Sleepwalker

by

The Kinks

Edit

The Kinks continually reinvented themselves. After the international success of "Lola" in 1970 (their first komeback) the Kinks promptly went underground again, producing a series of quirky koncept albums, some excellent, some less so; these went virtually unheard in the United States.

In 1977, the Kinks once again became a straight rock band. Dave Davies got a chance to be a guitar hero. And, improbably, the band engineered another comeback, becoming arena rockers. Sleepwalker was a minor hit, but it propelled the band back into the limelight.

The follow-up, "Misfits", produced a huge hit (Rock and Roll Fantasy) and sold better, but "Sleepwalker" is the best LP of the Kinks' Arista years. There's not a false note on the nine tracks (although "Brother" is just a trifle slow for my taste). The rollicking self-satire of "Life on the Road" leads into the heart-breaking, beautifully written "Mr. Big Man", then to the lush and bizarre title cut. Every track sparkles with Ray Davies's brilliant lyrics and wry, knowing wit. Having dispensed with the elaborate horn arrangements of their koncept period, the band brings the attention back to the core of rock music: good songs.

These are songs you can dance to, sing along with, hum, and dream to. Great guitar playing by Dave, too! Very highly recommended.

'Sleepwalker" is among the more obscure of the Kinks' albums. Aside from the singles "Sleepwalker" and "Juke box music", which did receive some considerable radio airplay, this album came and went with a wimper.

Well, "sleepwalker" (I'm a sleeeeeeeeeeeeeepwalker....) is a great song that is unfortunately excluded from many of their "hits" compliation.

There are also other good songs on this album there are hardly throwaways but, rather, richly melodic songs that are available to be consumed and appreciated by devoted Kinks fans.

These songs are a bit deeper and more complex from the usual Kinks gems from the decade before. The lyrics seem very personal, the instrumentation is more pronounced, the songs are longer and the production has more sheen which distinguishes this material from the more simplistic and raw sound of "You really got me", "All day and all of the night" and "Victoria". The music is no longer so riff oriented. In addition, Since the Kinks were clearly capable of penning a beautiful song as well, the pretty ones here also have a significant more complexity than "Days", "Waterloo Sunset", "Death of a Clown".

In hindsight, perhaps the Kinks were trying to add more dimension and depth to their songs in order to fit in with (the then emerging and home of cool and relevant music) FM radio. When this came out, with the Kinks being a veteran act, perhaps passed their prime, maybe they did not know how to market themselves. Music was dramatically changing with punk representing the cutting edge. The Kinks were one of the few of the "old guard" that were actually championed by the punk movement. Should the Kinks enamor themselves to a new audience or try to hold onto an old one? Do they align themselves with "album rock" or pursue a younger generation?

There is a treasure trove of material on this album.

"Life on the Road" is an excellent introduction with proof that they can still play a fun song.

"Brother" is a slow moving ballad with Ray Davies beautiful and distinguishing voice being a highlight.

"Life goes on" employs a progression where each instrument is seperately introduced a la "Smoke on the Water".

"Juke box music" is a fast paced rocker (it most resembles the conventional Kinks sound) that sounds like Davies is reflecting on himself.

I find the most interesting song is "From the Outside" which is (different for the Kinks) an organ-driven tune that takes some unusual turns. It starts out as riff oriented, then careens into a goregous chorus and then veers towards a lengthy guitar vamp with the guitar and organ trading licks. On this album you get the original and a remix with each song sounding similar yet they are also very different with each version of "From the outside" having their own virtues.

As opposed to their earlier works, where the strength of the materials was that of being a singles, this album is more deserving of being listened to from start to finish, like "Lola versus Powerman and the money ground" (although this is not as good as that seminal work). This is not a concept work but you cannot really appreciate "Sleepwalker" until you hear it as a whole.

In the 70's, this quickly went to the cutout bins but decades later, it is evident that a "weak" Kinks album is much stronger than other bands great albums.

This is a lost work that should be re-discovered by a Kink fan.