What Are You Listening To Right Now (Part IV)

[Zzzptm]

Anatolian Rock

This one goes pretty hard, heavy prog from Istanbul.

[Charger]

Kreator - Deathscream

[Charger]

Kreator - Satanic Anarchy

[Zzzptm]

Wade in the Water - Big Mama Thornton

[Vyn]

From November of 1964, the monophonic version of Kinks' first long player. On Frank Sinatra's Reprise label, R-6143 and pressed at Columbia Records' newly built $3 million vinyl pressing and distribution facility in Santa Maria, California.

Including several cover songs (as well as a plaintively sung cover of Bald Headed Woman), it has two original compositions by Ray Davies that brought the band enduring fame: You Really Got Me (covered by everyone and their brother) and Stop Your Sobbing (a hit for The Pretenders). An artifact from the days when singles were the mainstay and albums still accurately reflected the name of the media: an album of individual songs that sold due to the strength of recently released singles included on the disk.

It's difficult to really appreciate just how forward-thinking, and rauciously scary to the establishment, this music was at the time. The Beatles were simping, The Rolling Stones were still a blues cover band...but the Kinks lived up to their moniker by being completely different than either of those other two groups. Edgy, boundary-crossing, and intelligent lyrics on top of a guitar tone that even The Who couldn't match.

Kinks - You Really Got Me

[Thelemech]

The Kinks are the third greatest British invasion band after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones
I have a compilation album that contains 27 songs and every single one is excellent 👌 👏
A very self aware band with some great lyrics.

[Vyn]

Despite their longetivity, the Kinks just never seemed to be able to cross over into mega-star status like the Beatles or the Stones did. And those two, looking at it from today, are interesting in that the Beatles broke up in 1970, while the Stones are still putting out new music and touring. Not sure what that says about the quality of the music from either of them, and of course there's the whole mythology component that surrounds the Beatles, as well as the untimely demise of John. Regardless, I've always felt the Kinks were better than both of them if a person appreciates quality lyrics. Mr. Davies could write some scathingly intelligent lyrics that didn't pander to the audience and I've always appreciated that.

[Charger]

I know The Kinks.

It's not a band I enjoy enough to buy their albums BUT if I hear Kinks on the radio instead of putting the volume down I tend to put the volume UP.

As far as Beatles and Stones go, I think both bands are criminally overrated! Especially Beatles...that's a volume down band for sure. Stones have some good tunes but not enough for me to call them good.

[Typhon]

My favorite Rolling Stones song is "Bitch".

My favorite Beatles song is "A Day In The Life".

Don't really have a favorite Kinks song.
Not as familiar with their music.

[Zzzptm]

There were times where Kinks lyrics got too scathing for me, left me as a casual fan of theirs.

My favorite Beatles tunes are the original versions of the ones they covered. They were cute, enthusiastic kids that could play reasonably well and who were capable of writing some genuinely fun songs. They were also way out of their league when compared to how other bands played and not every song they cooked up was the rare gem it's made out to be.

The Stones, however, can hold their own when they're in a good phase. I'd say from 1963-1967, any of their albums or singles was a banger. They had a spotty period in the late 60s/early 70s and then got some good stuff again in the later 70s. They fell off after that but really picked it up again on Hackney Diamonds.

As for cover tunes, putting the Stones up head-to-head with the original artists often leaves one with a tough pick as to which one was better. From the start, they had much better musicianship than the Beatles did.

[Vyn]

I agree, Hackney Diamonds was a solid effort. I think Let It Bleed is a timeless set of tunes, and despite the weirdness surrounding it, Tattoo You has some in-your-face songs that hit hard. I've never been a fan of The Beatles. They had the right look and the right sound at the right time. Those early songs were great, for what they were and who they were for. A couple of their more "mature" tunes stand the test of time but for the most part I find their catalog to be self indulgent and pandering.

I think the Kinks suffered the same fate. They started taking themselves too seriously and it showed in their output. They were at their best when they just "played it like they felt it" rather than trying to push an image. And when they were at their best there was no one better.

Your comments concerning original versions of songs stands up. One thing I feel a lot of folks overlook is that, especially for older "rock" covers, there is a reason those songs were, in fact, covered. They had a lot of magic in them, enough to prompt others to learn and play them. Obviously there were those covers done as a way to ride the originals coat tails to success, but admiration and inspiration was more often than not the reason. And it stands to reason that listening to those originals might just open one's ears a bit more.

[Zzzptm]

That's why I do my "Rock and Roll Football" segment on the radio. I like to showcase a song in the hands of another musician in the best way possible. It started with The Beatles vs who they were covering and the Beatles always got blown out. Then I did the Stones vs originals and we had us some exciting ball games with those! Early rock and roll had a lot of song-swapping, be it between friends writing for each other or record companies trying to rush out their version of a tune before another label did it. I try not to do the bowlderized pop versions of tunes that Pat Boone sang because they're just not right for the show format.

So now I'm replaying this matchup because it was so stunning.

Start with Little Richard doing "Slippin' and Slidin'."

Now try the Buddy Holly acoustic version. It was part of the material that had to be released after he died because he wasn't making new stuff and people wanted to hear more of his talent.

That's just Buddy and his guitar, I was floored at the beauty of the simplicity - and it still rocks!

There's a slower version from a similar session that's also quite interesting, but this one's the better of the two, I think. Later on, there were overdubbed versions with 60s-style instrumental overlays that are not good. Avoid those. It's the undubbed Buddy Holly originals that will enchant and delight!