University of Virginia Library

MUSIC

Good-Time Music And Lots Of Enthusiasm

By BILL RICHARD

"Lind" is fair.

They write all of their own
music (and most of it's very
tasty). They delve convincingly
into the realm of social
commentary that the Kinks
revived in the mid-sixties. They
accompany themselves with an
aggregation of instruments that
would make The Incredible
String Band take heed. They
play good-time music–music
that's as easy to listen to as it is
to move to. And they're
English (musical myth that has
aided the pop appeal of many a
mediocre British Rock Band
since the early Beatle Days).
With all this going for them
why was Lindisfarne's appeal
negated?

Basically, it was the fact that
their sets were too formatted
and too short. They stayed in
the realm of jugband music
tempered with their
quasi-Scottish influences.
Jugband music, a style
associated with the Spoonful
and Jim Kweskin, is noted for
its looseness of format and use
of solos. Lindisfarne employs 3
instruments that cater to this
format–a banjo, fiddle, and
harmonica–yet they stayed in
their 3 minute AM-like format
which disappointed many a
jugband fancier.

Ray Jackson's only real
harmonica solo relied heavily
on folk standards like "The
Yellow Rose of Texas" and
"Oh, Susanna", and musical
backgrounds like the Old Spice
commercial.

All in all, Lindisfarne ought to
loosen their format a hit and
they'll be able to cook a little
more.

A question overheard after
Lindisfarne left the stage–
"Was that the first group or
was that the Kinks?" This
typified the attitude of most of
the three-quarter filled Hall
before the Kinks appeared.

Ray Davies was even aware of
the attitude when he
mentioned the fact the he had
been asked if they were the
REAL Kinks backstage.

I don't know whether people
actually don't like their stuff
or if they've just never heard it.
Whatever the reason,
somebody's missing
something, because the Kinks
have been making some of the
finest music since this side of
the Stones and Beatles.

The Kinks image is so strange:
a group making it on the fact
that they've never made it. Fay
Davies realized that he had
been putting too much energy
into the production end of the
industry and not enough
energy into establishing the
group as a live performing unit.

This fact has now been
remedied for the fortunates
who showed up for the
concert.

Although Ray Davies'
choreography wasn't as good as
Jagger's, his Freudian
references were so amusing it
made you wonder if Jagger had
not plagiarized his style from
Davies. ". . .the
shoulder bone is connected to
the hip bone, the hip bone is
connected to the..."

John Gosling performed as
keyboardman extraordinaire.
Mick Avory is to the Kinks as
Charlie Watts is to the Stones.
The others who are at least
recognized for their abilities:
John Dalton, bass guitar; Dave
Davies, lead guitar; and of
course Ray on harmonica,
guitar, and vocals–all were
more than magnificent.

With the addition of John
Beecham, Mike Cotton and
Davy Jones (no; not that Davy
Jones) on horns, a certain aura
of the Chicago jazz halls of the
fifties was injected into the
concert.

With all this virtuosity
assembled on stage, the key to
the success of the concert was
most definitely Ray Davies
showmanship. When was the
last concert you've been to
where you thought that the
musicians were really having a
good time?