WHITE LABEL PROMO 1970 ORIG THE KINKS LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN RAY & DAVE DAVIES

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         WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL!

   PLAYS MINTY CLEAN <~~~> 1970 ORIGINAL !!!

  LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN

      And The MoneyGOround

                   The Kinks

Rare ADVANCED RELEASE WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL!

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Original printed Reprise inner sleeve IS included!

The KINKS "Lola" album is a satirical look at the various facets of the music industry, including song publishers, unions, the press, accountants, business managers, and the road ... Lola Versus Powerman was a success both critically and commercially for the group, charting in the Top 40 in America and helping restore them in the public eye, making Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround a "comeback" album. It contained two hit singles: "Lola", which reached the top 10 in the US and UK, and "Apeman", which peaked at number five in the UK...

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround (Part One) (why Part One exactly?) is a step in a different direction for The Kinks. They have moved away from the more peaceful British Invasion Pop sound of their previous 4 albums and gone back to a hard rock sound similar to the style they played in the early part of their career. It was an appropriate move, because Ray Davies sounds pretty angry on a lot of this album. He was angry on the previous album, Arthur, but here it's much more personal anger.

Ray's not worried about the decline of Britain anymore, he wants his GODDAMN MONEY.

It seems The Kinks had been getting ripped off by their publishers, who took most of their money- as happened with many bands in the 60s, Each of The Beatles were initially receiving a quarter of $0.01 per single sold in their early days. Understandably, Davies was not happy about this type of payment and so turns his eyes toward the music industry on this album. Problem is, this social commentary is nowhere near as biting or intelligent as that found on Arthur, because it's mostly pretty typical criticism of the music industry and press that just sounds like Davies saying 'GIVE ME MY MONEY'. While most can sympathise with Davies, it does result in less intelligent songwriting, but still an album that is excellent. It also creates an odd contrast with the lyrics of the band's previous two albums, where Davies seemed to be yearning for a simple world where crap like this didn't matter. Well, I guess he's only human, and we'd all be pretty annoyed if all the money we made for writing lots of great songs about yearning for a world where money and materialism didn't matter so much, didn't come to us.

The Lp doesn't get off to the most encouraging start, with the first three tracks not being at all bad but sounding just fairly good. After that though, this is a very consistent set of excellent songs. Strangers, Get Back in Line, A Long Way From Home and Got to Be Free are the songs closest to the sound of the band's previous output, and the middle two of those four are highlights. We really like the three songs that make up the title- though Lola seems utterly bizarre in its context, as its subject matter is totally unlike anything heard The Kinks talk about before. Great song though. Only wish The Moneygoround was a bit longer though, and that it's great chorus was repeated. Powerman, the penultimate track, does see Davies admitting he's alright without the money he'd been going on about for most of the album, as if most of the album was written when Davies was having a tantrum and then he calmed down and thought about it a bit more. The song features a great guitar riff, something that is certainly more prominent throughout the album, in fitting with the harder rock sound.

•                                           Side one
• "Introduction"
• "The Contenders"
• "Strangers"
• "Denmark Street"
• "Get Back in Line"
• "Lola"
• "Top of the Pops"
• "The Moneygoround"
• 
  
• Side two
• "This Time Tomorrow"
• "A Long Way From Home"
• "Rats"
• "Apeman"
• "Powerman"
• "Got to Be Free"