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Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, Part One
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Price: $6.84
Price subject to change!
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075992745529
Label: Reprise / Wea
Manufacturer: Reprise / Wea
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Reprise / Wea
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Studio: Reprise / Wea
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Reconsidered Almost 40 Years Later
Comment: It was great to hear three songs from this album in the recent Wes Anderson movie, "Darjheeling Limited." The three songs ("This Time Tomorrow," Strangers," and "Powerman") sounded fabulous in the theatre and complemented the movie well. A couple of strange things, though. These songs were originally written as part of a concept album savaging the Music Biz. Anderson's movie had nothing to do with that subject, yet the songs neatly emphasized the movie's feel for spiritual awakening. The one song from the album that would have fit the movie best, "Still a Long Way from Home," wasn't even used in the film, though it's theme of brotherly contemplation and reconciliation would have fit the movie perfectly. What is really striking is that these three songs are among the least well-known on the album. "Lola," Apeman," and "Get Back in the Line" are all Kinks classics. "Moneygoround" was also a favorite of mine. "Top of the Pops" is very clever. So how good is this album? It's pretty amazing, actually.
One of the fun things about the Kinks around this time is that there is no continuity, musically, between their albums at all (just the voices, which are as familiar as a good friend's). Village Green sounds nothing like Arthur, which sounds nothing like Lola, which sounds nothing like Muswell Hillbillies. Part of this is changes in musical personnel. Village Green was the last Kinks album with Pete Quaife and the first in awhile not to feature Nicky Hopkins on keyboards. Ray's thumpy piano and mellotron stand out with a new, more urgent drumming from Mick Avory. Quaife's bass is strong as ever, though Dave's guitar is somewhat muted. Arthur is John Dalton's first album on bass, and he takes a backseat to my ears. Avory steps up even more (listen to the drumming on "Shangri La!"), and Dave's guitar shows signs of life. The mellotron is replaced by a strong brass section. With Lola, Dave's guitar is back full force, Avory's drumming hits its apex, and the crucial addition of John Gosling on keyboards integrates with the music better than any of his predecessors. This is an updated Kink's sound where they reap what they sowed when they invented power chords six years earlier. Their return to touring in the US with Arthur also obviously influenced their new hard sound. Of course, they chucked the whole thing for a country/blues/dixie sound in Muswell Hillbillies, but that's another story.
Lola was the Kinks most successful single and album in years, but it was met with mixed reviews, mostly because the concept of striking back at the Music Business seemed too bitter and shallow. I think this assessment needs to be reconsidered. The songs, individually, hold up outside of the confines of the concept, as "Darheeling Limited" proved. Another French movie also recently used "This Time Tomorrow" to tremendous effect in a dance scene that transformed the meaning of the song from a band touring to our common journey through life.
Individually, these songs serve up an honest assessment of Ray Davies' life at the time of its writing. He was emerging from legal hassles, personal struggles, and band personnel changes, and he served it up for us to share - he was determined to be free. Dave's two enigmatic songs stand to the side but also strangely fit the theme. "Strangers" was utterly unforgettable once heard as the background to the funeral scene in "Dharjeeling Limited."
The songs on this album still sound great. All in all, almost 40 years later, I think it is the Kinks' most successful album, from beginning to end. Rather than a bitter concept album, I think it is more a chronicle of life's journeys and all of the strange turns life can take, perhaps the strangest being becoming a rock and roll God and having it turn into a steady job.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Top 5 Albums in the history of rock
Comment: I will simply say that this is one of the best albums of all time. As for songwriting ability this album is why Ray Davies is my favorite songwriter along with Bob Dylan. I have owned this album for so many years (now the cd). "Lola" is why, I think at least, the Kinks are perhaps the most underappreciated band of all time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Along with Who's Next, Best Album ever made
Comment: The Kinks "1965-1970" period is, in my opinion, matched only by the Stones 4 album stretch encompassing Let It Bleed through Exile On Main Street. And this specific album is matched only by Who's Next - there isn't a weak track on the entire album and brother Dave kicks in two stellar tracks with Strangers and Rats. Ray Davies is without peer when it comes to seeing the world as it really is and translating all of that grasping conceit into music. He takes the throwaway, the mundane, and skewers it without mercy. The world would be a far drearier place without him. Do yourself a favor, if you've never listened to the earlier Kinks, get this disc, give it repeated listenings, and you will love it, its that simple.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Kinks At their Best
Comment: Raymond Douglas Davies Is the most gifted singer / songwriters in the history of the planet. If you're not a KINKS fan(what's wrong with you?) then press GO .My Lord what a influence on my world. Village Green Preservation Society is my favorite though.Ray Davies Story Teller, a solo albuw Is A must Hear. God what a storyrteller it's a AAA+ GOD SAVE THE KINKS !! Just in case you're interested, NRBQ is awesome as well
Dave
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Kinks Klassic
Comment: These many years later, as I play "Apeman" in my pick-up band, I read review after review in "Critic" books that lavish praise (as I do) on the previous four Kinks LPs and trash this one. What gives? This is a great album, people!
'Lola vs Powerman and the Moneygoround Part One' is about the music business, and as such is a departure from the previous four, but it works as a concept album and shows the resurgance of Dave Davies as a songwriter in the band. The fact that it was a return to commercial success should not diminish the artistic triumphs on this disc, and these are many besides the catchy, classic rock icon "Lola", which might not be the fourth best song on the album. The 14 tracks include what might be the best guitar-rock song recorded by the Kinks, ever (including their primal, power chord early singles): "Powerman"-a song that incorporates a lyrical message about music company heavies with shifting time signatures, pounding drums, and layers of serious guitars. "Top of the Pops", which uses overdriven guitars with familiar riffs to tell the story that might be the Kinks's own ("You Really Got Me", for instance). The last song on the album is often a filler tune, but not on this disc, "Got To be Free" starts quiet and buids to a crescendo with new keyboardist John Gosling much in evidence, "Apeman" is a satire about modern society and environmental concerns, years ahead of its time. There are two strong contributions from brother Dave, "Strangers", and the hard-rocking "Rats", which like many of the tunes spares no blows for the men in suits. There are no throw aways on this LP, and while "The Contenders", "Get Back in Line" and "The Moneygoround" are about the concept they stand up as tunes, and "This Time Tomorrow" is, as I write this, being used (with "Strangers") in a movie trailer on television for a recent film being released on video-38 years after the release of the album. 'Lola vs Powerman' is front to back, another triumph for the band and one of the last of their Klassic period. A must have.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The Kinks' 1970 effort was the penultimate creation in a five-year, six-album burst that ranks just a notch below the great sustained rock & roll eruptions of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Stones, and Elvis Costello. Of course, the linchpin to this collection is "Lola," Ray Davies's irresistibly vivid account of the charms of a seductive transvestite. Its daring (for the time) subject matter aside, "Lola" stands as one of the great singles of all time. Add to the list the almost as infectious "Apeman," a slew of funny, shrewd, alienated-rock-star screeds ("Top of the Tops," "The Moneyground," "Powerman"), and a couple of memorable contributions from Ray's brother, Dave ("Strangers," "Rats"), and you have the Kinks at their raucous, righteous, quirky quintessence. --Steven Stolder
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