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Classic Album Discussion Thread: The Kinks-Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Pt. 1 (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter timschochet
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shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
timschochet
Footballguy
I considered both Essential Kinks and Picture Book but both of them feature too MANY songs, a lot of them uneasential IMO.
But forget about the format; let’s talk about the band and the songs. The Kinks are not a great album band but they are a great songs band and over a long stretch of time. That’s what I’d like to discuss.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
I am not even that big of a Kinks fan, but you're crazy if you don't think The Village Green Preservation Society isn't a great album and a classic.
zamboni
Footballguy
I agree here - may as well just discuss the artists rather than albums if we’re doing compilations.
Village Green as mentioned could be an option here.
Galileo
Footballguy
Living on a Thin Line and Muswell Hillbilly are two of my all time favorites. Surprised to see Superman didn't make either list? I would include it with the first. I also love Demon Alcohol and Supersonic Rocket Ship which didn't make either list...probably more worthy of second list.
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timschochet
Footballguy
I don’t think it is great or classic. The song is all time great. “Days” is a very good song. The rest of the album is...just OK. If I could merge this one and Arthur you might have something.
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
prosopis
Arizona Chupacabra
Like others have said this is Tim's show but once a compilation shows up it is no longer a classic album thread. The shark has been jumped.
Edit to say I kind of felt this way when you went with a greatest hits album. In my opinion those should not be included as a classic album.
Edit to say I kind of felt this way when you went with a greatest hits album. In my opinion those should not be included as a classic album.
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timschochet
Footballguy
If I had to make a Mount Rushmore of Kinks songs, it world be:zamboni said:
You Really Got Me
Waterloo Sunset
Village Green Preservation Society
Lola
And I might have to find a way to sneak in Celluloid Heroes.
timschochet
Footballguy
I get the criticism. I won’t do this again; this will be the last one. No more compilation (unless it’s a live album) no more playlists. We’ll stick to albums from now on.
zamboni
Footballguy
Totally agree on Celluloid Heroes - the live version is even better than the studio version IMO. Another highly underrated tune from the '70s is Rock & Roll Fantasy
timschochet
Footballguy
I will remove this playlist and maybe we’ll revisit the Kinks later.
timschochet
Footballguy
James Taylor- Sweet Baby James (1970)
Sweet Baby James
Lo and Behold
Sunny Skies
Steamroller
Country Road
Oh, Susannah
Fire and Rain
Blossom
Anywhere Like Heaven
Oh Baby, Don’t Let Your Loose Lip On Me
Suite for 20G
James Taylor’s second album made him a superstar and also changed popular music, essentially ushering in the “singer-songwriter” era of the early 1970s, (which I personally regard as the single greatest era of popular music ever, but that’s just one guy’s opinion.) The title track, “Country Road”, and especially “Fire and Rain” are all masterpieces of the form, but the record is also rounded off by such gems as “Sunny Skies”, “Blossom”, and “Suite for 20G”. This is another album that still sounds fresh because it’s music is timeless.
Sweet Baby James
Lo and Behold
Sunny Skies
Steamroller
Country Road
Oh, Susannah
Fire and Rain
Blossom
Anywhere Like Heaven
Oh Baby, Don’t Let Your Loose Lip On Me
Suite for 20G
James Taylor’s second album made him a superstar and also changed popular music, essentially ushering in the “singer-songwriter” era of the early 1970s, (which I personally regard as the single greatest era of popular music ever, but that’s just one guy’s opinion.) The title track, “Country Road”, and especially “Fire and Rain” are all masterpieces of the form, but the record is also rounded off by such gems as “Sunny Skies”, “Blossom”, and “Suite for 20G”. This is another album that still sounds fresh because it’s music is timeless.
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timschochet
Footballguy
And of course several of the musicians are the same ones that would show up on Tapestry a year later: Danny Kortchmar on guitar, Russ Kunkel on drums, Carole King on keyboards and backup vocals. Randy Meissner of Eagles fame was also involved.
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Godsbrother
Footballguy
Yep. Carole King and James Taylor essentially shared the same band that referred to themselves as "The Section".
Great, great LP by the way.
James Taylor=music to fall to sleep to 
He is all bizness and as serious as he can get about every little thing he's got going in life. Not the kind of personality you'd want to have a beer with but more the type of friend that you screen when the call comes in deciding whether that conversation you're about to have is worth the time. No frills and no fun.
He is all bizness and as serious as he can get about every little thing he's got going in life. Not the kind of personality you'd want to have a beer with but more the type of friend that you screen when the call comes in deciding whether that conversation you're about to have is worth the time. No frills and no fun.
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Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I've seen it on many "all time" rankings.timschochet said:
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
My first and only James Taylor show was at Rock am Ring at the Nurburgring in Nurenburg, in (the former) West Germany - mid 80's. I hitchhiked to Nuremburg with a friend and we met up with a few others at the show. A few days before we left, I received a letter in the mail from a buddy back in the states that contained 4 squares of acid. What perfect timing! Rock am Ring had a strange mix of bands that year. I remember the Cult and the Cure, The Waterboys and INXS. James Taylor was the headline act the second night. I had no interest, and was tripping vigorously. I convinced a girl to accompany me back to my tent, and we enjoyed the James Taylor show from a distance. One of my favorite, most memorable shows ever, even though I didn't see it and could barely hear a thing. Thanks for the memories, James Taylor!
Da Guru
Fair & Balanced
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wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Since i got old, fat & even uglier, the only times i can get a woman to look at me and think "I wish he wasnt Comic Book Guy's dad" is with my cooking and my JT impression.
I had the good fortune to watch him & his brothers Liv & Alex sing together several times at the Taylor compound on Maaaatha's Vinyid 40some years ago and i was struck how effectively, in a world where you really had to be a tenor to sing rock & roll, they each turned their natural baritone voices into that "Kermit sings a lullaby" thing to achieve round higher notes without shrieking or straining, so i attempted to find a similar register of my own basso profundo. I came out of it with a new approach to singing and a pretty good James Taylor impression. I promised myself to only use it for good (unlike my Neil Young) and didn't do it @ parties to get attention but only to close bidness deals.
Sweet Baby James is my rainy-day record. In my years as a smoker (ages 9-50, many people told me i was their picture of a dood who always had a cigarette going), i was prone to bronchitis, during which i'd largely sound like a glass-gargling bear. The only break was to heat a bowl of green chili stew, put SBJ on & sing along. That Kermitvoice even broke thru the gobs of muck in my lungs and was the only time during my cold cycle i felt human. And the sweet, clear yearning of the songs will break any mood. Really, the first folk music that reached heart level with me. And the ladies......
I had the good fortune to watch him & his brothers Liv & Alex sing together several times at the Taylor compound on Maaaatha's Vinyid 40some years ago and i was struck how effectively, in a world where you really had to be a tenor to sing rock & roll, they each turned their natural baritone voices into that "Kermit sings a lullaby" thing to achieve round higher notes without shrieking or straining, so i attempted to find a similar register of my own basso profundo. I came out of it with a new approach to singing and a pretty good James Taylor impression. I promised myself to only use it for good (unlike my Neil Young) and didn't do it @ parties to get attention but only to close bidness deals.
Sweet Baby James is my rainy-day record. In my years as a smoker (ages 9-50, many people told me i was their picture of a dood who always had a cigarette going), i was prone to bronchitis, during which i'd largely sound like a glass-gargling bear. The only break was to heat a bowl of green chili stew, put SBJ on & sing along. That Kermitvoice even broke thru the gobs of muck in my lungs and was the only time during my cold cycle i felt human. And the sweet, clear yearning of the songs will break any mood. Really, the first folk music that reached heart level with me. And the ladies......
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Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I like the first one a little better but if you're in a mellow mood his fist two records really hit the spot.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Not my cup of tea in most cases, but if I was about to undergo a major operation i think this would be a good album to calm me.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Taylor hit the sweet spot in the singer-songwriter thing. I think Carole King, Bill Withers, & Jim Croce were better at what James was trying to do, but they were segregated (King, Withers) and ignored (Croce, Withers again) by most of the hip rock writers. Joni was allowed in the inner circle, but she was too loopy to be an avatar. Paul Simon was wearing too many spikes.
So, it fell to Taylor to be the face/voice of the movement. He had a fine and warm tenor. He chose his songs well. And he performed them well. If you like him, you can buy any of his albums and not be disappointed.
I think this one's his best, but they all have the same thing going on so I'm not really sure it matters.
Elvis cut a pretty nasty version of "Steamroller Blues" that slays Taylor's.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
I can't stand Taylor. There's just nothing there at all for me. It's all pretentious sleepy time to me.James Taylor=music to fall to sleep to
He is all bizness and as serious as he can get about every little thing he's got going in life. Not the kind of personality you'd want to have a beer with but more the type of friend that you screen when the call comes in deciding whether that conversation you're about to have is worth the time. No frills and no fun.
rockaction
Footballguy
Just popping in to say I really dig some of Bill Withers's songs. Glad he's in the Rock and Roll HoF.
I have very little intelligent to say about James Taylor, so I'll just...float on.
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Surprisingly, James Taylor only has 2 entries in this definitive list of yacht rock - a genre I didn't know had been concocted until XM radio started advertising a channel dedicated to it. Seems like he's a prototype for the genre.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
When I was a kid - the first couple of albums I bought were James Taylor - Mudslide Slim and Carole King - Tapestry. I just like the singer/songwriter format, and hadn't been exposed to much of the real "hard" rock and roll stuff that hadn't been on the radio (Animals and Rolling Stones ...not even familiar with Led Zep at that point).
I would also throw early Rod Stewart (Every Picture Tells A Story) and Cat Stevens in this group. Cat Stevens - Catch Bull at Four is a great album. Rod is not the same type singer/songwriter as this group ...but it felt that way at the time.
I don't play their stuff too often anymore - but thoroughly enjoy it when I do.
I would also throw early Rod Stewart (Every Picture Tells A Story) and Cat Stevens in this group. Cat Stevens - Catch Bull at Four is a great album. Rod is not the same type singer/songwriter as this group ...but it felt that way at the time.
I don't play their stuff too often anymore - but thoroughly enjoy it when I do.
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
A tepid defense of JT, echoing a little of what Binky was saying. I didnt like folk music, 1970 was my first sexually-active summer and me & my older best friend spent the whole summer birddoggin chicks to go with us to Plum Island (a 7 mile sandbar that if you got them to go with you all the way to the end instead of to the party beach at the top, well....) and the radio was rockin w War (good God y'all) & Sex Machine & Signed, Sealed Delivered & Creedence & Grand Funk & All Right Now. Everybody selling how great they was & great things were and....
This guy with a guitar & springwater voice comes on and starts singing, not about how sweet you are ooh baby or how i'd like to make it with you, but how he wrote this song but can't remember who to send it to. AND IT JUST SHUT EVERYTHING ELSE THE #### UP! And you'd hear Tommy & 25 or 6 to 4 & Ball of Confusion and all you'd wanna do is hear that squirrely li'l dude & his prolims with this unhappy chick again. it was weird & wonderful. /tepid defense.
ETA: It also behooves to point out that squirrelydude's massive hit opened the floodgates for acoustically depressed folk on the radio. Within a year or so, Joni went from chirpy artclass chick to kickin ### for those who thought sad was sweet with Blue, Cat Stevens was telling wonderful stories and Neil Young harvested our burgeoning new sets of prolims with drugs & stuff. It was all terribly groovy....
This guy with a guitar & springwater voice comes on and starts singing, not about how sweet you are ooh baby or how i'd like to make it with you, but how he wrote this song but can't remember who to send it to. AND IT JUST SHUT EVERYTHING ELSE THE #### UP! And you'd hear Tommy & 25 or 6 to 4 & Ball of Confusion and all you'd wanna do is hear that squirrely li'l dude & his prolims with this unhappy chick again. it was weird & wonderful. /tepid defense.
ETA: It also behooves to point out that squirrelydude's massive hit opened the floodgates for acoustically depressed folk on the radio. Within a year or so, Joni went from chirpy artclass chick to kickin ### for those who thought sad was sweet with Blue, Cat Stevens was telling wonderful stories and Neil Young harvested our burgeoning new sets of prolims with drugs & stuff. It was all terribly groovy....
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Ilov80s
Footballguy
James is maybe too singer-songwriter 70s for yacht. Also his songs are often too emotional.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
timschochet
Footballguy
Sublime-1996
Garden Grove
What I Got
Wrong Way
Same in the End
April 29, 1992 (Miami)
Santeria
Seed
Jailhouse
Pawn Shop
Paddle Out
The Ballad of Johnny Butt
Burritos
Under My Voodoo
Get Ready
Caress Me Down
What I Got (Reprise)
Doin’ Time
I got a Dalmatian, I can still get high
I can play the guitar like a mother####ing riot
I never really knew these poor druggies from Long Beach but I knew their manager quite well; about a year after Bradley Nowell’s death he contacted me to perform some real estate work for Skunk records. So I got to meet the remaining members of the band and the Long Beach Dub All Stars and a few other acts.
Anyhow, Nowell’s talent really shined on this third and last record, and that makes his demise from heroin all the more stupid and tragic. What could have been.
Garden Grove
What I Got
Wrong Way
Same in the End
April 29, 1992 (Miami)
Santeria
Seed
Jailhouse
Pawn Shop
Paddle Out
The Ballad of Johnny Butt
Burritos
Under My Voodoo
Get Ready
Caress Me Down
What I Got (Reprise)
Doin’ Time
I got a Dalmatian, I can still get high
I can play the guitar like a mother####ing riot
I never really knew these poor druggies from Long Beach but I knew their manager quite well; about a year after Bradley Nowell’s death he contacted me to perform some real estate work for Skunk records. So I got to meet the remaining members of the band and the Long Beach Dub All Stars and a few other acts.
Anyhow, Nowell’s talent really shined on this third and last record, and that makes his demise from heroin all the more stupid and tragic. What could have been.
simey
Footballguy
I think Sweet Baby James is a very good album. The album isn't just straight forward folk. It's a singer-songwriter album that is folky, but it also has gospel (Lo and Behold), blues (Steamroller and Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me), country (Anywhere Like Heaven), and jazzy rock (Suite for 20 G) mixed in. My favorite track is probably Suite For 20 G.
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DocHolliday
Footballguy
I don't hate many bands but I cannot stand Sublime. I cannot turn the radio station fast enough when that annoying sound enters my ears.
rockaction
Footballguy
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society might be the defining album of my twenties. A masterpiece.
And Sublime, while I liked them at a young age, has not held up well. At all. If I do hear them and hum along, it's a guilty pleasure and it's a little bit tinted by being both a little cheesy and a lot overplayed.
I did like their cover of Scarlet Begonias, though.
jomar
Footballguy
count me as a big fan of Sublime and Bradley Nowell. I got to see him play in the early 90s and was blown away. a lot of these songs were overplayed but one that wasn't that is probably my favorite is Same in the End. 40 oz to Freedom was just as good of an album if not better but didn't get any radio play.
rockaction
Footballguy
I actually think KNAC used to play it when I was twenty or so. The thrust of that is not by way of correction, just a memory of being in California and hearing them and then realizing that certain stations sort of broke Sublime's Sublime a few years later by having had played "Date Rape," etc.
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Ilov80s
Footballguy
Sorry. You already got quoted. I didn't see Tim Mutombo'd The Kinks. The Kinks don't need Tim and his threads imo.
Bonzai
Footballguy
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