On Monday we were in 1964. A Quick Cover Version later and it’s somehow 1981. I spoke at great length already about the feriltily and inspiration lurking in Ray and Dave Davies songbook. If You Really Got Me got one genre up and moshing… Around The Dial while not actually “covered” by what came next was certainly heavily copied from like it was late homework. Namely the guilty culprits were one Paul Westerberg and his buddies Tommy Stinson, Chris Mars and Bob Stinson. Let’s just say if this were a high school assignment, the teacher would want to see The Replacements after class to explain themselves. They don’t feel tardy!*
Around The Dial is from what is (un)commonly known as The Kinks Stadium Rock Period. Personally I’m hearing a lot of PubRock, Punk and New Wave energy in songs like Give The People What They Want (the title track to the 1981 album) and Killer’s Eyes. It’s certainly heavy. It’s certainly very transatlantic and yet still there are those tiny vignettes of English life that hold sway. Try Yo-Yo or Predictable for perfect post 60’s power pop. Nick Lowe, Redbone and Nilsson are all still playing catch up.
This album is my favourite Kinks record because it took me so very much by surprise. After the 80’s college radio template of this track and the big shouty Kiss style chant along of the title track things diversify a great deal.
By the time we get to the heavy meta of Destroyer the art is imitating the artist. As I mentioned in the first post of the week, The Kinks found themselves recycling the You Really Got Me riff. In the stop/start funk trunk there’s some ranting about reds under the bed and paranoia on this The Knack and how to get it type track. There’s even more the self referential referencing as the lyric weaves Lola into the narrative, as you might notice in this theme week what comes around, buys around, We’ll get back to her later.
There is a dark twist towards the end of it all that reminds you this bands monicker is based on unsavoury fringe activities. The Kinks do have a line of smutty kinky songs that usually appear to be a buttoned down top hatted English city gent on the top half and all nylon, ladies suspenders and frillies on the bottom half. They push the boundaries on side 2 of Give The People What They Want. They push too far some might say. The vile lyrics to Art Lover and A Bit Of Abuse come as a 1-2 hit of tasteless tone deaf awfulness that switch the sprawling rock and roll decadence of the opening numbers to queasy cancellable distaste.
Sinister inappropriate creepyness and domestic violence are both treated as a bit of a lark. OK boomers, don’t give me “well, times were different then”. They didn’t have to go there but they did.
These two outlier tracks are probably why the album is not considered a classic by more people. I personally like to think of the album as a few track shy of its’ full running order because there are things on here I can’t stomach to hear. Poor old upbeat Better Things with its jangle pop guitars and honkey tonk piano is isolated away from the rest of the album by this two lane shite river and rarely to be played forever more. *Stage whisper* If only our Guest Reviewer from Monday could do something about that… Anyway…
Around the Dial though? It invented college rock the best part of a decade early.
*Not now Van Halen!
Steve For The Deaf 
Love ya work 🙏🎸
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