Face to Face (The Kinks album)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Face to Face
Studio album by The Kinks

Publication
(s)

October 28, 1966

Label (s) Pye Records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

14th

running time

38 min 31 s

occupation
  • Bass : Peter Quaife, John Dalton

production

Shel Talmy

chronology
The Kink Controversy
(1965) 		Face to Face Something Else by The Kinks
(1967)

Face To Face is the fourth official studio album by the British rock group The Kinks . It was released in England on October 28, 1966.

It was the first Kinks album to contain compositions by Ray Davies only . The melodic songs with their ambitious socially critical lyrics marked a departure from the hard rock and roll of the earlier years, which had made the band internationally known, and cemented the reputation of Ray Davies as one of the best English composers of the time. The new way of writing had already been announced last year with titles such as Where Have All the Good Times Gone and A Well Respected Man .

While the first three long-playing records of the Kinks were recorded within a few weeks, the production of the new release extended over several months (October 1965 to June 1966). It was a troubled time for the band with personal quarrels (bassist Pete Quaife wanted to leave the band and was temporarily represented by John Dalton, who replaced him after Pete Quaife finally left in 1969), disputes in particular between the brothers Dave and Ray Davies and a nervous breakdown from the latter. Since Ray Davies had numerous differences with the record company Pye Records, the release was delayed again for several months after the album was finished.

Some critics regard Face To Face as the first concept album of rock and roll: The songs are not about love and passion, but about the fears, needs and dreams of the British middle class. Subjects that Ray Davies continued to focus on in the years that followed. In the lyrics full of irony and ridicule, but also sensitive and melancholy, Ray Davies describes, among other things, the needs of parents with their rebellious daughter ( Rosie Won't You Please Come Home , meaning his sister of the same name) or the self-centeredness and hypocrisy of the established bourgeoisie ( A House in the Country , the later of the Pretty Things gecovert was). The piece Session One was Nicky Hopkins dedicated who operated the harpsichord here. Too Much On My Mind was used in the 1977 Wim Wenders film The American Friend .

Originally Ray Davies wanted to combine the individual pieces with sound effects, but this failed because of the resistance of the record company. Fragments of this idea can still be seen in individual titles such as Party Line, Holiday in Waikiki or Rainy Day in June . In addition to the Beatles with their piece Yellow Submarine (from the album Revolver ) and the Beach Boys with Caroline, No (from the album Pet Sounds ), the Kinks contributed in 1966 to popularizing the use of sound effects in rock music.

The album contains two number 1 hits: Sunny Afternoon in England and Dandy in Germany. With their version of the latter title the English band Herman's Hermits had already had a No. 3 hit, which is why the Kinks version was not released as a single in England. The album itself reached number 12 in the British and German album charts, but only number 136 on the American chart list. Once again, the fact emerged that the band should only ever have great success with individual titles, but that their albums, which were regularly positively rated by critics, never reached the mass market.

The psychedelic cover , which found hardly any equivalent in the music on the album, was enforced by the record company against the will of Ray Davies.

The album Face To Face launched a series of highly acclaimed studio releases of the band, a phase that only in 1971 with the album Muswell Hillbillies should end. Many fans and critics often refer to this period as the "Golden Age of Kinks".

Track list

page 1
  1. Party Line - 2:35
  2. Rosie Won't You Please Come Home - 2:34
  3. Dandy - 2:12
  4. Too Much on My Mind - 2:28
  5. Session Man - 2:14
  6. Rainy Day in June - 3:10
  7. A House in the Country - 3:03
Page 2
  2. Holiday in Waikiki - 2:52
  3. Most Exclusive Residence for Sale - 2:48
  4. Fancy - 2:30
  5. Little Miss Queen of Darkness - 3:16
  6. You're Lookin 'Fine - 2:46
  7. Sunny Afternoon - 3:36
  8. I'll Remember - 2:27