Customer Reviews

Give the People What They Want

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Kinks are one of those unique bands who have been around for 40 years, and still can find ways of reviving themselves without compromise. By the time this album came out in 1981 they had been through 4 revivals. The first one where they would sound Mod, in 1966 where they'd start to get fancy with thier songwriting, and more sophisticated with thier musical arrangements, in 1969 they'd start to become more rock oriented with songs like "Victoria", "Lola", "Apeman" etc. Then after "Celluloid Heros" The Kinks would go into a deep sleep, and wake up in 1979 becoming more punkish in thier middle age. This is where "Give The People What They Want" enters. Following up thier 79 comeback "Low Budget" The Kinks pulled all the stops. This is pretty much about as perfect an album as "Are You Experienced?". It kicks off right away with "Around The Dial" my favorite which takes a stab at the corporations taking over the radio by programming the songs that get played, it continues into the title cut with the angst, but then slows down with the moody "Killer's Eyes". "Predictable" is the very first video I remember seeing on MTV, and wraps up with "Add It Up" with Ray's then wife Chrissy Hynde on backing vocals. Side 2 starts off with the somewhat weak "Destroyer". I just wasn't getting the same good vibes on this as I was all of side one. Then it rebounds with "Yo-Yo", and "A Little Bit Of Abuse", and finally ends with "Better Things". Without a doubt very underrated, and unfortunately just didn't get a very big welcome on the airwaves. I feel it's time to give it it's due.

Around The Dial is quite possibly one of the most overlooked rock n roll songs, period! The album (I first owned it on vinyl)rocks and showcases the Kinks for what they were, a blue collar band. A lot of raw energy in this album. Better Things closes the album and is deliriously infective with its hooks and charms. It is one of the few songs in the world of pop music that can alter your mood for the better. This was perhaps the last great effort from the the Kinks. While State of Confusion and Word of Mouth had their moments as follow ups, neither album had the energy, punch or consisentcy of good songs that GTPWTW did. Fifteen years after the release of this album my then 16 yr old nephew heard tape in my car. He was immediately blown away and 4 years later has become a big Kinks fan going back on the same path of dicovery I did 20 years ago. Finding songs like Waterloo Sunset, Dead End Street, Victoria Death of a Clown and more. It's just too bad he never got to see them live.

GOD SAVE THE KINKS>

The Kinks were on a roll after "Low Budget" (1979) and the live "One for the Road" (1980) bought them some time for yet another strong studio album. "Give the People What They Want" is all that and a bag of chips as the Kinks cemented their place as punk/heavy metal godfathers. "Give the People..." is chock full of disturbing images of Dead Presidents, pervy pedophiles, spouse abusers and psycho killers amidst some mighty tight rock. "Around the Dial" starts off all hard rock and missing DJs that actually is more poignant today than it was then. "Give the People..." is a nasty double-barrel blast comparing modern society to the Roman Coliseum, even offering up Jack Kennedy and a horrific lyric that's as hard to resist as watching the Zapruder film. "Killer's Eye's" is a chilling lament on what can turn someone down the wrong path. "Predictable" is a wry turn on domestic bliss turning into monotony. "Add It Up" is a great kiss off to a partner who's "made a lot of money, but you've lost me on the way". "Destroyer" revisits Lola but puts the paparazzi/paranoia spin on things. "Yo-Yo" picks back up on the psychological aspect again with how a couple's perspective on the other changes over time. "Back to Front" is time for serious hard rock and it's a bit incongruous next to "Art Lover", the paean to creepy men sitting on park benches watching little girls. The music is so beautiful and the way Ray delivers it so sweetly makes it even more disconcerting and disturbing. "A Little Bit of Abuse" is a great turn on how the abused keep going back to abusers with the great lyric "Some people can be so uncouth, excuse me, is this your tooth?" "Better Things" closes out the disc and it's easily one of the most winning and charming Kinks songs in ages, a fond wish for well.

I've said before "Give the People..." and "Low Budget" are probably the two best recordings the Kinks did in the 70s and 80s and stick by that. "Give the People..." has held up great and the material transcends the time that has elapsed. While many groups of the 60s petered out with sad albums in the 80s (Rolling Stones, The Who) the Kinks kept on rocking and if anything were even better than before.

This CD rocks from start to finish. It's amazing how little attention it's given. From Destroyer (one of rock's all-time great songs) to Around the Dial to Art Lover to Give the People What They Want to Better Things, this CD ranks as one of the Kink's five best.

It's amazing that this band is virtually unrecognized now with such a large catalog of hits. I knew of the band by hits like "Lola", which played on the radio often in the late '70s, but it's this album that I owe my true indoctrination into Rock and Roll and everything after. Before this, I listened to mainstream pop - afterwards I never turned back. I picked up the new album on a whim based on the bands prior hits, listening to it constantly for at least a year, and returning often. It's really hard to describe exactly the effect of this must underated and now obscure album. The more I listened the more infectious it became. The songs are not overly complicated or artistic, in a sense. However, the riffs are extremely catchy, but most of all the attitude was quite different from what I had listened to before - somewhat rebellious yet mixed with humorous and somewhat controversial lyrics. For a band that was already legendary and well established, this album marked a sort of reinvention - almost garage like in a way. Although this album is long forgotten among the masses, I'm sure it influenced many bands afterwards - including grunge. "Around the Dial" is a pure classic in my book and "Art Lover" is beautiful and gloriously confusing. The controversial song made no sense to me at such a young age, but upon realizing the possible bizarre and controversial meaning, I found it strangely deep yet humorous. Of course, the subject of the song represents something unacceptable and vile, but it's the sense of alienation and loneliness that strikes you, and it may not truly represent the thoughts or actions implied. Ultimately, the album as a whole is simple but masterful. The Kinks were at the creative peak musically and lyrically - this is an essential album for lovers of all things Rock.

It's extremely frustrating that radio stations seem to have forgotten that the Kinks recorded more songs than just "You Really Got Me" and "Lola". In fact, the Kinks came back strong in the early 1980s. Another review says this is one of the best of the early 1980s and I agree. Humor, passion, sentiment, and even some optimism at the end ("Better Things"). Oh yeah, and there's that hard rocker that opened so many of their concerts in the early to mid-1980s -- "Around the Dial" (which some may think is the Kinks brown-nosing DJ's -- who cares; the song really rocks). Your collection is not complete without this album.

...I was raiding my brother's vinyl collection and came across this album, and at 11 years old, thought of The Kinks as a pasty old ripoff of The Beatles. What did I know? From the moment the static intro before "Around the Dial" segued into a searing guitar, and after being blown away by the whole undulating pace of the album (Which features some of the finest, and most rocking songs in their history) I was ashamed at what little credit I had given them. "Destroyer", "Better Things"...everything on Give the People What They Want epitomizes Ray Davies strongest attribute: his writing. Possibly the best rock album of the early 80's. And that's no foolin'.

Being a Kinks Fan, for a long while I held back from their albums in the 80s because I saw a lot of my fave bands losing their way in that decade. Example: Queen, Genesis and others.
Then I listened to a particular song called "Predictable" and I felt enchanted by it. So when I finally decided to get the CD where this song is, I must say that I fell in love with this record right away, at first listening. As I got their albums from the 80s, it proved to me that The Kinks could re-invented themselves successfully, offering nice music for someone who adores the 60s and 70s like me.
There's only one song I don't like that much in here and it's "Give The People What They Want", the title track. But the rest is just awesome. Very nice melodies.
My fave tracks in here are "Around The Dial", the great "Killer Eyes", "Predictable", "Yo-Yo", the strange lyrically "Art Lover" that makes you wonder if it's about a child molester, "A Little Bit Of Abuse" and the well-known "Better Things".
You have to listen to this album. Like most of the Kinks fans, I have always love their 60s and 70s music, but this record will get to you ;-)

This brought back many memories of my youth. One of the most under-rated records of all-time.

From their performance on SNL ("Art Lover" with a disclaimer for the song content)I fell in love with this album. I have looked for this CD for years, only to find it out of release. Amazing that it has finally been re-issued! One of the Kinks strongest albums both lyrically and musically, a true gem.