The KINKS – ” Sleepwalker ” Black Friday Record Store Day Reissue

Posted: November 28, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: Arista Records, Ray Davies, Sleepwalker, The Kinks

The Kinks, ‘Sleepwalker’ Reissue for Record Store Day Black Friday Limited 180 Gram LP in White & Black Swirl in a Gatefold Sleeve, also comes with a 12×12″ poster of the album artwork!

The Kinks‘ back-to-basics 1977 album gets the gatefold-sleeve treatment for the first time in honor of Record Store Day. The record itself features a black-and-white swirled design. The Kinks get back to basics in this debut LP for Arista Reords, and the result is one of the most accessible LPs, both thematically and musically that they have come up with in years. This is not a concept album, although some of the songs have a similar restless night theme. Nor is the LP as cynical and pessimistic as some of the Kinks‘ earlier efforts. In fact, it’s almost optimistic. And the Kinks, as a band, have rarely sounded better.

Sleepwalker was the first Kinks‘ album since Lola that’s unencumbered by either a horn section or female vocal chorus it is a clear-cut triumph both for Davies and the band. A few of these songs smack of the self-righteousness that’s hindered Davies‘ writing; but the beautiful “Stormy Sky,” in which clouds become a symbol for romantic conflict, and “Full Moon,” a scary tune about madness and loss of self-recognition, are among his best efforts. The recurrent themes are fear, depression and failed utopianism; in “Life Goes On,” we are warned that “life’ll hit you when you least expect it.” Yet in the end, there always remains a faint glimmer of hope: “Take that frown off your head/’cause you’re a long time dead.” “Juke Box Music,” which seems strangely set apart from the rest, is the best song here, a rocker about a woman whose entire life is spent living inside the story lines of her favorite records. It should be a pathetic song, yet Davies has us tapping our feet, singing along.

The Kinks‘ playing on Sleepwalker is easily their most powerful since Lola. Dave Davies’ aggressive guitar work is pushed into the forefront, and the intensity of his lead work seems to rouse the entire group. One is continually reminded just what a fine and forceful band the Kinks can be as those ethereal falsetto backing vocals, so long dormant,

Ray Davies’ temporary abandonment of theatrical concepts may have ruined his show, but it’s freed him to write individually inspired songs again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHTPz1vtwBo

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