davies which might shock you.
KINKS star Ray Davies looks a long way from his Sixties heyday — wearing jogging bottoms that are too short and white socks.Perhaps if the shitty London Media pap who took the long lens shot of him had called him in advance and warned him that he was going to be photographed for no apparent reason in the street, he might have worn a suit. Or perhaps he might have thought "I'm having a quiet day off, going for coffee, why the hell should I lob on a suit just because I once wrote a song about a third party who was a dedicated follower of fashion? After all, there'd be no earthly reason for a national newspaper to run a story about me wearing jogging bottoms, is there?"
For reasons that I can't still can't quite follow, Dave Davis of The Kinks is offering to interpret your dreams.
So, for example, "BJ" reports a tumultuous night being forced to feed tasmanian devils to American Indians who turned out to be "European gypsies" while horses watched on from the trees. Even with the gypsies starting to assault BJ's neighbours, Davies chooses to ignore the possibility that her subconscious might be a little bit racist and instead ponders the horses:
The fact that the horses were in trees could be symbolic of needing to branch out or achieve new heights in some aspect of your life. Although what these two images combined together make me think of is the phrase 'coming down off your high horse." Either you or someone close to you, taking a superior attitude in a situation that calls for a more grounded approach?Really, Dave? Do dreams effectively do little more than the big screen in Catchphrase, over-literally dispensing idiom and figures of speech in simplistic images?
The appearance of the Native Americans, a race given to living close to the land and being more in touch with the spiritual world seems to point to this dream being about some sort of crisis of faith, either in the literal sense or in the figurative sense or losing you faith in someone important to you.He doesn't mention the gypsies. Perhaps Dave thought about the "little bit racist" interpretation and didn't want to be rude.
Ray Davies has suggested that, since Dave Davies thinks that a Kinks reunion would be a night of the living dead, he'll get the gang back together without him:
"I can understand what he's trying to say. I think it's a reference to comebacks in general."... but, hey, he won't rule out playing with Dave if they ever get a booking at Unicorn Gardens.
He added, "The fortunate thing for me is that I was never a sexy frontman. Dave was always the pretty kid. So maybe he feels that way about himself. But we'll do it without him if we have to. The music is the issue."
Ray also made a sly reference to his guitar-playing sibling's interest in spiritual matters. "I hear Dave's more cosmic than ever. I'm a little more based on planet Earth than certain other members of my family."
Plans to revive Come Dancing, the musical based on The Kinks' back catalogue which wasn't quite as shoddy as the Queen one, have been dumped.
No reason for the cancellation has been offered, but it's believed someone has built a parking lot on the piece of land where the theatre used to be.
One of the most familiar unknown names of the 1960s pop world, Bobby Graham, has died.
By his own reckoning, Graham played on a total of 40 top five UK hits, drumming on Dusty's I Only Want To Be With You, You Really Got Me for The Kinks, and Make It Easy On Yourself. The Walker Brothers version.
Graham also claimed he was nearly in those Beatles, he was; his tale insisted that Epstein had offered him Pete Best's job and it was only offered to Ringo after he'd turned it down. To be fair, Graham at least has the talent to back-up the claim, unlike everyone over the age of 60 in Liverpool who also claims they said "no" to a job in The Beatles.
In total, Graham is believed to have drummed, clashed and cymablled his way through 15,000 tracks. As Professor Gordon Thompson remembers, his reputation meant he was often an obvious choice:
His association with the Dave Clark Five proved particularly problematic given that the bandleader WAS the drummer; moreover, Clark routinely declared that no other drummer played in the studio. However, a close listen to early recordings such as “Do You Love Me,” “Glad All Over” and “Bits and Pieces” reveals double-tracked drumming, suggesting that the drummer/producer had assistance from another musician. Graham maintained to the end that he was that drummer (a claim supported by unofficial correspondence) and who could doubt Clark’s good judgment at hiring the best. Indeed, many a British drummer cringed when they saw Graham at a session, knowing they had just been demoted to playing tambourine.
Symapthy in the other direction, though, when Ray Davies hung up on a George Lamb interview live on 6Music. Davies, it seems, didn't feel it worth his time answering questions like "are you bald", for some reason.
There are bands which are going concerns and, increasingly, bands which are merely not currently going concerns. The Kinks are now considering making a new album, should the health of Dave Davies and Peter Quaife allow, says Ray:
The Sunday after next, Ray Davies is going to follow in the steps of Prince by giving out free copies of his new album with a Sunday paper. This time, it's The Sunday Times, and Ray is excited:
Ray Davies failed to show up in court for the trial of Jerome Barra, the man accused of shooting him in the leg after trying to steal Davies' girlfriend's bag, which lead to Barra having charges against him dropped.
Davies has complained that he wasn't given enough notice of the court date, and says that he's not happy:
As if you're not having a hard enough time trying to balance out the sixty-three streams of BBC TV programming from the current Glastonbury (all, admittedly, showing Gogol Bordello on differing lengths of time-delay) here's a spot of YouTubeage from the festival ten years ago. Ray Davies, doing Waterloo Sunset:
Also:
Placebo
Radiohead
Beck
The Prodigy
More to come across the weekend
We can understand that having a shrine in your honour taken down and broken up must be upsetting, but since the pub which housed the Kinks corner has gone out of business, it's a bit rich of Ray Davies to complain that the new owners aren't having a corner given over to paying tribute to him:
We're not sure which "music fans" Q magazine asked to come up with its list of the top 100 singles ever, but we suspect they might be self-hating. Live Forever? Admittedly, it's the best Oasis single, but the best single ever?
And a poll which reckons Oasis have written the first and second best songs in recorded history?
At least it's not Bohemian Rhapsody. That's at number six.
The 100 in full:
1 Live Forever – Oasis
2 Wonderwall – Oasis
3 Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
4 A Day In The Life – The Beatles
5 One – U2
6 Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
7 Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
8 Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin
9 Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
10 Paranoid Android – Radiohead
11 Angels – Robbie Williams
12 Like A Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
13 There Is A light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
14 London Calling – The Clash
15 Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
16 Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
17 With Or Without You – U2
18 God Save The Queen – Sex Pistols
19 Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
20 Don’t Look Back in Anger – Oasis
21 Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
22 Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns n’ Roses
23 Hey Jude – The Beatles
24 Kiss – Prince
25 Imagine – John Lennon
26 Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
27 Like A Prayer – Madonna
28 Everybody Hurts – REM
29 Hey Ya – Outkast
30 Creep – Radiohead
31 Strawberry Fields Forever – The Beatles
32 I Wanna Be Adored – The Stone Roses
33 Karma Police – Radiohead
34 Walk This Way – Run DMC featuring Aerosmith
35 Champagne Supernova – Oasis
36 God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
37 I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys
38 Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks
39 Hurt – Johnny Cash
40 Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack
41 All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix Experience
42 Street Spirit (Fade Away) – Radiohead
43 Where The Streets Have No Name – U2
44 Common People – Pulp
45 Life On Mars – David Bowie
46 Anarchy In The UK – The Sex Pistols
47 Mr Brightside – The Killers
48 What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
49 Teenage Kicks – The Undertones
50 Take Your Mama – Scissor Sisters
51 Fight For Your Right To Party - Beastie Boys
52 Yesterday - The Beatles
53 Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
54 Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
55 Can’t Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue
56 How Soon Is Now - The Smiths
57 In My Life - The Beatles
58 Losing My Religion - REM
59 Stan - Eminem
60 Drugs Don’t Work - The Verve
61 Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush
62 Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
63 My Generation - The Who
64 Yellow - Coldplay
65 Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
66 I Can’t Get No Satisfacton - The Rolling Stones
67 Fools Gold - The Stone Roses
68 Heroes - David Bowie
69 Blue Monday - New Order
70 Hotel California - Eagles
71 Song 2 - Blur
72 Winner Takes It All - ABBA
73 Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd
74 Kashmir - Led Zepplin
75 Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
76 Babylon - David Gray
77 Californication - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
78 Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
79 Everybody’s Changing - Keane
80 A Town Called Malice - The Jam
81 The Scientist - Coldplay
82 Superstition - Stevie Wonder
83 Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
84 7 Nation Army - The White Stripes
85 Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix
86 Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
87 Golden Touch - Razorlight
88 Motor Cycle Emptiness - Manic Street Preachers
89 Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
90 There She Goes - The Las
91 No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley
92 Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
93 I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses
94 Rocket Man - Elton John
95 Debaser - Pixies
96 Fairy Tale Of New York - The Pogues
97 Last Nite - The Strokes
98 Going Underground - The Jam
99 Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine
100 Paranoid - Black Sabbath
There are some surprises - Killing In The Name might be a low entry, but if you'd had to guess, we bet you wouldn't have expected that; nor would you have got money on Razorlight being in there at all. And would you have thought it would be Motorcycle Emptiness which represented the Manics? Or Monkey Wrench for the Foo Fighters?
The other thing that the list screams is bloke - Madonna is the first woman to appear, at 27 (and with Like A Prayer, of all things); then the next female input is Candida Doyle's keyboards on Common People at 44; Ana Matronic's Take Your Mama bits at 50; Kylie pops up at 55 and Kate Bush at 61. Obviously, Kim Deal was on Debaser (95) and Gillian Morris is at 69. You could stretch a point and include Dido's work on Stan (59) and, of course, the vocals on Winner Takes It All (best Abba? Really?) are female. Oh, and Meg White's drumming makes the grade at 84. But even so: of the 100 best songs ever, apparently only four have lead female vocals. If anything tells you that this list is more about songs that get honked over pub jukeboxes than actual best songs, it's that fact alone.
Was it really four years ago that Paul Bartlett produced a list of top Conservative Songs which, on closer inspection, turned out to be anything but?
Now, the National Review has compiled its own list of songs which it thinks upholds what it likes to think of as its values, helpfully republished by the New York Times. They've come up - god 'elp us - with fifty songs:
1. "Won't Get Fooled Again," by The Who.
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naive idealism once and for all. "There's nothing in the streets / Looks any different to me / And the slogans are replaced, by—the—bye. . . . Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss." The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend's ringing guitar, Keith Moon's pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey's wailing vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded — the best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.
An interesting choice - part of the argument for this being the most conservative record ever hangs on the refusal to allow it to be used on the credits of Fahrenheit 9/11, of course. But it also demonstrates the problem with trying to identify the conservative in popular culture - in much the same way that the right will mine through hours and hours of news coverage to find something they believe demonstrates how biased a news organisation is, the conservative approach to claiming songs is to find a few words in a verse which supports their viewpoint. Yes, this is a pretty searing condemnation of the emptiness of the revolution in the head, but lambasting a bunch of revolutionaries for turning out to be sell-outs isn't the same thing as supporting the status quo. Indeed, if you liked the "old boss" so much, why would you be disappointed that the new boss is the same?
2. "Taxman," by The Beatles.
A George Harrison masterpiece with a famous guitar riff (which was actually played by Paul McCartney): "If you drive a car, I'll tax the street / If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat / If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat / If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet." The song closes with a humorous jab at death taxes: "Now my advice for those who die / Declare the pennies on your eyes."
Well, yes, this is a pretty good example of conservatism. "The taxman's taken all my dough" wail The Beatles. You'll note, though, that none of the Beatles have yet died in penury - although Heather may yet have something to say about that.
3. "Sympathy for the Devil," by The Rolling Stones.
Don't be misled by the title; this song is "The Screwtape Letters" of rock. The devil is a tempter who leans hard on moral relativism — he will try to make you think that "every cop is a criminal / And all the sinners saints." What's more, he is the sinister inspiration for the cruelties of Bolshevism: "I stuck around St. Petersburg / When I saw it was a time for a change / Killed the czar and his ministers / Anastasia screamed in vain."
Uh, yeah. He also killed the Kennedys, though - which clearly in Satan claiming responsibility for killing the idealism of the 1960s. You can't have it both ways - either you're delighted with the rejection of 60s idealism you see in Won't Get Fooled Again, or you agree that it was a work of evil for the idealism to be crushed.
Also, Jagger has admitted that his song inspired a whole slew of heavy metal acts to flirt with satanism and imagery (in effect, this is the grandfather of Hard Rock Hallelujah).
4. "Sweet Home Alabama," by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe, taking a shot at Neil Young's Canadian arrogance along the way: "A Southern man don't need him around anyhow."
You're welcome to this one.
5. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," by The Beach Boys.
Pro—abstinence and pro—marriage: "Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true / Baby then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't do / We could be married / And then we'd be happy."
Or, on the other hand, a song that's about the frustration of having to live within strict, stultifying moral framework of small town America. This isn't a song sang flicking through a wedding gown catalogue; it's a song sung with an erection straining through trousers.
6. "Gloria," by U2.
Just because a rock song is about faith doesn't mean that it's conservative. But what about a rock song that's about faith and whose chorus is in Latin? That's beautifully reactionary: "Gloria / In te domine / Gloria / Exultate."
With the benefit of hindsight, you could argue that, yes, Bush supporter Bono is a giant conservative. But singing about God doesn't mean you're right wing - Jesus, if he was anything, was liberal - and singing in Latin doesn't mean you're on the right. Half Man Half Biscuit have got a song called Floreat Inertia.
7. "Revolution," by The Beatles.
"You say you want a revolution / Well you know / We all want to change the world . . . Don't you know you can count me out?" What's more, Communism isn't even cool: "If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow." (Someone tell the Che Guevara crowd.)
Do people in America really have trouble with the difference between socialism and the ultra-conservatism of Warsaw Pact Communism? I'd always assumed they were joking when they say things like "of course we can't have a medical system where people get treated because they're ill rather than because they're rich, as that's identical to erecting Stalinist death camps outside Colorado Springs" - can it be there are people who really believe that?
Anyway, the song is critical about methods of revolution, not of the revolution in itself - it's a call for that there revolution in the head. Now, that was a bad revolution in song number one, wasn't it?
8. "Bodies," by The Sex Pistols.
Violent and vulgar, but also a searing anti—abortion anthem by the quintessential punk band: "It's not an animal / It's an abortion."
Well... no, it's a "searing anti-abortion anthem", but you can you how a simplistic scan of the lyrics might lead you to conclude that. Mike Mosher has written an excellent essay on this one, actually.
9. "Don't Tread on Me," by Metallica.
A head—banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength, written in response to the first Gulf War: "So be it / Threaten no more / To secure peace is to prepare for war."
Yes. Metallica really are stupid, aren't they?
10. "20th Century Man," by The Kinks.
"You keep all your smart modern writers / Give me William Shakespeare / You keep all your smart modern painters / I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, da Vinci, and Gainsborough. . . . I was born in a welfare state / Ruled by bureaucracy / Controlled by civil servants / And people dressed in grey / Got no privacy got no liberty / 'Cause the 20th century people / Took it all away from me."
But hang about a moment... "Dont wanna get myself shot down /By some trigger happy policeman" - is the National Review now coming out against the routine arming of the police? And weren't those civil servants and people dressed in grey the selfsame people the mulitcoloured revolutionaries of the 1960s were seeking to replace with colour and love and all that? It's all very confusing.
For the record, the rest of the chart runs like this"
11. "The Trees," by Rush.
12. "Neighborhood Bully," by Bob Dylan
13. "My City Was Gone," by The Pretenders.
14. "Right Here, Right Now," by Jesus Jones.
15. "I Fought the Law," by The Crickets.
16. "Get Over It," by The Eagles.
17. "Stay Together for the Kids," by Blink 182.
18. "Cult of Personality," by Living Colour.
19. "Kicks," by Paul Revere and the Raiders.
20. "Rock the Casbah," by The Clash.
21. "Heroes," by David Bowie.
22. "Red Barchetta," by Rush.
23. "Brick," by Ben Folds Five.
24. "Der Kommissar," by After the Fire.
25. "The Battle of Evermore," by Led Zeppelin.
26. "Capitalism," by Oingo Boingo.
27. "Obvious Song," by Joe Jackson.
28. "Janie's Got a Gun," by Aerosmith.
29. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Iron Maiden.
30. "You Can't Be Too Strong," by Graham Parker.
31. "Small Town," by John Mellencamp.
32. "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," by The Georgia Satellites.
33. "You Can't Always Get What You Want," by The Rolling Stones.
34. "Godzilla," by Blue Oyster Cult.
35. "Who'll Stop the Rain," by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
36. "Government Cheese," by The Rainmakers.
37. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," by The Band.
38. "I Can't Drive 55," by Sammy Hagar.
39. "Property Line," by The Marshall Tucker Band.
40. "Wake Up Little Susie," by The Everly Brothers.
41. "The Icicle Melts," by The Cranberries.
42. "Everybody's a Victim," by The Proclaimers.
43. "Wonderful," by Everclear.
44. "Two Sisters," by The Kinks.
45. "Taxman, Mr. Thief," by Cheap Trick.
46. "Wind of Change," by The Scorpions.
47. "One," by Creed.
48. "Why Don't You Get a Job," by The Offspring.
49. "Abortion," by Kid Rock.
50. "Stand By Your Man," by Tammy Wynette.
Some of these are just plain bemusing - The Pretenders? They're in there because the song's about the destruction of Ohio by developers - now, to you and me, that might sound like lily-livered, green conservationist talk. But, no, it turns out it's "conservative's dissatisfaction with rapid change". I never knew Chrissie Hynde was a conservative; presumably Swampy was as well?
The Offspring? Blink 182? Kid Rock? Are the right that hard up for talent they start having to throw beligerent kiddy nonesense before they can come up with fifty songs?
No wonder David Cameron's reduced to picking Benny Hill's Ernie for his Desert Island Discs appearance.
Thanks to Karl T; there's another take on the list over at The Rude Pundit.
"It's finding a voice after spending most of my life in a band called The Kinks, a wonderful band, I love all the work I've done with them, I hope to do more one day, who knows. I'm not sure, but I did have to find a voice because of being part of that machinery, the technology, the sound, I was part of the sound."
The reports we've seen frustratingly remove the swearing, but apparently when Ray Davies was picking up the CBE, the Queen swore her head off:
Kinks frontman Ray Davies says he was shocked when Britain's Queen Elizabeth told him, "I hope they catch the (expletive) who shot you."
Wanker? Bastard? Motherfucking cocksucker? Mimsy? What did she say? And does this mean that the Queen is a big Kinks fan? Come Dancing, like at the Palace on a Saturday?
Terrifying news for six bands, as The Who, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and JoyDivision-New Order are to condemned to the Rock and Roll Pit Of Doom. Sorry, that's the Hall of Fame. We always get those two muddled up.
The Hall - which is open to any band who qualify for their left over tat going into a metaphorical Hall of some sort - opened for business last year, accidently inducing Robbie Williams in a nasty mix-up.
Peter Blake popped up on Radio 4's Today programme a short while ago, still banging on about how he only got two hundred quid for doing the Sgt Pepper album sleeve - "it would have been nice to share in its success" he said, ignoring that it's the piece which has probably underpinned his entire career and is the main reason why he's still sought after today. He does sound curiously like Denis Norden these days.
Anyway, besides muttering that he's been talking about doing a Kinks box set with Ray Davies. he also defended Yoko Ono over the recent attack on Macca. Blake describes her long rant as "a slip of the tongue" - which is like describing endurance skating as "slipping on some ice" - and then concluded that he was sure "she didn't mean to be nasty." He offered no reason as to why he thought this - perhaps he saw pictures of her looking peaky and thought that she'd be acting out character that day.
It's been a slow process, but Ray Davies finally looks set to release his debut solo album. He's signed up with V2 for a release; although he's been working on this for years, it's still going to be a while: he hasn't yet settled on a title or a setlist.
Jerome Barra is a bit of a lucky bloke - he had been due to appear in court to answer charges that he shot Ray Davies in the leg, but Davies says that he's too busy touring to go to New Orleans to testify. Michael Howard is expected to launch his condemnation of this softness on gun crime at about 9.00 this morning.
