The Sixties Are Back?

Roky at the Roxy. He looks like such a nice gentle guy, but his lyrics are filled with visions of demons and evil.

The last few months, I’ve been bombarded with bands from the 60’s that I had never seen.  And, I thought I never would see most of them.  Some hadn’t had a hit for 40 years, some had never had a hit, and some had broken up long ago and haven’t recorded anything new.

Surprisingly, most of the bands I’ve seen so far this year, although older, fatter and with less hair (looks in mirror), still are making great music, still sound great and were well worth going to see.

The one I most wanted to see was Roky Erickson, ex leader of the 13th Floor Elevators.  When I first discovered him, in the late 70’s, the Elevators were already gone, and the main thing that was known about him was that he wasn’t doing music and was more or less a recluse and pretty much crazy.  Still, in the 80’s and 90’s he recorded some great records.  The Evil One stands up pretty well against the Elevators.  I had seen that he played every now and then, but never anywhere near me that I knew of (except when I heard about the shows after the fact).  Finally, living in LA, I found out in advance and bought a ticket to see him.

His voice is the same.  There’s no mistaking it.  And, happily, most of what he played was either from the Elevators or the Evil One eras.  And the band sounded great.  Roky kind of just stood there, almost like a buddha, but with a lot more hair.  But the quality of the voice and the power behind it was still there.  The show was great and I left a happy camper.

I’ll save some of the other bands for another post… hopefully it won’t take me years to get back to this blog.

Ray Davies – Kinkier than thou

The Kinks have been one of my favorite rock and roll bands since the sixties when I first discovered rock and roll.  I got their albums in the discount bins at the time, and listeded to them over and over along with the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Who.  They were raw, guitars, and drums, along with maybe a keyboard.  The basics.

About a month ago, I found out that Ray Davies was coming to town, and I, of course, found out about it late.  I checked online, and found someone on Craigslist selling 2 tickets in the front row.  Doubting that it was real, I met the guy, bought the tickets, and hoped for the best.  It was better than the best. These were in front of the first row, in the orchestra pit, almost in Ray Davies face.  Yes, I was so close, I could see that famous Alfred E. Newman like split between his front teeth.  And yeah, he’s a bit older, starting to look a bit like Sid Caesar rather than the young mod of the sixties.

I laughed when I heard Ray Davies added a Chorus to Kinks tunes, but then I listened…

Ray Davies recently came out with the Kinks Choral Collection.  OMG… adding a church choir to my favorite rockin’ tunes?  Please tell me it isn’t true!!!  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard bands redo tunes years later and completely destroy them (Eric Burdon – take note!!!).  I found the album and played the thing.  INCREDIBLE!

I’ve never heard a band take songs that have been ingrained in my brain for over 30 years and actually improve them.  Ray Davies did the impossible. Many of the songs, when I first listened, I wasn’t sure if he had taken the original tracks and remixed them adding in the chorus.  They had the same original spirit, his voice sounded young, and even the pauses were mostly the same.  Ray is smart enough to know that people love the originals, and to mess with them too much will only end in disaster.

Sadly, he didn’t have the Chorus with him for the show I saw, nor his brother Dave.  But, he put on an incredible show, playing a lot of the Kinks best hits, and leaving the crowd still wanting more after a few encores (yes, a few big hits weren’t played, but there were so many to choose from).

Interesting that one of the Kink’s fans’ mottos for many years has been “God Save The Kinks.”  Something in the program from the show mentioned that the Kinks are the only major British Invasion band that has all it’s original members still above ground.  Guess all those prayers worked.  And now, Ray took a bit of the church, added it to his music, and elevated the Kinks to a new level.  Thanks Ray for 45 years of heavenly music!

Related recent articles about Ray Davies and the Kinks

• Ray Davies Takes Choral Show on Tour (pastemagazine.com)
• Ray Davies Talks Choral Collection and Kinks Reunion, Shares Two Songs From New Album (pastemagazine.com)
• Ray Davies and The Crouch End Festival Chorus (theworld.org)