Re: (TV) old but new

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

"J.Germaine" <jpg55@home.com> wrote:
> How about:
> "Sunny Afternoon"
> "Shangrila"
> "Big Sky"
> "Tired of Waiting"

Despite my huge affection for the Kinks and their entire catalog, the
only other song in their catalog that approaches that perfect 2'50" for
me is Victoria.  Or possibly Stop Your Sobbing.  Why?  Beats the hell out
of me.  If I were to analyze these songs to figure out what makes them
the perfect pop songs, I fear I'd kill 'em in my mind.

> > From: Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>
> > "Lee Ritter" <poriver@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> And, yes, the Kinks had many masterpieces. One of my all time favorite
> >> pop singles is 'waterloo sunset'.
> > (snip...)
> > 
> > Possibly the single best song ever written.  I've gone hours in the car
> > with that on repeat.  (It was a long trip, and I wasn't inflicting it on
> > anyone else :)

One thing that occurs to me is that the vast majority of Kinks recordings
still have an unfinished feel to them, like a demo.  Victoria seems to be
the exception - extremely well- (but not over-) produced.  The opening 
gutar notes bouncing back and forth in the stereo space is f'ing brilliant.
It's been years since my copy of VGPS was stolen, but I seem to recall
that it alwasy sounded different than the rest of the Kinks' catalog.

There's a charm and seeming simplicity to most Kinks songs that makes
anyone with a guitar think "I can do that!"  The simple strum of the
acoustic guitar, the unprocessed harmony vocals, the beautiful, wistful
melody - these make Waterloo Sunset instantly beguiling.  I have no idea
how much time was spent in the studio on this, but it *sounds* like it
was done as a framework for later work, and then was discovered that adding
anything detracted from it.

I felt the same way about the Jam's "That's Entertainment."  The demo of
that is vastly superior to the song as eventually released.  The decision
to put the demo on the Snap! compilation was a great decision that's
given me hours of enjoyment.


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