The Singles Collection/Waterloo Sunset

Release info:

Produced by: Ray Davies, Shel Talmy
Release date: 29 Sep, 1997
Record label & catalog #: Essential (Castle) ESSCD 592 (GAF 40 592 EFF)
Country: UK
Format: 2 CD set
Release type: Compilation

Tracks:

Disc 1: The Singles Collection
1. Long Tall Sally   mono mix (2:10), recorded probably 17 Jan, 1964 at Pye Studios (No .1), London
2. You Still Want Me   mono mix (1:58), recorded probably 17 Jan, 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 1), London
3. You Really Got Me   mono mix (2:13), recorded mid-Jul 1964 at IBC Studios, London
4. All Day And All Of The Night   mono mix (2:20), recorded 24 Sep, 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
5. Tired Of Waiting For You   mono mix (2:30), recorded 17, 18, 24, 25 Aug 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London, with additional guitar overdub at IBC Studios, London in 29 Dec 1964
6. Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy   mono mix (2:14), recorded 22 Dec, 1964 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
7. Set Me Free   mono mix (2:10), recorded 14 Apr, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 1), London
8. See My Friends   mono mix (2:44), recorded 3 May, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 1), London
9. Till The End Of The Day   mono mix (2:18), recorded 25-30 Oct, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
10. Where Have All The Good Times Gone   mono mix (2:48), recorded 25-30 Oct, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
11. Dedicated Follower Of Fashion   mono mix (2:59), recorded 7 Feb, 1966 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
12. A Well Respected Man   mono mix (2:38), recorded probably 6 Aug, 1965 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
13. Sunny Afternoon   mono mix (3:31), recorded 13 May, 1966 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
14. Dead End Street   mono mix (3:20), recorded probably 22 Oct, 1966 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
15. Waterloo Sunset   mono mix (3:14), recorded Apr 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
16. Death Of A Clown   mono mix (3:01), recorded Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
17. Autumn Almanac   mono mix (3:10), recorded Sep 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
18. David Watts   stereo mix (2:37), recorded probably May-Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
19. Susannah's Still Alive   mono mix (2:21), recorded probably Aug 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
20. Wonderboy   mono mix (2:48), recorded Mar 1968 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
21. Days   mono mix (2:52), recorded May 1968 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
22. Plastic Man   mono mix (3:00), recorded Mar 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
23. Victoria   stereo mix (3:38), recorded May-Jun 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
24. Lola   stereo "Coca Cola" mix (3:58), recorded 9, 10 May 1970 at Morgan Studios (1), Willesden, London
25. Apeman   stereo mix (3:51), recorded 27 Oct 1970 at Morgan Studios (1), Willesden, London
   
Disc 2: The Songs of Ray Davies: Waterloo Sunset
1. The Shirt   stereo mix, recorded (unknown date) at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
2. A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy   live, stereo mix, recorded mid-1990s at unknown venue
3. Mr. Pleasant   mono mix (3:00), recorded Mar 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
4. Celluloid Heroes   live, stereo mix (7:21), recorded 11 Nov, 1979 at Volkshaus, Zürich, Switzerland
5. Voices In The Dark   1997 stereo mix, recorded Apr 1985 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
6. Holiday Romance   stereo mix, recorded Sep 1974 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
7. Art Lover   stereo mix, alternate take, recorded May-Jun 1981 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
8. Still Searching   stereo mix, recorded late 1990 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
9. Return to Waterloo   stereo mix, demo version, recorded 1985? at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
10. Afternoon Tea   stereo mix (3:23), recorded May-Jun 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
11. The Million-Pound-Semi-Detached   stereo mix, recorded spring 1989 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
12. My Diary   stereo mix, recorded (unknown date) at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London
13. Drivin'   stereo mix (3:18), recorded May 1969 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
14. Waterloo Sunset   stereo mix (3:17), recorded Apr 1967 at Pye Studios (No. 2), London
15. Scattered   stereo mix (4:13), recorded late 1990 at Konk Studios, Hornsey, London


Liner Notes:

Disc One: Production: Ray Davies
Disc Two: Produced by Ray Davies
Remixes Engineered by Mike Konopka

The songs of Ray Davies Waterloo Sunset

Some of the short stories on which this album is based were written in note form at the time I was writing the lyrics, (These include "Rock and Roll Fantasy", "Scattered", "32 Bar Bridge" and "Celluloid Heroes").

"Million-Pound-Semi" was written around the time of the property boom in 1988 and was later made into a short promotion video but the project never got off the ground.

"Holiday Romance" was simply adapted from the lyrics of the song whereas many incidents that occur in "Still Searching" took place long after the song was written.

"Return To Waterloo" started as a song, then turned into a film script and was shown on channel 4 in 1984. The notes for the short story version were written while I was editing the film (although they are not to be taken as autobiographical as such). The story came about from seeing the actor's face running through the editing machine over and over. Each time, I seemed to see something new in him. I liked the idea that the character might be having the last laugh on us (the audience) by living a life outside the film. The original script had him not speaking. the fantasy would be to cut the movie with his inner story dubbed on, but at the time, the film's backers wanted him to be a sympathetic character. As a result, many of the darker and complex aspects of his character were suppressed.

"Art Lover" and "Afternoon Tea" were adapted from the original songs. The story of "Afternoon Tea" was originally called "The Cake" (I have since written a song called "The Cake" but it would have been too confusing to include it in this collection).

In "Art Lover" the slick haired punk from "Return To Waterloo" is given an extended life as Lucien. All the other connected characters in this story are deliberate.

"Voices In The Dark" - was written for the credit sequence of "Return To Waterloo" but was not included in the film.

The girl's voice singing on "Voices In The Dark" is my daughter Louisa who sang on the rest of the soundtrack.

The demos are an assortment of ideas from the "Come Dancing" period ("Come Dancing" itself started as one of these demos). It worked like this. Mick Avory and Jim Rodford would usually stick around after Dave Davies and keyboard player Ian gibbons left the studio and I would start jamming and then shout out the chords through the headphones. Then I'd sing rough lyrics or snippets of the dialogue as the songs were sometimes incomplete. I'd then take the rhythm track home and dub onto a four track where I would lay the final lyrics. Sometimes the songs had different "Titles or Codes".

For example, "The Shirt" - started life as a long piece called "Reefer Madness". This was when I was ensconced in New York City writing songs for an Arista album. The song was about a guy from Yonkers who went Bonkers on a date with a girl from the East Village. After he'd indulged in a night of recreational drug taking he is wrongly identified as the murderer because of a bloodstain on his second-hand shirt which was ironically already there when he bought it in a thrift shop (at this time, I was actually buying a lot of my stage clothes from a second-hand clothing shop on the upper West side). I suppose "The Shirt" could be called an anti-drug song.

Clive Davis - Head of Arista Records had signed the Kinks as what he described as an "A.O.R. Crossover Act". We'd just left RCA where we'd been recording our Theatre shows - "Preservation" and "Soap Opera" and the Arista move was intended to take us back into the mainstream away from the craziness of these concept shows. I felt that "The Shirt" (or "Reefer Madness") as it was then, would have been a step back to these concept albums.

As for the track itself, I wanted Mick Avory to do a Gene Krupa style jazz drum solo to give the feel of 1940's film Noir and if the track had been taken further, I would have put on horns in the style of Stan Kenton. The song was also a rebellion against some of the M.O.R. songs Clive Davis was trying to get the Kinks to record at the time. The saying "It's cool but don't play it to Clive" was a signal for the studio engineer to lock the tape away in a drawer then throw away the key. Commercial stability was uppermost in our minds but now I think that if we'd had the conviction to actually complete the recording of "The Shirt", Clive would probably have gone for it.

Also, I was preparing to write "Return To Waterloo", which was commissioned by Channel 4 as a long form television play with music and several other extended pieces such as "Cliches Of The World" (B Movie) which was on the "State Of Confusion" album. Aggravation on "UK Jive" and "It" from "The Road" album were started around this time. If "The Shirt" had gone ahead I would have liked to have cast someone like Bill Murray from "Saturday Night Live" as the unfortunate hero. The jazz middle would have suited his cabaret singing style. It reminded me of the 'Mr Wonderful' character I created in the 1970s for the "Everybody's In Showbiz" album. The greatest ass in showbusiness.

However, I must emphasise that the song itself has no bearing relevance to the short story "The Shirt" in the "Waterloo Sunset" stories. That's why the lyrics are not included in the book.

Ray Davies, 1997.


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