The Smithereens are my favorite band for a lot of reasons. One is that they can NAIL a cover song. They collected 22 of them in 2018 in this killer 'Covers' collection on Bandcamp. Everything from Kinks to Billie Holiday, Sam the Sham, Beatles to Beach Boys to Springsteen.
The Jersey Four sure could cover a song. They even covered an ENTIRE Beatles album, which is epic. I bet you'll recognize several of these. And man, Pat's VOICE shines. As always. The guy could SING (AND write songs). Plus the bass, solid drums and guitar all over these. What a band, man.
#GreatAlbums1960s - #TheKinks - Arthur (1969). Riding a creative streak that lasted into the 1970s, the Kinks meditate on the decline and fall of the British Empire with the biting “Victoria” and acerbic “Shangri-La,” balanced by the loopy “Drivin’” and irony-laced travelogue “Australia.” The Kinks rock harder than anything since the early singles as the pastoralism of Village Green turns colder and darker. Get the expanded reissue for some killer outtakes by Dave Davies.
#GreatAlbums1960s - #TheKinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968). Part nostalgia, part satire, this song cycle laments the loss of an idyllic society that never quite existed. Taking cues from Dylan Thomas, Ray Davies explores the power of memory to evoke and distort the past. “Do You Remember Walter,” “Picture Book” and “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains” are kitchen sink dramas with pastoral flourishes – the whole undercut by an eerie sense of loss and regret. #GreatRockAlbums
#GreatAlbums1960s – Something Else by #TheKinks (1967). Although it lacks the conceptual coherence of Face to Face or Village Green, the LP presents some of Ray and Dave Davies’s finest songs, brewed up in a stew of guitar rock, baroque pop, and music hall satire. Ray’s “David Watts” is one of his best and funniest eat-the-rich screeds. Dave’s “Death of a Clown” is his crowning achievement, and the concluding “Waterloo Sunset” is among the greatest pop songs ever written.
#GreatAlbums1960s - #TheKinks – Face to Face (1966). Moving beyond the riff rock of their early singles, the Kinks combine memorable pop hooks with wry social observations on “Party Line,” “A House in the Country” and the sublimely satirical “Sunny Afternoon.” There are darker moods, too, on the lamenting “Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home,” introspective “Too Much on My Mind” and ominous “Rainy Day in June.” The LP affirmed Ray Davies as one of the great songwriters. Period.
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The 10 Most Timeless Classic Rock Bands
Classic rock will always live on as a genre. The big, buzzing, riff-heavy music lives on in the hearts of music lovers for the rest of time.
45 years ago today #TheKinks released this reflective ode to the power of music.
"Dan is a fan and he lives for our music
It's the only thing that gets him by
He's watched us grow and he's seen all our shows
He's seen us low and he's seen us high
Oh, but you and me keep thinking
That the world's just passing us by"
It's so cool how music is cyclical, how bands clearly influence each other. Everything comes back around again, and I love that. I've loved the music of The Clash and The Kinks for so many years, but now that their time has passed, new bands definitely have their feel.
Roda Lits gives me HUGE Kinks vibes. This album is less than 20 minutes long, too. Short songs and albums are so great sometimes. (Warning- album art appears to perhaps be a [scientific style, NOT overly gory/metal style] dissection photo, just fyi, if that kind of stuff disturbs you) https://bellybuttonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/common-specimen-indoor-mold