The Kinks – Besides The Kinks

After posting my version of what Dave Davies 60s solo album could have sounded liked, I have been playing a number of my Kinks records once more. I also replayed my version ‘The Great Lost Kinks Album’ from December 2020 (https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/the-kinks-the-great-lost-kinks-album-uk-version/) and felt that if this had actually been released what else Pye, the bands record label would do to make the most of The Kinks catalogue. 

In real life, Pye Records was already doing this. In 1973 they released ‘All The Good Times’ which was a four LP set including the complete ‘Lola’ and ‘Arthur’ albums, with two additional discs of deep cuts and singles. Pye didn’t stop here and it seems that they were releasing at least one Kinks compilation LP somewhere in the world throughout the 70s. Looking at the track listing, you can see that they are cash in on the bands name as there seems to be little thought in the way in which the tracks are complied.

The 70s were at least ten years too early too early for the explosion in reissues and reassessments of bands back catalogue that would occur after the advent of the CD. It would take until the turn of the century before the idea of releasing compilations directed at the collector would become a viable money maker so I would be asking a lot of the people at Pye Records in the 70s to do a compilation such as this. Unlike the previous compilation which looked exclusively at material that was rare and unreleased at the time, this LP includes all of the B-Sides that were released on Pye in the UK. 

These are in chronological order which was quite a pleasant surprise as I felt that I would have to move a few about so that the sides of the LPs would match up. Keeping them in order shows the progression the band made from their early R&B roots up until their more English centric music that they were producing by the end of their tenure on Pye. They also show that Dave Davies was beginning to stretch his writing muscle as a number of his songs start to appear.  I am sure that there wouldn’t be many musicians/bands who would have written songs of this quality, let alone put them on the B-Sides of singles. 

All mixes are mono and the A-Side of these singles is also listed. These singles are solely UK releases. The combination of songs on singles from other countries were sometime different. 

Side  1

  1. I Took My Baby Home (Long Tall Sally)
  2. You Do Something To Me (You Still Want Me)
  3. It’s All Right (You Really Got Me)
  4. I Gotta Move (All Day & All Of The Night)
  5. Come On Now (Tired Of Waiting For You)
  6. Who’ll Be The Next In Line (Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy)
  7. I Need You (Set Me Free)
  8. Never Met A Girl Like You Before (See My Friends)

Side 2

  1. Where Have All The Good Times Gone (‘Till The End Off The Day)
  2. Sittin’ On My Sofa (Dedicated Follower Of Fashion)
  3. I’m Not Like Everybody Else (Sunny Afternoon)
  4. Big Black Smoke (Dead End Street)
  5. Act Nice & Gentle (Waterloo Sunset)
  6. Love Me ‘Till The Sun Shines (Death Of A Clown – Listed as a Dave Davies solo single but both songs were included on The Kinks’ album, ‘Something Else By The Kinks’)

Side 3

  1. Mr. Pleasant (Autumn Almanac)
  2. Funny Face (Suzannah’s Still Alive – Listed as a Dave Davies solo single but the B-Side appears on The Kinks’ album, ‘Something Else By The Kinks’). 
  3. Polly (Wonderboy)
  4. She’s Got Everything (Days)
  5. There’s No Life Without Love (Lincoln County – Listed as a Dave Davies solo single, both songs would be reissued on the 1998 CD reissue of The Kinks’ album, ‘Something Else By The Kinks’).
  6. Creeping Jean (Hold My Hand – Listed as a Dave Davies solo single, both songs would be reissued on the 2011 CD reissue of The Kinks’ album, ‘Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire’) 
  7. King Kong (Plastic Man)

Side 4

  1. Mindless Child Of Motherhood (Drivin’)
  2. This Man He Weeps Tonight (Shangri-La)
  3. Mr. Churchill Says (Victoria)
  4. Berkeley Mews (Lola)
  5. Rats (Apeman)
  6. Moments (God’s Children)

The sleeve of this compilation was adapted from the back cover of the Death Do Us Part EP released in 2016

Various Artists – A Whole Lot Of Rainbows Vol.2

With the UK experiencing some of the hottest weather in its history, it is time to post another section of music that encapsulates the summer. It must be said that there is something joyous about listening to the Sunshine Pop that came out in the late 60s and early 70s. Sunshine Pop was influenced by pop acts such as The Beach Boys as well as groups such as The Mamas & The Papas and The 5th Dimension. It does border on Easy Listening in places but nothing says the summer has arrived than listening to songs like these. 

Disc 1

  1. We Can Fly – The Cowsills
  2. Sunny Day Girl – The Hobbits
  3. Peaceful – Kenny Rankin
  4. The Drifter – Heidi Brühl
  5. I Just Want To Be Your Friend (Single Version) – The Millennium
  6. Creeque Alley – The Mamas & The Papas
  7. Lazy Day – Spanky & Our Gang
  8. Sweet Blindness (Mono) – Laura Nyro
  9. If You Know What I Mean – The Gas Company
  10. I Live For The Sun – Vanity Fare
  11. Wait ‘Till Tomorrow – The Banana Splits
  12. See My Love (Song For Greg) – The Gentle Soul
  13. I’ll Grow Stronger – The Ballroom
  14. Green Tambourine – The Lennon Sisters
  15. Punky’s Dilemma – Don Costa
  16. Different Drum – Stone Poneys
  17. Do You Know The Way To San Jose – Dionne Warwick
  18. Stoney End – Peggy Lipton
  19. Bitter Honey – The Four Fullers Brothers
  20. Say A Little Pray For You – Aretha Franklin
  21. Glory Train – Drake
  22. I Think I’ll Just Go & Find Me A Flower – Moonpark Intersection
  23. King Of A Drag – The Buckinghams
  24. Let’s Ride – Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends
  25. Only One Woman – Marbles
  26. Rosecrans Blvd. – Gordon Waller
  27. Pretty Ballerina – The Left Banke
  28. How Can I Be Sure – The Young Rascals

Disc 2

  1. Bowling Green – The Everly Brothers
  2. Mr. Dieingly Dad – The Critters
  3. I Can’t Go Wrong – Keith
  4. Are You Lonesome Like Me? – The Feminine Complex
  5. Kits Are Fun – The Free Design
  6. 5 A.M. (Single Version) – The Millennium
  7. Once Upon An Everyday (Mono) – Peter Sarstedt
  8. Carrie Ann – The Hollies
  9. Lu (Mono) – Laura Nyro
  10. Leaving On A Jet Plane – Peter, Paul & Mary
  11. Moody Manitoba Morning – The Bells
  12. Let Me Pass By – Peggy Lipton
  13. Time For Livin’ – The Association
  14. Darlin’ (Mono) – The Beach Boys
  15. Hung Up On Love – Other Voices
  16. Morning Girl – The Neon Philharmonic
  17. Dancing Dandelion (Demo) – Eternity’s Children
  18. California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas
  19. The Year Of The Sun – The Gordian Knot
  20. Time To Love – The Address Brothers
  21. Trains & Boats & Planes – Anita Harris
  22. Six O’Clock In The Morning – The Feminine Complex
  23. Snow (Mono Version) – Harpers Bizarre
  24. The Warmth Of The Sun – The Beach Boys
  25. Crimson & Clover – Tommy James & The Shondells 
  26. Another Time – Sagittarius
  27. She Lets Her Hair Down – The Tokens

Various Artists – British Gold

This is the first (and only time) I am posting a compilation that I have not compiled myself. For me, this was a shop bought tape released on the legendary K-Tel Record label and I was given before I made it to school age. I played this tape so much, it wore out. It was also chewed up by numerous tape players but on each occasion I managed to salvage it and play it again. By the end, it sounded as though the tape had been recorded through mud but I still loved it. At this point, I had acquired my first proper stereo system and looking through the Squire Archive revealed that I already had a number of the songs on this compilation. I thought it was time I acquired the rest so I could reproduce the tape for myself.

It would take a few years to buy everything as this was as time before the internet and Spotify. Eventually I was be able to recreate this compilation for myself and when I look at it, my musical preferences are here for all to see. Great songs, written by great songwriters and sounding as fresh as they did when they were first released. I first reproduced it on a tape, but found that the songs did not fit onto the tape I had bought that was the same length as the original. It was then that I released that some of the songs had been edited down. It just meant I needed to buy a longer tape. I have recreated on CD and mp3 and no doubt this compilation will follow me to the grave. 

I am sure that if this was released today, someone would say that the title was not an accurate reflection of the artists contained within as not all of them were British. Manfred Mann and Jimi Hendrix spring to mind, but all of the bands themselves were formed in the UK. It’s still a great compilation and I still give it a spin every so often. Enjoy. 

Side 1

  1. Gimmie Some Lovin – The Spencer Davis Group
  2. My Brother Jake – Free
  3. Get It On – T. Rex
  4. With A Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker
  5. Down The Dustpipe – Status Quo
  6. 54321 – Manfred Mann
  7. Stay With Me – The Faces
  8. Here I Go Again – The Hollies
  9. All Day & All Of The Night – The Kinks
  10. Hush – Deep Purple

Side 2

  1. Substitute – The Who
  2. Fire – The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
  3. A White Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum
  4. Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream
  5. Hey Joe – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  6. Crocodile Rock – Elton John
  7. Resurrection Shuffle – Ashton, Gardner & Dyke
  8. Blackberry Way – The Move
  9. Layla (Single Edit) – Derek & The Dominos
  10. Something In The Air – Thunderclap Newman

The cover is based on the one that came with the tape. A K-Tel classic from a by gone age.  

Dave Davies – Lincoln County

With Dave Davies playing some gigs tonight just up the road from me, I thought it was time to look at an album that could have been.

The Kinks have had a long career, but in terms of unreleased albums, there is not a lot to choose from. There was ‘Four More Respected Gentlemen’ which was compiled by the the bands American Record label purely for the US market. There was also the twelve song version of ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ album that did come out in certain European markets. There was even talk of that album being released as a double and The Reconstructor has done a sterling job putting that together over at their site http://the-reconstructor.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-kinks-village-green-preservation.html.

However, one that does get a lot of mention is the lost album by Dave Davies. Before 1967, Dave Davies had written songs which had either been album tracks or related to single B-Sides. However, Pye Records saw potential in releasing a Dave Davies song as a solo single so they pulled ‘Death of a Clown’ from the ‘Something Else by the Kinks’ album and it reached number 3 in the UK charts. Sensing that there could be money to made, Pye set Davies the task of having an album ready to be released in either 1968 or 1969. A second single in the form of ‘Susannah’s Still Alive’ came out late in 1967 and reached number 20 in the UK chart so the album release date was pushed back to see how the next single would fare. That would be ‘Lincoln County’ which failed to dent the charts. ‘Hold My Hand’ was released in January 1969 but this also failed to make any inroads into the charts so the solo album was dropped with some of the songs being used as B-Sides to Kinks singles. Dave Davies himself has said that even though he liked some of the songs he produced, his heart was not fully in the project so his lack of interest also helped to kill off the project. 

What if those two later singles had been more successful, and if Davies had been more committed to the project. Enough material was recorded to fill up an album. The release of the ‘Hidden Treasures’ in 2011 testifies to that. With this what-if, I was looking to present a cohesive album that would have been released in the early months of 1969. That means that neither of the singles from 1967 would be used on it. ‘Death of a Clown’ had already been released on a Kinks album and ‘Susannah’s Still Alive’ would have sounded out of date by that time. We would also have to assume that none of the songs would have been released as Kinks B-Sides*. 

If the album had come out, it would have been at a time when bands were either becoming more heavy (Led Zeppelin) or getting more rootsy, especially after they had digested The Band’s ‘Music From Big Pink’. Davies’ album would have seemed as though it was from a different age and would most probably been his equivalent of ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ and been appreciated after the event. The album though was not released but at least we can now appreciate the music that it would have contained. 

Side A

  1. Mindless Child Of Motherhood
  2. Lincoln County
  3. Hold My Hand
  4. Thee’s No Life Without Love
  5. Do You Wish To Be A Man?
  6. Are Your Ready

Side B

  1. Creeping Jean
  2. Crying
  3. This Man He Weeps Tonight
  4. Groovy Movies
  5. Mr. Shoemaker’s Daughter
  6. Mr. Reporter (Alt. Mix)

*I have complied this compilation using stereo mixes only. By 1969, few albums were released in mono. Mono mixes tended to be saved for single releases because AM radio was still the main format in which broadcasters would transmit pop music, especially in the UK at that time. 

The from cover was adapted from the LP, ‘The Album That Never Was’ that was an early attempt compile a solo Dave Davies record from this 60s sessions. That album was originally released in 1987.