It didn’t matter that Ray Davies just had his first hit in years—he had suffered greatly at the hands of the music industry and he wanted to tell the story in song. Hence, Lola—a loose concept album about Ray Davies’ own psychosis and bitter feelings toward the music industry. Davies never really delivers a cohesive story, but the record holds together because it’s one of his strongest set of songs. Dave Davies contributes the lovely “Strangers” and the appropriately paranoid “Rats,” but this is truly Ray’s show, as he lashes out at ex-managers (the boisterous vaudevillian “The Moneygoround”), publishers (“Denmark Street”), TV and music journalists (the hard-hitting “Top of the Pops”), label executives (“Powerman”), and, hell, just society in general (“Apeman,” “Got to Be Free”). If his wit wasn’t sharp, the entire project would be insufferable, but the album is as funny as it is angry. Furthermore, he balances his bile with three of his best melancholy ballads: “This Time Tomorrow,” “A Long Way from Home,” and the anti-welfare and union “Get Back in Line,” which captures working-class angst better than any other rock song. These songs provide the spine for a wildly unfocused but nonetheless dazzling tour de force that reveals Ray’s artistic strengths and endearing character flaws in equal measure.
[The 50th anniversary edition of Lola vs Powerman is expanded by three discs filled with rarities that span the decades. The Kinks needed to cast a wide net for this 2020 reissue since Lola received a healthy double-disc expansion in 2014, one that unearthed the outtakes “Anytime” and “The Good Life,” which are both here in new mixes. “Anytime” also seeds the newly created “The Follower—Any Time 2020,” where new spoken word elements are interwoven with the original track. There’s a lot of this kind of thing on this 50th Anniversary Edition, including several “Ray’s Kitchen Sink” tracks, which contain Ray Davies and his brother Dave discussing the album’s songs while music plays in the background. A bunch of mono mixes and alternate takes, most previously reissued, are here along with an “Apeman” from Unplugged, selections from the Ray-starring production The Long Distance Piano Player, Ray singing “Lola” with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, and a version of “A Long Way from Home” from Ray’s 2006 Austin City Limits. Some of this is strange, much of it is good, and all the worthwhile cuts were on the 2014 set, so this is for the hardcore Kinks fan, the one who appreciates the oddities of the bonus material instead of cursing the absence of unheard music (which likely does not exist).]
- Ray Davies: guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
- Dave Davies: guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
- John Dalton: bass, backing vocals
- Mick Avory – drums
- John Gosling: keyboards
ONE: ORIGINAL ALBUM (STEREO), 2020 REMASTER (01:00:58)
01. The Contenders 02:44
02. Strangers (David Russell Gordon Davies) 03:21
03. Denmark Street 02:03
04. Get Back in Line 03:06
05. Lola 04:02
06. Top of the Pops 03:40
07. The Moneygoround 01:49
08. This Time Tomorrow 03:24
09. A Long Way from Home 02:28
10. Rats (David Russell Gordon Davies) 02:41
11. Apeman 03:54
12. Powerman 04:17
13. Got to be Free 03:06
ALTERNATE VERSIONS
14. Lola [mono single mix] 04:05
15. Apeman [UK mono single mix] 03:53
16. Rats [mono single mix] (David Russell Gordon Davies) 02:41
17. Powerman [mono mix] 04:25
18. Apeman [alternate version, stereo] 03:41
19. The Moneygoround [alternate version, mono] 01:39
All songs written by Raymond Douglas Davies unless indicated otherwise.
DISC TWO: ALTERNATE VERSIONS / NEW MEDLEYS & MIXES / DEMOS / FILM SOUNDTRACK (00:57:15)
01. This Time Tomorrow [alternate take, 2020 mix] 03:10
02. Top of the Pops [2020 mix] 03:23
03. Lola/Radio Spot, Edit [Ray’s kitchen sink] 06:57
04. Got to Be Free [Ray’s kitchen sink] 02:01
05. The Contenders [Ray’s kitchen sink] 02:00
06. The Good Life [2020 mix] 03:22
07. Apeman [unplugged live version] 04:08
08. Get Back in Line [live version] 03:56
09. Marathon [edit, from The Long Distance Piano Player] 01:28
10. Got to Be Free [edit, from The Long Distance Piano Player] 01:55
11. Lola [R. Davies, Band + The Danish National Chamber Orchestra & The Danish National Vocal Ensemble] 04:49
12. The Good Life [2012 alternate mix] 03:14
13. Apeman [US mono single mix] 03:53
14. Moments [2020 mix] 02:54
15. This Time Tomorrow & Cassette Demos Medley [Ray’s kitchen sink] 10:07
All songs written by Raymond Douglas Davies
DISC THREE: ALTERNATE VERSIONS / NEW MEDLEYS & MIXES / DEMOS / LIVE (00:50:41)
01. Get Back in Line [Ray’s kitchen sink] 02:20
02. Rats [Ray’s kitchen sink] (David Russell Gordon Davies) 01:46
03. Rats [2020 mix] (David Russell Gordon Davies) 02:53
04. Powerman [Ray’s kitchen sink] 02:48
05. Powerman [2020 mix] 04:16
06. The Contenders [instrumental demo] 02:45
07. Anytime 03:32
08. A Long Way from Home [Ray’s kitchen sink] 03:01
09. A Long Way from Home [live, Austin City Limits, 2006] 02:55
10. Strangers [Ray’s kitchen sink] (David Russell Gordon Davies) 02:22
11. Strangers [2020 stereo mix] (David Russell Gordon Davies) 03:15
12. The Way Love Used to Be [2020 monitor mix] 02:23
13. Apeman [Morgan Studios run-through] 04:03
14. Radio Spot/Live, Queens College, Flushin, NY, 1971 06:46
15. The Follower - Anytime 2020 [feat. Anytime by The Kinks] 05:35
All songs written by Raymond Douglas Davies unless indicated otherwise.
