GBlog

Eine wunderbare Erklärung why it matters von Mike Boehm (in der Los Angeles Times; Hinweise auf weitere Würdigungen finden Sie auf Dave Emlens einzigartiger Kinks-Seite!)

Boehm schreibt einleitend:

... this Davies milestone seems like a good occasion to try to explain why, given my appreciation and fondness for so many songwriter-performers, I should regard him without hesitation, and by a considerable degree, to be the best.

The answer begins with my calling him the best, not the greatest. Musical greatness requires some form of dominance or gigantism, typically measured in lasting direct influence on other artists and a magnitude of personality and celebrity that makes bystanders pay attention along with true fans.

All the Kinks did, with Davies in command as frontman, predominant songwriter, producer and arranger, was create the warmest, funniest, most varied and keenly intelligent body of work in the rock canon.

His voice won’t blow casual listeners away, but it’s the perfect vehicle to get his stories across while making the most of his melodic gifts, which are second to none, the Beatles included. Davies’ oeuvre is too idiosyncratic, stylistically wide-ranging and based on rare skills of observation to attract credible imitators, as opposed to admirers....

... und dann bespricht er mit großer Zuneigung und großem Wissen klug ausgewählte Lieder von den 53 pieces of vinyl or CD plastic by the Kinks, both of his books, his two solo albums of new songs , die er besitzt ( - bei mir sind's - gerade gezählt - 59 pieces of vinyl or CD plastic by the Kinks, both of his books, his two solo albums of new songs ... )

With Davies, a listener knows exactly who he’s singing about and what they face, including their economic circumstances. He is by far the pop songwriter who's most conscious, in a nuanced way, of the importance of money. His characters are only occasionally desperately poor; more often they cling precariously to whatever protection and security they might have. Davies simply knows more than any of his peers about the exigencies of life on a human scale.

Consequently his characters are never heroic. They have everyday frustrations and everyday enjoyments. Multiple Kinks songs herald and chuckle over the quiet pleasures of picnics and tea time. When Davies delves into his own psyche, a listener hears him coping with loneliness and loss and disconnection from family and friends, but also struggling to find enough heart and encouragement to snap out of a funk and move forward.

It's mainly by mood, method and implication, rather than by declaration and exhortation, that Kinks fans have learned from their non-transcendent hero that our best chances lie in humor and a simple refusal to give in to the temptation of just giving up. No one has written more songs about how hard it can be simply to get out of bed and face another day, but Davies’ characters almost always find a way to do it....

There's nothing more to demand from Davies as he pushes into his eighth decade, still performing live with the old vitality and warmth. For me, he completed the circle at age 63, when, after more than 20 years of failing to measure up to his old songwriting standards, he recaptured his powers with his second solo album, "Working Man's Cafe."

I'll give him the last word, from that album's "Imaginary Man," in which he looked at himself and tried to sum things up.

“I was always in your head, to raise your expectations. ... Involved you in all my crazy schemes / And took you to places you'd never been.”

Well said, Ray, and happy birthday to you.

Lesebefehl!

Ray Davies "Imaginary Man" (by Julian Temple)- Ein faszinierender Film- unbedingt ansehen!!


Und zur Feier des Tages:
Ray Davies "All Day & All Of The Night" (Live 2014) - My No 1 in the All-Time-Rock-Charts:



Danke, Ray, das habe ich wohl geahnt, als ich 1965 zum ersten Mal "I'm on an Island" auf The Kink Kontroversy hörte, und 1971 mit den Muswell Hillbillies auch verstanden, that our best chances lie in humor and a simple refusal to give in to the temptation of just giving up.
You were always in my head, to raise my expectations ...
'Cause there's a red, under my bed
And there's a little yellow man in my head
And there's a true blue inside of me
That keeps stoppin' me, touchin' ya, watchin' ya, lovin' ya
Paranoia, the destroyer.
Dass du paranoid bist, bedeutet ja nicht, dass sie nicht hinter dir her sind

Perhaps everyone exists half in somebody else’s imagination. No one is totally human. We are all facets of someone else’s internalization. Visions of what they want us to be.

Meine erste Kinks-LP (1965) = meine zweite LP überhaupt!


Nachtrag:

Zombies' Rod Argent ist 69 geworden

Why it matters später, hier erstmal der Hinweis auf a four hour broadcast salute to British rock and roll band The Zombies, featuring a two hour interview with principal members Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, on WPRK FM, Winter Park, FL, USA. Recorded live in the WPRK studios, April 10, 2014. Show: Magic Transistor Radio. Host: John "Jack" Riley.

Meine erste Zombies-LP: