An Orgy for the Ears

Today's World Cup match has to be seen by our friends across the Atlantic as yet another humiliating moment of underachievement. It's just not the British goalie muffing a harmless kick and costing England a win. It's that once again, those nouveau riche yahoo Yanks came together as a team to prevent the English from winning. Same story, different century.

And so it goes with popular music. A lot has been written about the unique Englishness of Ray Davies. And I'll give you that. Outside of Dylan, an American rock 'n roller of the time probably wouldn't be capable of writing such scathing and humorous tales as "Well Respected Man" or "Sunny Afternoon." And yet clearly it's the deeply American influence that permeates the sound of all things Kinks. Which is to say, The Kinks' Anglo-American hybrid thing is marvelous.

Briefly.... I purchased this lp with lawn-mowing money when I was 13 while living in suburban Chicago. The record store, ARS (A Record Store, get it?), was across the street from New Trier High School. Don't look for it now. It's been replaced by a White Hen Pantry, or something. I rode home on my Schwinn, played it on my cheap hi-fi and fell in love with it.

The licks are all bluesy rock n roll, the production loud and messy. Liner notes by some dude named Andy Wickham go on about the times are changin' but fail to mention when and where the record was recorded. I read somewhere else that it was recorded in Scotland at some debutante ball while the band was struggling on its way to the top. There are great ringers like the two mentioned above, but also wandering blues jams that highlight how apparently limited the band's repertoire was at the time, and also how much indebted the deeply English Kinks were to American influences. Check out Dave Davies peel off some great hooks on the menacing "You're Looking Fine." Top notch.

And so with a slight hangover and some national pride, I'll give this lp another spin. As Wickham states, "It's an orgy for ears!"