Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

The Kinks
The Kinks tabs The Kinks discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

The Kinks guitar tabs

CD reviews

Give the People What They Want

The Kinks - Give the People What They Want Audio CD

A fair review of the The Kinks "Give the People What They Want" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Kinks reviews here, or go back to the The Kinks tabs.

Band: The Kinks
Title: Give the People What They Want
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-08-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Around The Dial 2: Give The People What They Want 3: Killer's Eyes 4: Predictable 5: Add It Up 6: Destroyer 7: Yo-Yo 8: Back To Front 9: Art Lover 10: A Little Bit Of Abuse 11: Better Things

And they did..
i bought this cassette because of Destroyer on the radio when i was 11 years old and enjoyed it cover to cover then i had to buy it on album too. Ray and the boys really deliver on this one. i bought it on Cd a few years later and it hadn't lost any of its appeal to me. i find as i get older and revisit some things from my youth they often don't hold up but this one feels as fresh and good as it did then.
I admittedly know little of The Kinks other than owning a greatest hits collection and One For The Road so i can't, in good conscience, say this is their best effort since i haven't listened to enough of their others but for me it's great. Ray's lyrics are great covering things from DJ's,serial killing, assassination,Pedophilia,spousal abuse, mental illness amongst others. not your standard rock n roll lyrical fare. Saddens me to realize nearly 30 years later I'm actually living out the lyrics to Predictable.
There's a punk, new wave agressiviness to a lot of the music. i agree with a previous reviewer on Better Things-what a beautiful song. fitting way to end the record. for my money there's not a bad song on this disc. .

What the People Need!
"Give the People What They Want" is all that and a bag of chips as the Kinks cemented their place as punk/heavy metal godfathers. The Kinks were on a roll after "Low Budget" (1979) and the live "One for the Road" (1980) bought them some time for yet another strong studio album. "Give the People. . . " is chock full of disturbing images of Dead Presidents, pervy pedophiles, spouse abusers and psycho killers amidst some mighty tight rock. "Around the Dial" starts off all hard rock and missing DJs that actually is more poignant today than it was then. "Give the People. . . " is a nasty double-barrel blast comparing modern society to the Roman Coliseum, even offering up Jack Kennedy and a horrific lyric that's as hard to resist as watching the Zapruder film. "Killer's Eye's" is a chilling lament on what can turn someone down the wrong path. "Predictable" is a wry turn on domestic bliss turning into monotony. "Add It Up" is a great kiss off to a partner who's "made a lot of money, but you've lost me on the way". "Destroyer" revisits Lola but puts the paparazzi/paranoia spin on things. "Yo-Yo" picks back up on the psychological aspect again with how a couple's perspective on the other changes over time. "Back to Front" is time for serious hard rock and it's a bit incongruous next to "Art Lover", the paean to creepy men sitting on park benches watching little girls. The music is so beautiful and the way Ray delivers it so sweetly makes it even more disconcerting and disturbing. "A Little Bit of Abuse" is a great turn on how the abused keep going back to abusers with the great lyric "Some people can be so uncouth, excuse me, is this your tooth?" "Better Things" closes out the disc and it's easily one of the most winning and charming Kinks songs in ages, a fond wish for well.

I've said before "Give the People. . . " and "Low Budget" are probably the two best recordings the Kinks did in the 70s and 80s and stick by that. "Give the People. . . " has held up great and the material transcends the time that has elapsed. While many groups of the 60s petered out with sad albums in the 80s (Rolling Stones, The Who) the Kinks kept on rocking and if anything were even better than before. .

The Kinks hit their 80's peak
Ray Davies not only brings The Kinks squarely into a new decade, he takes the time to acknowledge his past. While the albums preceding "Give The People What They Want" were both solid, neither "Sleepwalker" nor "Low Budget" prepared us for this. "Destroyer" revives the the propulsive two-note drive of "All The Day and All Of The Night," quotes "Lola" and marries it all to Reagan era paranoia that is quintessential Kinks.

Nostalgia aside, Davies usual delivers his typical skewed vision to the instability of relationships ("Yo Yo" and "Add It Up" featuring a then Mrs Davies, Chrissie Hynde), topical; ("Killers Eyes") and statements on the state of rock (the terrific "Around The Dial"). "Give The People What They Want" was a moment of rock and roll acknowledgement; that Davies and company were spiritual forebears to the raving punk rock that was peaking at the time and that The Kinks were legends that necessitated homage.

But homage aside, "GTPWTW" ends with one of the singular most beautiful songs Davies has ever written, "Better Days. "

"Here's wishing you the bluest skies and hoping something better comes tomorrow,
Hoping all the verses rhyme and the very best of choruses to
follow all the doubt and sadness.
I know that better things are on their way. "

It's delivered in the most humble of voices with a simple melody, without dipping into a maudlin sound. Davies himself recently admitted on an NPR interview that this was one of The Kinks' songs he regrets isn't better known, and frankly, makes me give this CD an essential rating. The following "State of Confusion" yielded the hit ("Come Dancing"), but "Give The People What They Want" is the superior album.

25 years later?
So, what do I do? 2 things:
1) I go and build a website based on the theme of the song and I call it djmoves. I just noticed somebody mentioned that this is a 1981 album - personally, I owned the cassette and remember that the case was orange, but can't believe that it is 25 years old!
A few months ago, the lyrics to 'Around the dial' popped into my head, and I couldn't get rid of them (maybe I should see someone?).
2) I go to itunes and buy around the dial and also better days. Around the Dial truly rocks hard - I can't get the volume loud enough! And 'better days' is like an Irish toast - it's one of those songs like Beautiful Day from U2 that just makes you feel "better". . . very uplifting.

Other than Destroyer (which ALSO rocks hard), I honestly don't really remember enjoying the rest of the songs on the album, but am going to give them another chance soon.

My Favorite Kink's CD
Moreover, I got to see them tour it, twice! Starts off with the greatest rocker the Kinks ever made and then proceeds to trade off between rockers and more touching songs like "Better Days" and "A Little Abuse. Man, I wore this one out in high school. " I admit that I am partial to the later Kinks stuff, because that is when I grew up, but to me this was their greatest album.

You can see a complete list of all The Kinks discography, or go back to the The Kinks tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.