Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jun 21, 2011 14:19:41 GMT
The Kinks; The Butts Band: The Palladium, London
Chris Salewicz, NME, 22 June 1974
GIVE THE Kinks album a review and you bear the responsibility for Ray Davies' crying for the next three days, I'm told.
But put your Kleenex away and don't worry, Ray; you did just dandy at the Palladium.
And what about those musicians who were on as support act – the Butts Band I do believe they were called? Why, weren't they just the sweetest the thing that's swirled around my ear-drums for such a long time? All those multi-layered parallels of sound that were sometimes floating jazz, and sometimes threateningly forceful soul, that never ended up like some Focus wet fish slap of noise.
Then on came the Ray Davies Romp. No playing around and into 'Here Comes A New Day' – a mite lethargic for mood building but you gotta be careful how you pace out the next hour and a half. Remember, it's kinda nice that the audience should almost never suss that there's probably a lot of method in the madness of Ray's shifting the set through all his onstage caprices.
So the third number was 'You Really Got Me', with Ray, in the de rigeur white suit, affecting to make much use of a mouth harp ("I'm just a blueser at heart," he camped), and, after two lines of 'Wild Thing' somewhere there in the middle, the slightest change of key put it into 'All Day And All Of The Night'.
Then, just to catch you off guard, came 'Money Talks' from the second part of Preservation before The Kinks returned to their hits.
'Dedicated Follower' and 'Sunny Afternoon' were played, and maybe it's just that constant worry that he really might razor his wrists in front of them, or maybe Ray's just a crowd manipulation major domo, but the audience was not only coerced but almost begged to take the chorus lines.
And then there was more of both parts of Preservation, and 'Lola' and 'Alcohol' and 'Banana Boat Song' and Ray cocked his legs endlessly and limped his wrists and you could still see the gap between his front teeth.
Though Ray may be the star and the lead man and the link man, it's the rest of the Kinks' caboodle that gets him up there musically.
All of them stay pretty quiet and almost nondescript whilst their leader will shake a bottle of light until it froths and then purr: "You didn't think I was going to come tonight". However, all the while the horn section emphasises brother Dave's gritty guitar notes and chords and unobstrusively welds together the bass, drums and keyboards.
And though there were frequent times when their actual use of phrases or words was incomprehensible, the voices of Pamela Travis or Dirty Gentie on, for example, 'Mirror Of Love', clinched the balanced of the band's aural deal just as crucially as the self-indulgent intro chords of 'Well Respected Man' before 'Banana Boat Song'.
Of course, in retrospect it could have been nothing but an excellent gig for the Kinks – we are, as Ray Davies himself pointed out, in the middle of the cricket season.
© Chris Salewicz, 1974
Chris Salewicz, NME, 22 June 1974
GIVE THE Kinks album a review and you bear the responsibility for Ray Davies' crying for the next three days, I'm told.
But put your Kleenex away and don't worry, Ray; you did just dandy at the Palladium.
And what about those musicians who were on as support act – the Butts Band I do believe they were called? Why, weren't they just the sweetest the thing that's swirled around my ear-drums for such a long time? All those multi-layered parallels of sound that were sometimes floating jazz, and sometimes threateningly forceful soul, that never ended up like some Focus wet fish slap of noise.
Then on came the Ray Davies Romp. No playing around and into 'Here Comes A New Day' – a mite lethargic for mood building but you gotta be careful how you pace out the next hour and a half. Remember, it's kinda nice that the audience should almost never suss that there's probably a lot of method in the madness of Ray's shifting the set through all his onstage caprices.
So the third number was 'You Really Got Me', with Ray, in the de rigeur white suit, affecting to make much use of a mouth harp ("I'm just a blueser at heart," he camped), and, after two lines of 'Wild Thing' somewhere there in the middle, the slightest change of key put it into 'All Day And All Of The Night'.
Then, just to catch you off guard, came 'Money Talks' from the second part of Preservation before The Kinks returned to their hits.
'Dedicated Follower' and 'Sunny Afternoon' were played, and maybe it's just that constant worry that he really might razor his wrists in front of them, or maybe Ray's just a crowd manipulation major domo, but the audience was not only coerced but almost begged to take the chorus lines.
And then there was more of both parts of Preservation, and 'Lola' and 'Alcohol' and 'Banana Boat Song' and Ray cocked his legs endlessly and limped his wrists and you could still see the gap between his front teeth.
Though Ray may be the star and the lead man and the link man, it's the rest of the Kinks' caboodle that gets him up there musically.
All of them stay pretty quiet and almost nondescript whilst their leader will shake a bottle of light until it froths and then purr: "You didn't think I was going to come tonight". However, all the while the horn section emphasises brother Dave's gritty guitar notes and chords and unobstrusively welds together the bass, drums and keyboards.
And though there were frequent times when their actual use of phrases or words was incomprehensible, the voices of Pamela Travis or Dirty Gentie on, for example, 'Mirror Of Love', clinched the balanced of the band's aural deal just as crucially as the self-indulgent intro chords of 'Well Respected Man' before 'Banana Boat Song'.
Of course, in retrospect it could have been nothing but an excellent gig for the Kinks – we are, as Ray Davies himself pointed out, in the middle of the cricket season.
© Chris Salewicz, 1974