[Today: Ray Davies reflects on the price of stardom...]
In 1966, the concept of “rock star” was still relatively new, so Face To Face must stand as one of the first albums to examine the life of rock stardom and find it wanting. The songs here track the bother (‘Too Much On My Mind’), boredom (‘Session Man’), depression (‘Rainy Day In June’), and intrusion (‘Party Line’) that comes with the real estate of pop stardom. Kinks’ chief songwriter Ray Davies makes even fame’s excesses seem hollow and empty, as luxury homes (‘House In The Country’ and ‘Most Exclusive Residence’) and groupies (‘You’re Looking Fine’ and ‘Dandy’) come off as mere frivolities to pass the time.
The Kinks’ buzzing guitars were a mainstay of their early hit singles, but here they retreated into more sparse, relaxed musical territory – the reverse of the escalating war-of-the-studios then going on between Brian Wilson and The Beatles and spilling over into the rest of popular music. But Davies never needed to rely on studio gimmickry because he’s always been a master at setting moods. Crawdaddy’s Paul Williams wrote of him, “Ray’s gift is his control of his music: whatever he does, it’s right.”
Face To Face stands out among the many excellent Kinks albums because this batch of songs is rooted in real, everyday stuff, rather than the Victorian fantasy and pastoral impersonality that marks more-celebrated efforts like The Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur. This was the first of many thematically cohesive Kinks albums, but it doesn’t get bogged down by its premise, like some of their later works. And finally, because today’s celebrity-driven culture is more aware than ever of the pitfalls of fame, Face To Face sounds topically fresher than psychedelic stuff like Sgt Peppers. While his musical brethren were turning on and shooting into outer space, Ray Davies was looking inward, reflecting on the life of a star, and creating music that would bring him even more of the cursed fame.
Listen: Rainy Day In June
Listen: You’re Looking Fine
Listen: I’m Not Like Everybody Else [CD bonus track]
Tags: The Beatles, Brian Wilson, The Kinks, Ray Davies, Paul Williams, Face To Face, Crawdaddy
18 July 2009 at 4:40 am |
Your prolific blogging is demoralizing for some of us other bloggers.