what happened to the Kinks when recording?

[brownplus]

Have always been curious as to why a large part of the Kinks recordings sound so ....undynamic? flat? While a fan of the Beatles, i find myself enjoying and listening to the underappreciated Kinks much more often. Granted, Kronicles sounds like it was put together with one fader up and the rest in the trash can; but other earlier recordings sound dim?
Maybe I just gravitate towards this? Like the wonderful world of early guided by voices?

How about a dedicated issue to underappreciated bands....my votes go to the aforementioned plus:
Afghan Whigs, Libertines, Andy Fairweather Low, Nick Lowe, Sleater Kinney, Big star, Television....I mean, all of these plus more should be as commonly known at least as well known as....Def Leppard? HA!

[JGriffin]

FWIW, I think Afghan Whigs records ("Gentlemen" and "1965" specifically) are really well-recorded.

[johnny7]

Have you listened to their BBC release?
That first CD is great!
J

[jckinnick]

I love the Kinks records I think there recorded great. Obviously there not Beatles quality though, wich record are you referring to?

[jckinnick]

How about a dedicated issue to underappreciated bands....my votes go to the aforementioned plus:
Afghan Whigs, Libertines, Andy Fairweather Low, Nick Lowe, Sleater Kinney, Big star, Television....I mean, all of these plus more should be as commonly known at least as well known as....Def Leppard? HA!

Big Star and Tom Valerine were in the last couple of issues.

[TapeOpLarry]

People don't know about the Libertines? I guess I read UK press too much.

Sleater-Kinney - I recorded 2 of their albums so you won't see an interview with me! Look for John Goodmanson's interview way back. As a rule we don't cover bands that often, but when it falls into place (Ardent Studios, where Jody of Big Star works) then it makes sense, or if it's an artist with a lot of LPs out and they can elaborate on the process (Robyn Hitchcock).

Nick Lowe is on the drawing board if it works out. Would be cool.

[cgarges]

Nick Lowe is on the drawing board if it works out. Would be cool.

Cool. Ask him what he thought of the Lowe Profile tribute CD on Brewery. There are a lot of TapeOp folks on that disc.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[TapeOpLarry]

Nick Lowe won't do interviews for gear or recording magazines, it turns out.

[swelle]

I don't really think you can consider Big Star underappreciated at this point; they're one of the most critically slobbered-all-over bands for the last 15 years.

I'd vote for Jimmy Campbell and Rockin Horse though!
(Whom, incidentally, someone kindly set up a myspace page for... I just found out he passed away recently.)http://www.myspace.com/jimmycampbell1

[wrenhunter]

Have always been curious as to why a large part of the Kinks recordings sound so ....undynamic? flat? While a fan of the Beatles, i find myself enjoying and listening to the underappreciated Kinks much more often. Granted, Kronicles sounds like it was put together with one fader up and the rest in the trash can; but other earlier recordings sound dim?!

Not sure that it sheds light on your question in detail, but I just finished reading this volume of the 33 1/3 series. It does cover some of their recording, and is a great read for Kinks fans in general.

Shame about Nick Lowe. I like all his stuff -- Rockpile, solo, Little Village. Would be cool to hear about all that.

[coniferouspine]

Have always been curious as to why a large part of the Kinks recordings sound so ....undynamic? flat? While a fan of the Beatles, i find myself enjoying and listening to the underappreciated Kinks much more often. Granted, Kronicles sounds like it was put together with one fader up and the rest in the trash can; but other earlier recordings sound dim?

Undynamic, flat...I know exactly what you mean! I've always suspected that it had to do with the fact that (a) on the early stuff, Shel Talmy was their producer, a guy not exactly known for his fidelity or great sounds (b) when Ray Davies took over the production helm with "Waterloo Sunset," because Talmy had been his "teacher," perhaps he just didn't have the technical know-how to get really great sounds in a self-production. Compare this to say the Rolling Stones, who by the time they took over their own production duties had plenty of experience watching/learning in American studios in LA, Chicago, and elsewhere, also working with Glyn Johns etc., or a case like the Beatles who basically had Geoff Emerick/George Martin and had the run of Abbey Road almost to themselves with unlimited budgets to work on things. I mean most of the classic Kinks stuff was recorded where, Pye Studios? I dunno, that's not exactly a house hold name as far as legendary '60s studios go, it's pretty far down the list. Lola vs. Powerman sounds better, probably the best sounding album of the lot. That was done at Morgan Studios, which is where Led Zeppelin and Blind Faith also recorded. I suspect they went up a notch on the studio budget for that one, because at that point they knew they needed a solid radio hit and were trying very consciously and deliberately to get a hit record.

The later RCA records in the '70s, part of the weird fidelity was probably due to the fact that the '70s albums were mostly recording in their own studio, Konk studios, which although I'm sure it was a great place was probably not quite as well-equipped or designed as say an Olympic or something. They built it themselves over a long period of time, and so like any home made space I could kinda see it maybe not quite living up to what everybody had hoped for, once you get all the gear in. Actually, the way Kinks records sound is not so big of a surprise, when you consider that it's Ray Davies, who is always touted as such a literate SONGWRITER, STORYTELLER dude, combined with his brother DAVE who is KING OF THE GRITTY RIFF. With that kind of one-two sibling rivalry in charge of the band and basically producing themselves, you can kinda see how their attitude towards recording might have been like -- drum sounds, miking up the piano better, getting a richer bass tone? Who CARES?

[thethingwiththestuff]

um...... some of my favorite sounding records are village green, something else, arthur...







do i look bad now?

[curtiswyant]

um...... some of my favorite sounding records are village green, something else, arthur...







do i look bad now?

I agree Village Green sounds great, but it's definitely not "hi-fi"

[vsr600]

FWIW, I think Afghan Whigs records ("Gentlemen" and "1965" specifically) are really well-recorded.

My friend Jeffrey was the assistant engineer on Gentlemen and effects editor on Black Love at Ardent in Memphis. http://www.taprootaudiodesign.com/discography.html

[minkthinking]

god, too bad that Nick Lowe won't do gear interviews...

those drums on "heart of the city"!

nick lowe... genius

behold his trilogy about the bay city rollers!

amazing.