This week in 1967: The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
It had no track breaks, a message in the run-off groove and was developed loosely from Paul McCartney's concept of an album by a fictitious band. The lyrics were printed on a lavish gatefold sleeve, with its famous front cover by Peter Blake, reflecting the tenor of the time and opening doors of both perception and excess.
Having retired from touring, the band was free to use the recording studio to the ultimate, with no time or financial restrictions and limited only by their own creativity.
From the suite-like 'A Day In The Life', with that long thunderous chord coaxed from a bewildered orchestra, to the alleged-and-denied drug references in 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', the beautiful 'She's Leaving Home', the sentimentality of 'When I'm Sixty Four' and George Harrison's mystical wig-out 'Within You Without You', it sparked argument and amazement in equal measure.
Originally, the album was to include 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever', but that didn't stop it from becoming a benchmark; the term 'their Sgt Pepper' later applied across the board to any band's supreme lifetime achievement.
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The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
The Kinks' Sir Ray Davies on alternative name for band and why he loves taunting US fans
SIR Raymond Douglas Davies and the United States Of America – let's just say it's a complicated relationship. Their paths first crossed in 1964 when the British Invasion was in full swing. Advertisement 5 Sir Raymond Douglas Davies of The Kinks opens up as the band front another release Credit: Getty 5 The band on TV in 1968 Credit: Getty The Beatles lit the blue touch paper and Their heavy riff-driven hits You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night rocketed into the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. A year later, however, the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion — and they had to make a hasty 'British Retreat'. Following a turbulent US tour in the summer of '65, The Kinks were banned from performing there for four years. Advertisement READ MORE ON MUSIC Though no official reason was given by the American Federation of Musicians, there were reports of rowdy behaviour on and off stage, a physical altercation with a 'British-baiting' TV producer and an unpaid fee. Sixty years on, I've been given the chance to ask Sir Ray, 81, about The Kinks' Stateside story. He has curated the third and final part of the band's archive series, The Journey, which focuses on the late Seventies and early Eighties, when they finally cracked America. For context, Davies begins by reflecting on the impact of seismic events more than a decade earlier. Advertisement Most read in Music He says: 'I was talking to (drummer) Mick Avory the other day and we concluded that the ban in America was a result of bad management, bad luck and bad behaviour — but we were only young. 'We had dreamt of America for so long' 'Nevertheless, the four-year ban was a bit excessive. Looking back though, it allowed me the space to write songs about England and forget about breaking America. Oasis kick off first Manchester homecoming gig after 16 years away 'However, it was irksome having to watch all our peers tour the States while we were left behind.' By saying 'peers', Davies is of course referring to groups such as The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who. Advertisement Did The Kinks feel bruised by missing out on the wild success enjoyed by the others? 'Of course we did,' he replies. 'We were young and looking forward to touring the country that had inspired our music and to experiencing Americana first hand. 'We had dreamt of America for so long through this vision of the movies of our childhood.' Davies adds that 'on returning back to England, the band was in financial difficulties and on the verge of breaking up — and that took a further toll on all four of us.' Advertisement As we know, he picked himself up and emerged as one of our most gifted, perceptive and literate songwriters. There was something quintessentially English about his Dedicated Follower Of Fashion and his lovers Terry and Julie, who 'as long as they gaze on Waterloo Sunset, they are in paradise'. Just consider The Village Green Preservation Society with lines like 'God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties'. In a previous interview, I remember Davies telling me that his song A Well Respected Man was about a neighbour who went to work in a bowler hat. Advertisement He said: 'While we were banned, it was our biggest hit in America and I sang it in a London accent. 'It was Dick Van Dyke London. Americans still think of us as being a bit Mary Poppins.' A British Invasion contemporary, The Who's By 1970, The Kinks' ban had been lifted and American success beckoned once more. Advertisement They returned to the US top ten with Lola, a memorable Ray Davies composition set in a Soho bar and noted for its singalong chorus and daring lyrics about the gender-fluid title character. 'Before the ban, we played venues like the Hollywood Bowl,' he tells me. 'When we eventually returned, we were booked into small clubs and college venues. 'It was like starting all over again but it felt like an opportunity to get back what had been taken away from us.' Advertisement 5 Ray in the studio Credit: ALEX LAKE alexlake@ By the mid-Seventies, The Kinks were delivering a leaner, more hard-rocking sound to their American audiences. It comes with this explanation from Davies: 'We were often playing as a support act and soundchecks were not always possible. 'So our sound became stripped down, which in a strange way made it more direct and in your face. Advertisement 'Punk brought London alive, energy returned' 'I started reproducing this sound in the studio,' he continues before stressing, 'but you can't really say songs like All Day And All Of The Night and You Really Got Me are lightweight. 'Having said that, audiences responded well to songs like Art Lover and Well Respected Man, which are not exactly heavy metal. 'On occasions I would break into vaudevillian renditions of You Are My Sunshine and the British National Anthem just to taunt the American audiences and heavy rock aficionados as if to say, 'Yeah, we are British, take it or leave it.' The first Kinks album to adopt a more 'direct' sound was Sleepwalker (1976), their first for music mogul Clive Davis' fledgling Arista Records. Advertisement It was also the first of a string of LPs that did better in the US than back in good old Blighty. Davies says: 'Clive persuaded me to stay in New York and I began work on Sleepwalker there. I eventually rented an apartment on the Upper West Side.' The title track and Sleepless Night dealt with his insomnia at the time which he likens to 'having permanent jet lag'. The band's no-nonsense approach to the music also chimed with the advent of punk and the arrival of bands like The Jam who cited The Kinks as a major influence. Advertisement Davies says: 'I feel it (punk) brought London alive and energy returned to the city — we were back on the map of music and fashion. 'A lot of great bands came out of that period and The Kinks were like contemporaries.' Although Davies started work on Sleepwalker in The Big Apple, it was recorded in London at his newly founded Konk Studios. He remembers the early days of Konk and the freedom it afforded. Advertisement 'We acquired a Neve (mixing) desk and started adapting what was an old factory in North London. 'It was rough and ready but the sound was to our liking and we had a certain amount of control over the budget. This made a huge impact on our recordings. Before Konk, we recorded at other studios and they were strictly on the meter but now we could run into overtime.' Following Sleepwalker came Misfits in 1978 — well received, particularly in the States, but representing another difficult period for The Kinks. Davies says: 'After the success of the Sleepwalker album, the band was in disarray and two members left. Advertisement 'But myself, Dave and Mick remained committed and we brought in two new members, Jim Rodford and Ian Gibbons.' Did the band see themselves as misfits? I venture. 'As it turned out, Misfits would have been a good name instead of The Kinks,' muses Davies. 'In some ways we have always been more like outsiders — not fitting in with any style or movement.' Advertisement One of the Misfits songs, A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy emphatically proved that Davies hadn't lost his way with neat turns of phrase. 'I was absorbed into American culture' He says 'It is quite an autobiographical song. 'The king is dead' was a deliberate reference to Elvis (who died on August 16, 1977). 'I wrote it from the apartment on the 11th floor in NYC and the last verse was a direct reference to a man I saw listening to music in the building opposite. 'The first verse is about a friend of mine . . . 'You've been sleeping in a field but you look real rested/You set out to outrage but you can't get arrested/You say your image is new but it looks well tested/You're lost without a crowd, and yet you go your own way.'' Advertisement Next, I ask Davies how living in NYC impacted on his songwriting in general. 'It was like learning another language,' he replies. 'I was being absorbed into American culture, particularly with the Low Budget album (1979) and songs like Catch Me Now I'm Falling and Attitude. But one thing that remained was my London accent as opposed to trying to sound American.' On Catch Me Now I'm Falling, Davies deftly captured the uncertain mood in America during the late Seventies. 5 The band on the roof of London's Dorchester hotel in 1976 Credit: Redferns Advertisement 'There must have been a knock-on effect from all the economic difficulties in the world,' he says. 'After the Second World War, America saved the world, but who will save America?' Low Budget also featured (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, released in the wake of Christopher Reeve donning the iconic blue and red outfit with yellow accents. 'Superman was a comic book hero of mine and, at the time, we had strikes all over Britain,' says Davies. Advertisement 'But the song itself is about a man waking to all this bad news and he fantasises about flying away like Superman.' After Low Budget came 1981's Give The People What They Want, including the rocking Destroyer which was like a blast from the past. It featured the riff from All Day And All Of The Night and lyrics referencing Lola. Davies says: 'It had been my idea for a long time, but had been on the back burner. Advertisement 'I counted the song in, shouted out the chords through the headphones and it was recorded almost in one take.' The album ended with the jangly, bittersweet Better Things, written by Davies about his failing marriage to second wife Yvonne. 'It's basically a break-up song about wishing the other person to have a better life,' he affirms. This brings us to the best-loved of all The Kinks' later songs, Come Dancing, from the 1983 album State Of Confusion. Advertisement It served as a heartfelt tribute to Davies' tragic sister Rene who loved to dance to big bands on a Saturday night. He tells the story behind the song: 'My first Spanish guitar was a gift from Rene. 'She died of a heart condition at the age of 31 on the day before my 13th birthday, while she was out dancing at the Lyceum Ballroom. 'My musical Come Dancing is based on family life and the events leading up to Rene's passing. Also around that time, I would buy records with my pocket money from Les Aldrich record shop in Muswell Hill which has now sadly closed down. Advertisement 'These records and memories had an impact on my writing the musical.' If the first disc of The Journey Pt 3 sheds new light on a fascinating and fruitful period for The Kinks, the second is a treasure trove of a different kind. It is a newly discovered, pristine recording of the band's Royal Albert Hall concert on July 11, 1993. This was at the dawn of Britpop and the old masters showed the young pretenders how it should be done. Advertisement The show drew on all parts of The Kinks' momentous 'journey' and included standout renditions of You Really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon and Dedicated Follower Of Fashion. Last song Days finds Davies addressing the rapturous crowd, 'Thank you for the days/Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.' He says: 'The concert was part of a tour celebrating our 30th anniversary. It was more like a welcome home from America and it was well received. 'Our fans showed us great affection and enthusiasm which was a highlight of the tour. Advertisement 'Recently, when we were updating archives in Konk Studio, we came across the recording of that show, the last that the band performed at the Albert Hall.' Finally, I ask Davies about the whole experience of putting together The Journey Parts 1, 2 and 3. 'I would have said let the lyrics do the talking before embarking on this project,' he answers. 'But, in some ways, these recollections have given the songs more depth.' Advertisement All I can add is, 'Thank you for the Ray.' THE KINKS The Journey Part 3 ★★★★☆ 5 The Kinks – The Journey Part 3 is out now Credit: supplied
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Irish Independent
Russell Mael of Sparks: How we made ‘This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us'
In advance of their two sell-out Irish shows, the US frontman on famous fans and using food stamps despite their breakthrough hit John Lennon was heavily reliant on heroin in the mid-1970s, so the following legendary story should be taken with a pinch of salt. In 1974, he watched LA duo Sparks perform This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us on the BBC's flagship music show Top of the Pops and immediately got on the phone to one of The Beatles.
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Irish Times
Bob Geldof's personal archive of Live Aid photographs made public at National Library
Live Aid was a particular source of pride in Ireland at a time when the country was at a low ebb. Record unemployment, emigration and a ballooning national debt beset the country in July 1985. Yet the Irish people dug deep and contributed IR£7.1 million (the equivalent of €22.5 million today) to Live Aid, far more than any other country per capita. In recognition of the generosity of Irish people, Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof handed over his Live Aid archive in 2017 to the National Library of Ireland. Among the collection are thousands of photographs donated by photographers and news organisations from the day. Some of them have never been seen in public before. There were more than 1,500 plastic slides, 629 colour transparencies and 139 photographic prints. READ MORE Live Aid was billed as the greatest day in rock'n'roll history. One photograph shows Paul McCartney and David Bowie hanging around backstage at London. Another shows coded references to all of the acts that played just the Philadelphia leg of the gig – Madonna, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys and Black Sabbath among a who's who of stars from that time. Paul McCartney and David Bowie backstage at Wembley. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Band Aid Archive courtesy © The National Library of Ireland Band code list for performers at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Photograph: Bob Gruen/Star File/Band Aid Archive courtesy © The National Library of Ireland Close up of Midge Ure (Ultravox) on stage at Wembley, with reflection of audience in sunglasses Photographer credit: Jeremy Mitchell: Band Aid Archive courtesy © The National Library of Ireland. There are many of U2 playing what was the most important performance of their lives, their 15-minute set propelling them to superstardom in the 1980s. There are dozens of negatives too of Queen's performance on the day, which was universally praised and is all the more poignant in retrospect given Freddie Mercury's death six years later. The National Library of Ireland has now digitised 2,000 photographs and made them available to the public to view online to mark the 40th anniversary of the day. Most are in black-and-white, which was still the most-used form in newspapers at the time. However, a selection are in colour. Bob Geldof and concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith at Wembley. Photograph: Band Aid Archive courtesy © The National Library of Ireland Sara Smyth, head of exhibitions, and Crónán Ó Doibhlin, head of special collections at the National Library of Ireland, at the launch of the digitised version of the Library's Live Aid collection Each image was given a unique identifier and multiple sections in the library were deployed, according to Crónán Ó Doibhlin, the head of special collections at the National Library of Ireland. 'It is a much more complicated work than people expect,' he said. 'While we continue to safeguard original archive material, the public can now enjoy the spectacle and colour of Live Aid from anywhere in the world online.' Sara Smyth, the assistant keeper in special collections at the National Library of Ireland, said the colour slides are susceptible to degradation and need to be preserved for future reference. National Library of Ireland director Dr Audrey Whitty said the digitisation of the Live Aid archive is a 'powerful example of how we connect people with the past in accessible, lasting ways.' The photographs will be live on the National Library of Ireland website from midday on Friday.
