Face to Face (The Kinks album)

Face to Face is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released in October 1966. The album marked a shift from the hard-driving style of beat music that had catapulted the group to international acclaim in 1964. It is their first album consisting entirely of Ray Davies compositions, and has also been regarded by critics as rock's first concept album. The album was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[2]

Face to Face
Studio album by
the Kinks
Released28 October 1966 (UK)
7 December 1966 (US)
Recorded23 October 1965 – 21 June 1966
StudioPye Studios, London
Genre
Length38:32[1]
Label
ProducerShel Talmy
The Kinks chronology
The Kink Kontroversy
(1965)		 Face to Face
(1966)		 Something Else by The Kinks
(1967)
Singles from Face to Face
  1. "Sunny Afternoon" / "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"
    Released: 3 June 1966
  2. "Dandy" / "Party Line"
    Released: 18 November 1966

Background

Ray Davies suffered a nervous breakdown just prior to the major recording sessions for the album.[3] In contrast to the band's earlier "raunchy" sound, he had started to introduce a new, softer style of writing the previous year with compositions such as "A Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion". In July 1966, the single "Sunny Afternoon", also written in that style, reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart, and the song's popularity proved to Davies and the Kinks' managers that the group could find success with this style of songwriting. The new album would follow this pattern, as would the group's recorded output for the next five years.[4] The 1966–71 period inaugurated by this album would later be called Davies' and the Kinks' "golden age".[5]

Rock historians have credited the album as arguably one of the first rock/pop concept albums, with the loose common theme of social observation.[1][6] In the album's original conception Ray Davies attempted to bridge the songs together with sound effects, but he was forced by Pye Records to revert to the more standard album format before the album's release. Some effects remain, such as in "Party Line", "Holiday in Waikiki", "Rainy Day in June" and in songs not included on the final album ("End of the Season", "Big Black Smoke").[7]

Recording and production

"I'll Remember" was the earliest track on the album, having been recorded in October 1965 during sessions for The Kink Kontroversy. Two other songs recorded during the Face to Face sessions – "This Is Where I Belong" and "She's Got Everything" – were eventually released as B-sides to singles released in 1967 and 1968, respectively. Both songs eventually appeared on the 1972 US compilation album The Kink Kronikles.[8] Pete Quaife temporarily quit the band before the June–July 1966 recording sessions; his replacement John Dalton can only be confirmed as playing on the track "Little Miss Queen of Darkness".[3] Contractual issues held up the release of the album for several months after recording was completed; Ray Davies was also in conflict with Pye over the final album cover art, whose psychedelic theme he later felt was inappropriate.[9]

Two songs on Face to Face, although written by Ray Davies, were originally recorded and released by other British bands in the months prior to the release of this album. The Pretty Things had a minor UK hit in July 1966 with "A House in the Country", which peaked at No. 50; their final entry on the UK Singles Chart. Herman's Hermits, meanwhile, took their version of "Dandy" top ten in several countries (including No. 5 in the US and No. 1 in Canada), beginning in September 1966.[10][11] The Rockin' Vickers also recorded a version of "Dandy" which they released as a single in December 1966 in both the UK and the US. Despite what the sleeve notes say on The Rockin' Vickers The Complete, the song "Little Rosy" was not written by Ray Davies (Music: Herbie Armstrong; Lyrics: Paul Murphy).[12]

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]
MusicHound[15]

The album was released in a particularly tumultuous year for the band, with personnel problems (Pete Quaife was injured; he resigned and later rejoined the band), legal and contractual battles and an ongoing hectic touring schedule. The album was critically well received, but did not sell particularly well at the time of its release (especially in the United States), and was out of print for many years.[16] Reissues since 1998 have included bonus tracks of songs released contemporaneously as singles (most notably "Dead End Street") as well as two unreleased tracks.[17]

Unreleased songs

"Mr. Reporter" was recorded in 1969 for Dave Davies' aborted solo album, and was released as a bonus track on the 1998 Castle CD reissue of Face to Face. An earlier version featuring Ray Davies on lead vocals was recorded in February 1966 and was apparently intended for this album or an unissued EP. The scathing track satirizes the pop press, and was probably shelved to prevent offending music journalists who had been crucial to the Kinks' commercial success. Other unreleased songs from the Face to Face sessions reportedly include "Fallen Idol", about the rise and fall of a pop star, "Everybody Wants to Be a Personality", about celebrities, "Lilacs and Daffodils" (also known as "Sir Jasper"), which is reportedly about a schoolteacher (and is the only Kinks track with vocals by Mick Avory) and "A Girl Who Goes to Discotheques". It is unclear whether any of the unreleased tracks will ever be released officially. Dave Davies indicated they were never satisfactorily completed for release, and some were later reworked into different songs such as "Yes Man", another song from these sessions, which was an early version of "Plastic Man".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Ray Davies (Dave Davies claims to have written "Party Line" in his autobiography Kink). On one of the earliest covers of the album (CVPV 76032.30), the song is credited R. Davies – D. Davies.[1]

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Party Line"2:35
2."Rosy 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
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Holiday in Waikiki"2:52
2."Most Exclusive Residence for Sale"2:48
3."Fancy"2:30
4."Little Miss Queen of Darkness"3:16
5."You're Lookin' Fine"2:46
6."Sunny Afternoon"3:36
7."I'll Remember"2:27
Note: The original UK CD release of the album reversed the two sides.
1998 and 2004 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
15."I'm Not Like Everybody Else"3:29
16."Dead End Street"3:23
17."Big Black Smoke"2:36
18."Mister Pleasant"3:01
19."This Is Where I Belong"2:26
20."Mr. Reporter" (previously unreleased)3:58
21."Little Women" (previously unreleased)2:11
2011 Sanctuary Records deluxe edition Disc 1 (mono) bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
15."Dead End Street"3:24
16."Big Black Smoke"2:35
17."This Is Where I Belong"2:27
18."She's Got Everything"3:11
19."Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (alternative take)3:22
20."Dead End Street" (early acetate version)2:56
2011 Sanctuary Records deluxe edition Disc 2 (stereo) bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
15."This Is Where I Belong"2:46
16."Big Black Smoke"2:51
17."She's Got Everything"3:10
18."You're Looking Fine" (alternative stereo mix)2:53
19."Sunny Afternoon" (alternative stereo mix, no fade-out)3:49
20."Fancy" (alternative stereo mix, fade-out extended)2:57
21."Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (alternative stereo mix)3:22
22."Dandy" (alternative stereo mix)2:15

B-sides
Song Single Writer
"I'm Not Like Everybody Else" "Sunny Afternoon" Ray Davies

Personnel
The Kinks
Additional musicians

Chart performance
YearBillboardCash BoxRecord World
1966135[18]57[18]47[18]
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gollark: Deal better || bees.
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gollark: The actual car side is basically just burning the hydrogen as normal.
gollark: Everyone loves VRRRRRRR noises.

See also
  • British invasion
  • British rock
  • Music Hall
  • Satire
  • Swinging London

Footnotes
  1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (28 October 1966). "Face to Face – The Kinks, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved 16 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Schaffner 1982, p. 100.
  4. Miller 2003, p. 4.
  5. Heller, Jason (14 February 2008). "Primer: The Kinks". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  6. Scott Schinder; Andy Schwartz (1 October 2007). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever. ABC-CLIO. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-313-33845-8.
  7. Miller 2003, p. 9.
  8. Miller 2003, p. 104.
  9. Tony Dunsbee (1 March 2015). Gathered from Coincidence: A Singular History of Sixties' Pop. M-Y Books Ltd. p. 452. ISBN 978-1-909908-33-8.
  10. Schaffner 1982, p. 288.
  11. Stan Hawkins (2009). The British Pop Dandy: Masculinity, Popular Music and Culture. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-7546-5858-0.
  12. Tim Neely (28 June 2007). Goldmine Price Guide to 45 RPM Records. Krause Publications. p. 582. ISBN 978-0-89689-461-7.
  13. "The Kinks Face to Face". Acclaimed Music. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  14. "The Kinks: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. Brock Helander (1982). The Rock Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary and Critical Discography Including Rhythm-And-Blues, Soul, Rockabilly, Folk, Country, Easy Listening, Punk, and New Wave. Schirmer/Mosel Verlag GmbH. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-02-871250-5.
  17. Nathan Brackett; Christian David Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
  18. Emlen, Dave. "International Chart Positions". Kindakinks.net. Retrieved 1 December 2009.

References
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