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
- I Took My Baby Home (Long Tall Sally)
- You Do Something To Me (You Still Want Me)
- It’s All Right (You Really Got Me)
- I Gotta Move (All Day & All Of The Night)
- Come On Now (Tired Of Waiting For You)
- Who’ll Be The Next In Line (Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy)
- I Need You (Set Me Free)
- Never Met A Girl Like You Before (See My Friends)
Side 2
- Where Have All The Good Times Gone (‘Till The End Off The Day)
- Sittin’ On My Sofa (Dedicated Follower Of Fashion)
- I’m Not Like Everybody Else (Sunny Afternoon)
- Big Black Smoke (Dead End Street)
- Act Nice & Gentle (Waterloo Sunset)
- 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
- Mr. Pleasant (Autumn Almanac)
- 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’).
- Polly (Wonderboy)
- She’s Got Everything (Days)
- 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’).
- 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’)
- King Kong (Plastic Man)
Side 4
- Mindless Child Of Motherhood (Drivin’)
- This Man He Weeps Tonight (Shangri-La)
- Mr. Churchill Says (Victoria)
- Berkeley Mews (Lola)
- Rats (Apeman)
- 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