I'm looking to start a Kinks collection - any advice?

[mvd]

I've heard some of their well known songs like:

"You Really Got Me"
"Lola"
"All Day And All Of The Night"
"A Well Respected Man"
"Tired Of Waiting For You"
"Waterloo Sunset"
"Ape Man"
"Mr. Pleasant"

Great songs and a very underrated band.

I could buy these and others from iTunes. Or should I start with buying a certain album? Suggestions?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Their four albums 1967-1970 are all excellent:

Something Else
The Village Green Preservation Society
Arthur, or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
and Lola vs. The Powerman and the Money Go-round.


I especially like Village Green, but that's definitely a personal choice.

[mvd]

2. Thanks! Would you buy one of those albums instead of individual songs?

:hi:

[SteppingRazor]

4. It's tough to advise on singles for most bands pre-1990s...

as most groups put out such album-oriented material. There's a few older bands that ditched focusing on the album format in favor of singles (see: Buzzcocks, or most other punk rock for that matter), but for the most part, the songs are part of a larger work. That's certainly true of the Kinks. I could point out some of my favorite songs on Village Green, for example (Picture Book and All of my Friends Were There spring immediately to mind, and the former may be familiar to you from its use in a camera commercial a couple years ago.), but while they're good in their own right, they're better within the larger picture of the album.

[hobbit709]

3. Celluloid Heroes IMO is one of their best songs.

[lost-in-nj]

5. I really like this one

maybe this ones a little edgier





:*

:hide:









you knew someone was going to do it

:rofl: :hi:


lost

[Forkboy]

6. I've got a Kinks collections, too. But alas, no sex threads.

As a former mod, you should know that. ;)

:hi:

[mvd]

11. LOL - I always cringe when another kind of topic can be taken that way

But alas, that's just how it went in this case. Hi Forkboy! :hi:

[tigereye]

21. what no more modding? (apologies if you stopped when I did, I forgot

Welcome to forgetting what a pa is! :rofl: It's fun! :hi:

[mvd]

31. I needed a break

That was one of the hardest sessions in a while. I hope we can mod together again. :hi:

[bif]

7. Ray's solo album "Other People's Lives" is excellent as well.

I had the pleasure of seeing him a couple summers ago at a free concert. He was fantastic. Charming, talented and obvious was the main driving force in the Kinks. I referred to him as The Kink. He loved being on stage, delighted the audience and did every hit they ever did. Great show.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. Preservation Act II, c. 1970

far better than Tommy, as a rock opera, IMNSHO. Quite underrated.

Not to be confused with Village Green Preservation Society, tho it's sort of a sequel.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

9. I would start with Village Green Preservation Society

I think it's their best, and it's where I got started as a Kinks fan. It doesn't have any of their big hits on it, but it's very solid throughout and is probably the most quintessentially Kinks-esque albums.

After that, I'd move on to Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). To my mind, their second best effort. (And it kicks off with Victoria -- one of my all time favorite songs.)

[mvd]

10. Sounds like the best thing to do, then

Thanks!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

22. Enjoy! n/t

[kwassa]

17. I love "Victoria" too.

here it is live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-JYsF3xHI

[kwassa]

18. Sunny Afternoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h1oRP7FfBw

The tax man's taken all my dough,
And left me in my stately home,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
And I can't sail my yacht,
He's taken everything I've got,
All I've got's this sunny afternoon.
Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze.
I got a big fat mama trying to break me.
And I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
My girlfriend's run off with my car,
And gone back to her ma and pa,
Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty.
Now I'm sitting here,
Sipping at my ice cold beer,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
Help me, help me, help me sail away,
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay.
'Cause I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime
Ah, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze.
I got a big fat mama trying to break me.
And I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

[Tyrone Slothrop]

23. Cool.

Hadn't heard/seen that before.

[Danger Mouse]

12. Here's more suggestions...

'Shangri-La'
'Come Dancing'
'Celluloid Heroes'
'Dead End Street'
'Superman'

Best of luck finding what you like. :)

[EastTennesseeDem]

13. Superman, definitely

I love that song.

[Danger Mouse]

14. My favorite songs of theirs are...'

'Ape Man' 'A Well-Respected Man' and 'Shangri-La' but 'Superman' 'Celluloid Heroes' and 'Dead End Street' are all awesome, too.

[XNASA]

15. "Schoolboys in Disgrace" is overlooked.

It's probably just that I spent the summer of '76 living on the beach in California listening to it over and over....

Sounds like you're on the right track though. The Kinks are in my top 5 all-time. "Waterloo Sunset" may be the most beautiful pop song ever written.

[Kashka-Kat]

16. KINK KRONIKLES - 2 cd set -equally good for the beginner as well as long time fan

Good place to start, widely acknowledged to be one of the best "best ofs" ever in the history of recorded music! The liner notes written by a noted rock writer are worth the price of admission. Was compiled in early 70s I believe of prime mid & late 60s material

Add on to the collection as you are inspired to do so

The Great Lost Kinks Album is one of my essentials

Enjoy!

[surrealAmerican]

19. Lots of good suggestions here already.

I would definitely go for the albums with the Kinks, since there are a lot of good songs that you may not have ever heard before there. Also, some of the later albums were quite good too. "Misfits" and "Sleepwalker" are both worth a listen.

[taterguy]

20. Have you checked your local public library?

That's how I expand my music collection in general

[gmoney]

24. The library is your friend

Your public library probably has several "greatest hits" collections you can borrow...

I've always found them to be very hit and miss, and a bit too "English" for me in many cases. The singles you mentioned are cool, but I get lost in their albums.

e-music has a lot of their material online... http://www.emusic.com/artist/The-Kinks-MP3-Download/10561628.html

You can join and I think you get something like 75 songs for $10 and you can quit if you like.

[gmoney]

25. dupe of a repeat?

oops

[tigereye]

26. classic stuff - that's what a lot of current pop fails to do...

good to emulate, but difficult. The good pop I hear now has that lovely sound.

[mvd]

29. I can't believe I was missing out on the Kinks.

I think today's mainstream pop is better than you do (I really like The Corrs, Michelle Branch, Aly & AJ, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Jimmy Eat World, Taylor Swift, Hey Monday, Sarah McLachlan, Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Pink, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Sugarland, Barenaked Ladies, A Fine Frenzy, Kate Voegele, Alicia Keys, She & Him, Coldplay, Jessica Harp, The Killers to name just some,) and artists like The New Pornographers, Decemberists, The Hold Steady, and even Animal Collective (I'm not crazy about Animal Collective) do better on the charts than one might think. There's lesser known pop like The Pierces, Karmina, The Love Willows, Kay Hanley, Nina Gordon solo, Gaslight Anthem, The Like and Duncan Sheik that is excellent. But I always recommend looking back at the foundations of music, and the Kinks should be included as having great influence even if they aren't given the credit. Hard to beat classic rock.

:hi:

[mvd]

27. Here's what I did to start, based on the advice

I bought two albums:

The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society
Kinks (The Ultimate Collection)

I can always add later. Thanks, all!

[madrchsod]

28. start with the first and finish with the last

i have all their albums on either vinyl,cassette,and cd. my favorite two fave albums are "face to face" and "everybody's in show business..."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

30. Buy the songs "No More Looking Back" and "You Can't Stop The Music" from iTunes

"No More Looking Back" is from the album "Schoolboys In Disgrace, and "You Can't Stop The Music" is from "Soap Opera."

They are both examples of PRIME, latter-day album cuts from the band.

:toast:

[mvd]

32. I will add those songs to a list I'm compiling

iTunes is good with later-day Kinks, but needs to add earlier stuff. :toast: