Kink Kontroversy

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Those first few Kinks hits sound so devastating, it's easy to forget that they struggled to make consistent albums from that guttersnipe R&B. It's true that Kink Kontroversy doesn't compare with the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds albums of the time, and the transfer to CD doesn't flatter the thin, twitchy sound, even after remastering. And some of the songs are so slight they barely exist at all. But the churning of Dave Davies's guitar, and brother Ray's psychotic vocal leer, free of the mannerisms and affectations he later made his trademark, drip with power and charm. And the singles "Till the End of the Day" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" show off Ray's burgeoning sophistication as a composer; it's the sound of young genius filling out. --Taylor Parkes --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Album Description
Japanese reissue of the 1965 album featuring 20 bit K2 remastering & the original artwork reproduced in a miniature LP sleeve. 2000 release. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Milk Cow Blue
Ring the Bells
Gotta Get the First Plane Home
When I See That Girl of Mine
I Am Free
Till the End of the Day
The World Keeps Going Round
I'm On An Island
Where Have All The Good Times Gone
It's Too Late
What's In Store For Me
You Can't Win
Dedicated Follower of Fashion
Sittin' On My Sofa
When I See That Girl of Mine
Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Customer Reviews:

Bridge to Waterloo.......2007-04-18

Maybe I am just nostalgic for this album. My Dad was stationed in Germany when this came out, and I remember all the high school bands playing "Milk Cow Blues" and "Til the End of the Day" at the dances. The rhythm lick of "Milk Cow Blues" was especially difficult. You were way cool if you mastered it (I never did).

I suppose like all transition works this one is unsatisfying at some levels, but it does rock hard. The bar-chord progression of "Til the End of the Day" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" (nostalgia for the old days as we wish they were which would find full flower on "Arthur" four years later) is married to more thoughtful lyrics than before. This is the second album to feature Dave's writing ("I Am Free"). Ray's bouncy "I'm on an Island," which would get a more calypso treatment live on the "Live at Kelvin Hall" album in 1967, revisits the isolation theme that would pop up so often in Ray's writing ("See My Friends," "Waterloo Sunset," and "Searching" being outstanding exemplars). Dave's voice is expecially effective on "What's in Store for Me." "You Can't Win" is basically the Kinks "Wall of Sound" style at its best, even though the song itself isn't much. Basically, the Kinks are saying good-bye to their older style and embracing the more mature style and material of "Face to Face" and "Something Else." "What's In Store for Me" reminds me of the same questioning of the kind of person the singer will be as a man contained in the Beach Boys' "When I Grow Up." Dave's high harmony on "It's to Late" presages the harmony system the Kinks used from "Arthur" on to the end (Ray singing lead and Dave signing an octave or so above sometimes on the melody sometimes on a harmony line).

Unlike what one of the reviews said, Shel Talmy would continue to produce the Kinks for two more years. His slightly tinny sound would continue through "Face to Face" the next year. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" would not appear until the B-side of "Sunny Afternoon" in 1966 (check out the whacking great live version of "Everybody Else" on the Kinks' last album "To the Bone" (1997) this time with Ray singing and Dave wailing on the guitar).

The extra tracks don't add much to the canon, though I am very glad to finally see "Sitting on My Sofa" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (check out Ray's solo version of the latter on "To the Bone") remastered on CD. I am still waiting for "Act Nice and Gentle" (B-side to "Waterloo Sunset").

If you are a fan of '60's rock, you'll like this. It contains the Kinks' last R & B cover (fittingly, the first track) and continues the venture into social commentary begun with "Well Respected Man." Compact at about 38 minutes, it packs a lot of punch into that time period.

Wondering if I'd done wrong..........2007-03-02

The Kinks' 3rd album released in November of 1965 was as many of the previous reviews have said the end of one era for the band. It was without a doubt the most mature record the band had put out to date but was not as strong as their later lps of the decade. "Milk Cow Blues" definitely seems to make a statement as "this is the last classic R&B cover we'll ever do", but it is a great kickoff to the album and sees the brothers Davies trading vocals over some pretty raucous noise for 1965! Most important songs include "Til the End of the Day", a latter day early Kinks classic which has much similarity with "You Really Got Me" and "All Day"; "I'm on an Island" which many have stated as the beginning of the introspective Ray Davies though I think he did this on much of 'Kinda Kinks' as well; "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" which moans away the nostalgia of still a very young man (only 21!). I really enjoy the last three tunes: "It's Too Late, "What's in Store for Me" and "You Can't Win" especially the last with its menacing stomp and biting lead guitar. Ray and Dave seem to sing more harmony on this record than on either of the previous two and it works. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", included here as a bonus track would begin Ray's career as a social critic, inspired by a rather pompous individual at a party according to legend. 'The Kink Kontroversy' was not a hit in the States and barely got a release here but the Kinks were fast becoming a albums band who seemed to shun potential success of singles for the artistic genius of Raymond Douglas Davies.

The Kinks come into their own .......2006-12-21

This recording is a bridge between The Kinks' R & B roots ("Milk Cow Blues": the only cover song on this LP) and more sophisticated lyrics and thoughtful production ("The World Keeps Going Round", the uneasy nostalgia of "Where Have All The Good Times Gone"). It is also a period piece from 1965 (just listen to the tones of the guitars) which is part of its' appeal.
These were the days when record labels would rush a band to put out the next album before the band fell out of fad. Yet this LP contains "I'm On An Island" (was this the calypso pre-cursor to "Apeman"?), "Til the End of the Day", "I Am Free", plus the songs mentioned above: all terrific pop songs. Keep in mind The Kinks had already recorded "Who Will Be the Next In Line" (one of my favorite overlooked songs),"Well Respected Man","See My Friends", "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" all in the same year as this LP. Yet Ray still manages to turn in some great well crafted pop-songs for "Kinks Kontroversy": a master pop songwriter. And "Kinks Kontroversy" doesn't sound like a rush job (like "Kinda Kinks"). Except for one or two songs which sound slightly like filler, this is a great album.
The Kinks' next album would be "Face to Face" and there was no going backwards for this group from then on.

The End of Something.......2005-05-30

I love this album. I originally bought it in the mid-60s when it came out, featuring the last of the Kinks' power-chord singles, "Till The End of the Day." I immediately loved "Milk Cow Blues," and it became my favorite cut on the album. But Kontroversy has many gems, "I'm On An Island," "I Am Free," , and "I Gotta Get The First Plane Home" are all fun and nifty tunes. It isn't, however, their best effort during the initial stage of their career. Kink Kinkdom easily outshines it probably because it has stronger material.

Actually, Kontroversy is an intersting release because it is almost a step back for Ray Davies' writing style. In Kinkdom and Kinda Kinks, Ray had explored social issues with some depth. Although the American albums were mix-matches of several British releases, Kontroversy was released in the U.S. and British in very similar set-ups. By the time Kontroversy had been released, Ray had written and released "Well Respected Man" and "See My Friends," both not only completely different sounds for the Kinks, but lyrically very interesting. So, why did Ray revert to catchy pop tunes?

Nonetheless, I really enjoy listening to Kink Kontroversy, and I find it to be a fun way to get back to the 60's. Lots of power, lots of power chording, and lots of catchy lyrics. It was definitely the last time The Kinks would release such an album, and it serves us all well, even today.

End of the First Era........2004-05-30

The Kinks Kontroversy marks the end of the first hard rocking era of the Kinks; the follow-up album would be produced by Ray Davies himself.

The album is mostly songs in the well-known Kinks-style. All songs except one are selfpenned, and though it is a mixture of rockers and and softer songs, this is probably on of the most hard sounding Kinks albums, which of course has a lot to do with Shel Talmy`s production style.

Apart from Estes`"Milk Cow Blues", which I find unnecessary and pretty uninteresting, there are not weak songs here. The single "Till the End of the Day" which was the first Kinks single I bought back in the 60`s, is another "You Really Got Me"- rip off; but it`s the best of them all. The B-side "I`m on an Island" is another highlight.

There are several indications of the more sophisticated songwriting that was to come. Songs like "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (bonus-track) and "Where Have All Good Times Gone" show that Ray Davies had already developed as a songwiter both lyrically and musically. The great ballad "Ring the Bells" also shows Davies softer side.

Tracks:

Milk Cow Blues
Ring the Bells
Gotta Get the First Plane Home
When I See That Girl of Mine
I Am Free
Till the End of the Day
World Keeps Going Round
I'm on an Island
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
It's Too Late - The Kinks, Shel Talmy
What's in Store for Me
You Can't Win
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [*]
Sittin' on My Sofa [*]
When I See That Girl of Mine [Demo Recording][#][*][Demo Version]
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [Alternate Stereo Take][#][*]

Customer Reviews:

Kink Kontroversy Kicks Krotch!.......2007-04-22

You may be familiar with 'Till the End of the Day' and 'Where Have All the Good Times Gone', but this album has so much more to offer than just those two singles. THE KINK KONTROVERSY is listenable all the way through and contains many jewels. It is also the first installment of what is widely regarded as the classic Kink era (ending with Arthur or Lola, I suppose). I prefer this edition over the USA pressing, because it matches nicely with all the other superbly remastered UK editions of the classic Kinks CDs.

Average customer rating:

a disgrace
"Ring the Bells" for the Kinks yet to come....
something DEEPER beginning

The Kink Kontroversy
The Kinks
Manufacturer: Castle Music UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000007V26
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Milk Cow Blues
Ring the Bells
Gotta Get the First Plane Home
When I See That Girl of Mine
I Am Free
Till the End of the Day
World Keeps Going Round
I'm on an Island
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
It's Too Late - The Kinks, Shel Talmy
What's in Store for Me
You Can't Win
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [*]
Sittin' on My Sofa [*]
When I See That Girl of Mine [Demo Recording][#][*][Demo Version]
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [Alternate Stereo Take][#][*]

Album Description

Remastered 1998 reissue of this 1966 album by the band,repackaged with the original artwork, new sleeve notes,lyrics and four bonus tracks: the top 40 hit 'DedicatedFollower Of Fashion', 'Sittin' On My Sofa', 'When I See ThatGirl Of Mine' (unreleased demo

Album Details

Remastered with Additional Bonus Tracks. Repackaged with Original Artwork Including New Sleeve Notes and Lyrics. Bonus Tracks Include: Dedicated Follower of Fashion, Sittin' on My Sofa, Never Met a Girl Like You Before, a Well Respected Man, and More.

Customer Reviews:

a disgrace.......2003-05-02

This is a typical entry in a terrible series - the recent complete Kinks reissue program out of England. The plan was
superb. Each cd contains the a complete album unaltered plus ALL TRACKS RECORDED CONCURRENTLY that saw release. As a Kinks fan I bought the lot. I've since thrown them all away. The mastering is terrible. This is the worst of the lot, but they are all bad.
Take one that is pretty fair, say Kinda Kinks and then a/b the tracks with same tracks off the Rhino Kinda kinks from some 10 years ago. No comparison. What a shame! The only recent reissue that made me angrier was 1 (the beatles) which is without a doubt the worst sounding reissue by a major rocker EVER. see my review at that site.

"Ring the Bells" for the Kinks yet to come...........2001-11-11

`Kontroversy' was the last album that showed the Kinks as another `here today/gone tomorrow' mid 1960s British R&B combo, and the first to hint that they really weren't like everybody else, and that tomorrow, listeners would find better things.

Side One is a distillation of everything the band had learnt up to that time, plus what was going round that year (1965). So you get the blues cover which leads off - Sleepy John Estes' `Milk Cow Blues'. Usually The Kinks were awful when they did blues covers, but they pull this one off. It's a messy jam, but it's messy in the right way. `Ring the Bells' sounds like a quiet Lovin' Spoonful tune; and `When I see that Girl of Mine' is pure Buddy Holly. The side closes with `Til the End of the Day' - the last of the Kinks power chord singles in the `You Really Got Me'/'All Day and All of the Night' vein. And it's as good as any of those classics.

The next three tracks - the first half of side two on the old vinyl version - point the way to the future. `The World Keeps Going Round' is the first of Kink leader Ray Davies' weary old man songs. "Times'll be hard, Rain will fall, and you'll feel mighty low/But the world keeps going `round" he sings to what sounds like an attempt at a Phil Spector production without a Phil Spector budget. `I'm on an Island' is about the need to get away from modern civilisation - a theme Ray was to return to again and again. And like many of Davies' later songs with this theme, such as `Apeman' and `Supersonic Rocketship', it has a vaguely Caribbean feel.

The title of the third portent of Kinks to come, `Where have all the good times gone' speaks for itself. The Kinks were to spend much of their career singing about a semi-mythical Edwardian past, and this one sets out the manifesto with understated wit:

"Ma and Pa looked back on all the things they used to do/Didn't have no money and they always told the truth/Daddy didn't have no toys/And Mummy didn't need no boys".

And Davies' vocal as he delivers this verse has just the right edge to it to let you know he isn't fooled for an instant, and he doesn't expect you to be either.

While the next few songs are pretty standard stuff, the bonus tracks add to the album. There's two versions of the `Dedicated Follower of Fashion' - a song whose title has passed into the English language. It's not a particularly subtle satire, but it makes its point in a tuneful enough way, and contains one of Davies' best performances as a vocalist-cum-radio-comedian. While `Dedicated...' has been on countless greatest hit compilations, `Sitting on My Sofa', the B side, is a comparative rarity. It's a classic early Kinks rave-up - and, like `Milk Cow Blues' it's a shambles in a good way.

This isn't a great album, by a long chalk, but it shows this fascinating band at a key stage of their development. If you've got the obvious 1960s classics from this band (Village Green, Arthur, Face to Face) and their best later work (Muswell Hillbillies) this isn't a bad place to go next.

something DEEPER beginning.......1999-06-02

in a word: TRANSITIONAL. these guys don't seem too INTERESTED in holding on to their popchart tennybopper crowns on this brilliant, adventurous 1965 release. ray davies sounds strangely DYLANESQUE on most of these songs: all BORED INTELLECTUAL REMOTENESS and SNEERING HIPSTER SARCASM, encased in a crunchy, poppy shell. do you hear that? that's the sound of a PANDORA'S BOX opening....

Average customer rating:

Kink Kontroversy + 4
The Kinks
Manufacturer: Victor
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005GY5W

Average customer rating:

The Kink Kontroversy
The Kinks
Manufacturer: Jvc Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00004TDVE
Release Date: 2000-07-11

Tracks:

Milk Cow Blues
Ring The Bells
Gotta' Get The First Plane Home
When I See That Girl Of Mine
I Am Free
Till The End Of The Day
The World Keeps Going Round
I'm On An Island
Where Have All The Good Times Gone
It's Too Late
What's In Store For Me
You Can't Win

Amazon.com

Those first few Kinks hits sound so devastating, it's easy to forget that they struggled to make consistent albums from that guttersnipe R&B. It's true that Kink Kontroversy doesn't compare with the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds albums of the time, and the transfer to CD doesn't flatter the thin, twitchy sound, even after remastering. And some of the songs are so slight they barely exist at all. But the churning of Dave Davies's guitar, and brother Ray's psychotic vocal leer, free of the mannerisms and affectations he later made his trademark, drip with power and charm. And the singles "Till the End of the Day" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" show off Ray's burgeoning sophistication as a composer; it's the sound of young genius filling out. --Taylor Parkes

Album Description

Japanese reissue of the 1965 album featuring 20 bit K2 remastering & the original artwork reproduced in a miniature LP sleeve. 2000 release.

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring an LP Style Slipcase for Initial Pressing. 20bit Digitally Remastered.

Average customer rating:

The Kink Kontroversy
The Kinks
Manufacturer: Bmg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

British Invasion | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000RE6152
Release Date: 2007-08-06

Tracks:

Milk Cow Blues
Ring the Bells
Gotta Get the First Plane Home
When I See That Girl of Mine [Unreleased Demo Recording]
I Am Free
Till the End of the Day
World Keeps Going Round
I'm on an Island
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
It's Too Late
What's in Store for Me
You Can't Win
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [*]
Sittin' on My Sofa [*]
When I See That Girl of Mine [Unreleased Demo Recording][*]
Dedicated Follower of Fashion [Alternate Stereo Take][#][*][Demo Versio

Album Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007.

Album Details

24bit Digitally Remastered Japanese Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Average customer rating:

Kink Kontroversy
Kinks
Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Visi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000E10Z
Release Date: 1996-11-21

Album Description

1989 U.K. reissue of 1965 album. 12 tracks, including 'MilkCow Blues', 'Till The End Of The Day' & 'Where Have All TheGood Times Gone'. Castle release.

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