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Mister Pleasant
"Mister Pleasant" (sometimes written as "Mr. Pleasant") is a song recorded by British rock group the Kinks in 1967, written by Ray Davies. Background "Mister Pleasant" is lyrically somewhat similar to the earlier track " A Well Respected Man", as it satirises the heedless complacency of a ''nouveau riche'' who, for all his newfound worldly success, is but a foolish cuckold. Musically, the song has strong English Music Hall influences and a "trad jazz" backing that features a trombone and ragtime-style piano (played by Nicky Hopkins). ''Billboard'' described the single as "clever novelty material penned by Ray Davies with an easy dance beat in strong support." Chart performance It was released as the A-side of a single in the USA and mainland Europe but not in the UK. It was released in the UK six months later as the B-side of "Autumn Almanac". The song is now available as a bonus track with the group's album '' Face to Face'', and an alternate version was also released as a bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their The Kinks' 1965 US tour#Ban, touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. The Kinks' music drew from a wide range of influences, including Rhythm and blues, American R&B and rock and roll initially, and later adopting British music hall, Folk music, folk, and country music, country. The band gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' observational and satirical lyricism, and made apparent in albums such as ''Face to Face (The Kinks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trad Jazz
Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain that flourished from the 1930s to 1960s, based on the earlier New Orleans Dixieland jazz style. Prominent English trad jazz musicians such as Chris Barber, Freddy Randall, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine performed a populist repertoire that also included jazz versions of pop songs and nursery rhymes. Beginnings of revival A Dixieland revival began in the United States on the West Coast in the late 1930s as a backlash to the Chicago style, which was close to swing. Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, and trombonist Turk Murphy, adopted the repertoire of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and W. C. Handy: bands included banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections. A New Orleans–based traditional revival began with the later recordings of Jelly-Roll Morton and the rediscovery of Bunk Johnson in 1942. This revival ultimately led to the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Sisters (The Kinks Song)
"Two Sisters" is the third track from the Kinks' 1967 album, '' Something Else by the Kinks''. The song was written by Ray Davies. Lyrics In "Two Sisters", the singer compares sisters Sybilla and Percilla. Sybilla is a swinging, single "wayward lass", while Percilla is a married housewife. Percilla is tired of facing "the drudgery of being wed", with her being said to be "so jealous of her sister." The singer compares how "Sybilla looked into her mirror; Percilla looked into the washing machine" and how "Sybilla looked into the wardrobe; Percilla looked into the frying pan." Percilla then "threw away her dirty dishes just to be free again nd threw awayher women's weekly magazines just to be free again and put the children in the nursery just to be free again." However, upon seeing her children, she "decided she was better off" than her wild sister. She's "no longer jealous of her sister." The two characters in the lyrics of "Two Sisters" (Sybilla and Percilla) were inspired by R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
''The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'' is the sixth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Kinks. Released on 22November 1968, ''Village Green'' was a modest seller, but it was lauded by contemporary critics for its songwriting and has subsequently been regarded by commentators as an early concept album. The album was the band's first which failed to chart in either the United Kingdom or United States, and its embrace by America's new Underground press#North America, underground rock press completed the Kinks' transformation from mid-1960s pop music, pop hitmakers to critically favoured cult following, cult band. Ray Davies, the Kinks' frontman, loosely conceptualised the album as a collection of character studies, an idea he based on Dylan Thomas's 1954 radio drama ''Under Milk Wood''. Centring on themes of nostalgia, memory and preservation, the album reflects Davies's concerns about the increasing modernisation and encroaching Americanizatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Village Green (song)
"Village Green" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks from their 1968 album ''The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society''. Written and sung by the band's principal songwriter, Ray Davies, the song was first recorded in November1966 during the sessions for '' Something Else by the Kinks'' (1967) but was re-recorded in . Both the composition and instrumentation of "Village Green" evoke Baroque music, especially its prominently featured harpsichord played by the session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. Unlike most of the band's recordings, it employs real orchestral instruments, including oboe, cello, viola and piccolo, as arranged by the English composer David Whitaker. Davies composed "Village Green" in after an experience at a pub in Devon, a rural part of England. The song laments the decline of a fictional English community's traditional village green. Retrospective commentators place the song in the tradition of English pastoral poetry, particularly its themes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kink Kronikles
''The Kink Kronikles'' is a compilation double album by the Kinks, released on Reprise Records in 1972, after the band had signed with RCA Records in 1971. It contains thirteen non-album singles, fourteen tracks taken from five albums released by the band from 1966 to 1971 (including the UK-only '' Percy''), and one track previously unreleased. Designed specifically for the American market, it peaked at No. 94 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The single versions and mixes were not necessarily used for each track. Content After the Kinks failed to renew their American distribution contract with Reprise, the label assembled this compilation without input from the band. Instead, Reprise invited rock journalist and noted Kinks fan John Mendelsohn to compile this package, ignoring the band's early trademark hits already appearing on '' The Kinks Greatest Hits!''. Mendelsohn also contributed the liner notes. The album contains all five singles that charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), online streaming, and radio airplay in the U.S. A new chart is compiled and released online to the public by ''Billboard''s website on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday, when the printed magazine first reaches newsstands. The weekly tracking period for sales is currently Friday–Thursday, after being changed in July 2015. It was initially Monday–Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay is readily available on a real-time basis, unlike sales figures and streaming, but is also tracked on the same Friday–Thursday cycle, effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021. Previously, radio was tracked Monday–Sunday and, before Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
See My Friends
"See My Friends" (sometimes titled "See My Friend") is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by the group's singer and guitarist, Ray Davies. Released in July 1965, it reached number 10 on the ''Record Retailer'' chart. The song incorporates a drone-effect played on guitar, evoking a sound reminiscent of the Indian tambura. "See My Friends" is one of the key early works in the style known as raga rock. Music historian Jonathan Bellman sees it as the first Western rock song to integrate Indian raga sounds, citing its release four months ahead of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", which includes a sitar part. However, Davies biographer Johnny Rogan comments that a preceding single release (" Heart Full of Soul" by the Yardbirds) was "pre-empting Davies's innovative use of Indian music". Background and inspiration In his interviews at the time of the song's release, Ray Davies told journalists Maureen Cleave and Keith Altham that "See My Friends" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Face To Face (The Kinks Album)
''Face to Face'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks, released on 28 October 1966. The album marked a shift from the hard-driving style of beat music that had catapulted the group to international acclaim in 1964, instead drawing heavily from baroque pop and music hall. It is their first album consisting entirely of songs composed by members of the Kinks, and has also been regarded by critics as one of rock's first concept albums. Davies' blossoming songwriting style became increasingly observational and satirical, commenting on English culture, social class and the music industry. Despite containing the hit single, "Sunny Afternoon", the album's initial reception was lukewarm in both the UK and US compared to the Kinks' previous LPs, charting at No. 12 and No. 135, respectively. ''Face to Face'' eventually earned retrospective critical acclaim, recognized as a pivotal record of the psychedelic era and an important milestone in the Kinks' evolu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized in letter case, lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the music industry. Its Billboard charts, music charts include the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100, the Billboard 200, 200, and the Billboard Global 200, Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in various music genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm and operates several television shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorded by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, the Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, Rod Stewart, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Hollies, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Jerry Garcia, Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel, Badfinger, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Donovan. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest studio pianists in the history of popular rock music. In 2025, Hopkins was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence Award category. Early life Nicholas Christian Hopkins was born in Perivale, Middlesex, England, on 24 February 1944. He began playing the piano at the age of three. He attended S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
