reviews / 2020

KINKS - Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One (50th Anniversary)

Name: KINKS – Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One (50th Anniversary)
Item: Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One (50th Anniversary)
Rating: 8
Author: Claudio Lancia

2020 (Bmg)

classic pop

by Claudio Lancia

The meticulous reissue campaign of the Kinks catalogue continues: after celebrating the milestones “The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society” (in 2018) and “Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire” (in 2019), it's now the turn of “Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One”, which has just turned 50. For the significant anniversary, Bmg has duly rolled out the inevitable deluxe edition, in several different formats. Recorded and released in 1970, “Lola Versus Powerman” (as it's usually abbreviated) is a barbed concept album that takes aim at the record industry, written in the wake of a string of unpleasant contractual entanglements the band had gotten caught up in. A record that aspires to be, in the words of Ray Davies himself, a genuine “celebration of artistic freedom” – including, naturally, his own.

The album, one of the most acclaimed by critics and fans alike within the Kinks' vast discography, is an eclectic stylistic mix that moves from the bluegrass opening of “The Contenders” through the many shades of the pop universe, more or less Beatles-esque, all the way to guitar riffs that foreshadow certain strands of hard rock (those on “Top Of The Pops” and “Rats” are the sharpest of the bunch). The tracklist is graced by the presence of “Lola”, one of the English band's biggest hit singles, regarded as one of the very first examples of glam rock, both for its musical traits (a mighty folk-rock sound that anticipates T. Rex by a whisker) and for its lyrics, which tell of an encounter in a Soho club between a man and a transgender person. “Lola”, the first song released featuring keyboardist John Gosling, reached number two on the British charts and number nine in the United States, becoming one of the year's best-selling singles.

But, as has often been the case throughout the Kinks' career, the whole record is ahead of its time - perhaps too far ahead, given that despite the strength and quality of the songs, it had to settle for a 35th placing on the American chart and a 24th in Australia. As some consolation, the other single lifted from the album, the infectious calypso “Apeman”, fared much better, climbing to number five in Britain and selling over a million copies worldwide.

The album also features the roots-rock, keyboard-drenched “This Time Tomorrow”, which found new life after appearing in a 2005 film by Philippe Garrel and in Wes Anderson's 2007 “The Darjeeling Limited”, as well as “Strangers”, a soul-tinged ballad penned by Dave, who after years of dormancy revealed a newfound compositional maturity. The numerous nods to America here are just a foretaste of what would come with “Muswell Hillbillies”: a year later, the Kinks would in fact go on to write one of the finest country-rock records ever made on this side of the Atlantic.

In this hugely expanded edition of “Lola Versus Powerman”, alongside the original tracklist, remastered for the occasion, you'll find alternate takes, in mono and stereo, newly reworked mixes, B-sides, live recordings from the era, plus various instrumental and acoustic demos. The entire running order has been personally curated and produced by Ray Davies. The box set also includes two period singles on 7-inch vinyl, four light card photographs, recordings of some domestic conversations between Ray and Dave Davies, various memorabilia, a badge, and an essential 60-page hardback glossy book featuring new statements from the band, rare images and detailed track-by-track information.

This brings to a close the reissue campaign for the trilogy of essential Kinks works - a band that deserved far greater recognition in its youth, but that has nonetheless profoundly inspired thousands of musicians, both contemporaries and those who came after.

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11/02/2021

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Lancia, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

1. The Contenders
2. Strangers
3. Denmark Street
4. Get Back In Line
5. Lola
Top Of The Pops
1. The Moneygoround
2. This Time Tomorrow
3. A Long Way From Home
4. Rats
5. Apeman
6. Powerman
7. Got To Be Free
8. Lola (mono single mix)
9. Apeman (UK mono single mix)
10. Rats (mono single mix)
11. Powerman (mono mix)
12. Apeman (alternate version, stereo)
13. The Moneygoround (alternate version, mono)
14. This Time Tomorrow (alternate take, 2020 mix)
Top Of The Pops (2020 mix)
1. Lola/Radio Spot, Edit (Ray's kitchen sink)
2. Got To be Free (Ray's kitchen sink)
3. The Contenders (Ray’s kitchen sink)
4. The Good Life (2020 mix)
5. Apeman (unplugged live vesion)
6. Get Back In Line (live version)
7. Marathon (edit, from the long distance piano player)
8. Got To Be Free (edit, from the long distance piano player)
9. Lola (with Danish National Chamber Orchestra & Danish National Vocal Ensemble)
10. The Good Life (2012 alternate mix)
11. Apeman (US mono single mix)
12. Moments (2020 mix)
13. This Time Tomorrow & Cassette Demos Medley (Ray’s kitchen sink)
14. Get Back In Line (Ray's kitchen sink)
15. Rats (Ray's kitchen sink)
16. Rats (2020 mix)
17. Powerman (Ray's kitchen mix)
18. Powerman (2020 mix)
19. The Contenders (instrumental demo)
20. Anytime
21. A Long Way From Home (Ray’s kitchen sink)
22. A Long Way From Home (live, Austin City Limits, 2006)
23. Strangers (Ray's sinking mix)
24. Strangers (2020 stereo mix)
25. The Way Love Used To Be (2020 monitor mix)
26. Apeman (Morgan studios run-through)
27. Radio Spot (live, Queens College, Flushing, NY, 1971)
28. The Follower – Any Time 2020 (feat. Anytime by The Kinks)

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Kinks

Rock postcards from the British Empire

From their early days, which pushed beat music to another level and anticipated both punk and metal, to the misunderstood pastoral pop of "Village Green", from the theatrical works of the mid-Seventies to the stadium-rock phase of their maturity. The complex story of one of the most influential bands in the history of popular music