Your favorite Kinks album ... from a recording perspective

[greenmeansjoe]

Recording-wise, I like "Village Green" the best. It's so rough and oddly-mixed, which is part of what makes it so good. I have a soft spot for "Lola" too. The vocals on Apeman are just plain buried. I've never understood that.

Music-wise, my favorite is "Arthur."

Anyway. I figured some of you Kinks fans might have fun with this.

Joe

[Kyle Motor]

I like Face To Face a lot. The name of it escapes me at the moment (cd is in the truck), but the song that starts out with the big sounding drums...sweet.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I only have some best-of records so I can't comment on "albums" but I think their late 60's era (before the line-up changed) is my fav.
Stuff like Waterloo Sunset, Days, and Autumn Almanac.
Great writing and really cool production. Very lush but also quite simple.

[greenmeansjoe]

I like Face To Face a lot. The name of it escapes me at the moment (cd is in the truck), but the song that starts out with the big sounding drums...sweet.

Is it "Holiday in Waikiki"?

I love the intro to "Session Man," too, with the big harpsichord part.

Joe

[Rick Hunter]

I really like that song


"Hey can I have girlfriends purse back?"

[Kyle Motor]

I like Face To Face a lot. The name of it escapes me at the moment (cd is in the truck), but the song that starts out with the big sounding drums...sweet.

Is it "Holiday in Waikiki"?

I love the intro to "Session Man," too, with the big harpsichord part.

Joe

Holiday in Waikiki...that's it. It's one of those things that even though I know it'll sound bad for the song, I wish the drums stayed that loud for the whole thing. Other than that I'm just a sucker for the early singles too, especially the trifecta "You Really Got Me/All Day.../I Need You". If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[scarygroover]

wow. all these are great records. I have been really into something else lately.

The chord changes in "lazy old sun" are so strange and cool. I love the bird sounds on "end of a season". such a cool band. great writing!!!

[mattmlpdx]

I don't know if I can pick a favorite album, but I'll second End of the Season as an amazing song all around, and I think that "See My Friends" is a terrifc tune with really cool production and an amazing vibe.

[mrdazobee]

Did anyone read the news lately?Ray is recovering in hospital after he was shot in the leg trying to save his girlfriends bag from the clutches of a mugger in London.....Speedy recovery Ray!....Back to the thread.Villiage Green gets my vote.

[scarygroover]

yes I hear is doing ok. good!

I agree that see my friends has an amazing vibe. I love when it suspends on that chord then just resolves and drops you into exacxtly what you need to hear to resolve when he sings " PLaying across the water". Timeless.

[aurelialuz]

yeah, i gotta go with something else, it's just so consistent throughout; big, warm, even. the later albums like arthur and lola start sounding more and more dull to me. especially lola, it sounded like such mush i gave up on the songs. but i've heard that over the years pressings of it have varied wildly.

i can't believe you didn't even put kontroversy in the list! pound for pound, maybe not the best, but 'till the end of the day' blows doors! and the kinks worked so fast in those days, it's effortless and it shows.

alex

[norton]

this is a tough question... i love those albums, and what about something else?? that's a great sounding album.

i've got to go with muswell, if not only because ray and company do countrified americana better than most americans.

to me it's one of their bigger more open sounding albums... a perfect sonic companion to lola vs. powerman.

kinks!!!

[greenmeansjoe]

a perfect sonic companion to lola vs. powerman.

How so?

Joe

[greenmeansjoe]

the later albums like arthur and lola start sounding more and more dull to me. especially lola, it sounded like such mush i gave up on the songs. but i've heard that over the years pressings of it have varied wildly.

I agree that Lola sounds pretty mushy. It actually took me awhile to get past that, but recently I've been listening to it a lot. The songs are ace, and I've even started to appreciate the mix.

As for your comment on Kontroversy ... I just don't think it's in the same league as the stuff they did from '66 to '71. Sure, Til the End of the Day is a great tune, but, to me, Face to Face shows such a quantum leap in quality over Kontroversy.

Joe