One For The Road

The Kinks

Arista, 1980

http://www.thekinks.info

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/18/2013

There’s never been any question about The Kinks’ talent—Ray Davies is one of the great songwriters, and brother Dave one of the great lead guitarists, of the rock era, period. The questions have always been about the relatively narrow appeal of some of Ray’s quirkier creative adventures. In that sense, the results of the group’s mid-70s turn away from eccentric concept albums toward more straightforward commercial fare were perhaps predictable; the band scored several hits, began playing arenas, and proved themselves pretty good at doing that, too.

One For The Road documents the band’s fall 1979 tour, during which they were focused on consolidating the popularity of the Low Budget album in America and retooling their image as an edgy, quintessentially British import that at once influenced and was influenced by the burgeoning punk scene. They aimed to come off as tight and tough as any punk band, while playing a mix of classics and recent hits to crowds of eight and 12 and 15 thousand.

This “mixing their pitches” can be heard from the opening, which finds the Davies brothers – backed by longtime drummer Mick Avory and then-new recruits Ian Gibbons (keyboards) and Jim Rodford (bass) – slamming through a 90-second instrumental tease of their immortal; 1964 classic “You Really Got Me” before flooring it through a frenetic version of “The Hard Way,” an edgy rant from 1975’s my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Schoolboys In Disgrace.

The classics are well represented in the early going by propulsive versions of “Where Have All The Good Times Gone,” “All Day And All Of The Night” and “20th Century Man,” nestled comfortably alongside hard-hitting Low Budget tracks like “Catch Me Now I’m Falling” and “Pressure.” The first half is punctuated by a playful sing-along rendition of “Lola,” complete with false start that Ray cuts off to loud applause, declaring with winking irony “It wasn’t that good!”

The genius of the show captured on this album is the way the group works musical context both past and present into the proceedings. On the dynamic, six-minute-plus “20th Century Man”—a bonus track left off the original CD issue but restored in later remasters—Dave filters riffs from “Born To Be Wild,” “You Really Got Me” and others into his rangy, adrenalized solo, while Ray goes all Pete Townshend on his acoustic in the background.

The focus changes for the middle sequence of “Misfits” into “Prince Of The Punks” into “Stop Your Sobbing,” sandwiching a pair of earnest ballads around an acid kiss-off, before they devote a four-song block to the new album. The Davies boys roar through “Low Budget,” “Attitude” and “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” with a fury to match any punk’s. “National Health” is one of the weaker songs here, but the crowd sings along just the same…

The final quarter hits an interesting mix of eras and styles, with a reggae-tinged rendition of 1965’s “Till The End Of The Day” standing alongside the melancholy nostalgia of 1972’s “Celluloid Heroes,” leading into the sledgehammer assault that is “You Really Got Me.” The show closes with a couple of underappreciated gems, the scathing “Victoria” and the worshipful “David Watts,” both full of uniquely Davies hookiness and brio.

One For The Road is a portrait of a band in the process of reinventing itself yet again, from chord-crunching popsters, to melancholy high-concept auteurs, to brassy, ironic-whether-the-crowd-gets-it-or-not arena rockers. Depending on your tastes and preferences, there are many good places to start with The Kinks, and this album is surely one of them.

Rating: B+

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


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