Customer Reviews

The Kinks - One for the Road

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"One For The Road" shows the Kinks performing at the Providence Civic Center circa 1980. This is not an overproduced, slick concert with dazzling special effects filmed in a cavernous arena. It's a no frills, genuine rock and roll concert filmed in a fairly intimate, mid-size venue. You can almost smell the sweat and smoke. "All Day And All Of The Night" gets things off to a rocking start and whips the crowd into a frenzy. "Lola" is a definite crowd pleaser; who doesn't like a love song about a transvestite? Of course, several selections were taken from their most recent album at the time, "Low Budget." On one hand, that's one of their best albums, which makes for a very enjoyable concert. On the other hand, since there's only a dozen songs, many older classics from their vast repertoire were not included. Fortunately, a moving version of "Celluloid Heroes" and a blistering "You Really Got Me" are featured. The quintessential English song "Victoria" closes the concert out on a high note. Dave Davies provides humorous, if not always insightful, commentary. When talking about his physique back then he remarked, "I had the muscles. Ray had the bruises!" Being the only Kinks concert available on DVD at present, it is an essential purchase for every Kinks fan.

Dave Davies nails it in his commentary: this period of Kinks history seems like a dream. The video documents that strange time in the 80s when the group found arena-rock fame, particularly in the U.S., and was playing to large houses --- complete with Spinal Tap moves. For those who prefer the cultish days of the 60s, or Ray Davies's ambitious concepts of the 70s, it's not a treasured era. At times, the Kinks come off as just another rock band. Yet Ray's songs are still in there, and he was in peak performing shape, so this DVD is worth owning as a period piece.
Unfortunately, the editing is ham-fisted. Songs are out of sequence, plenty of material from the show is missing and the beginning of Catch Me Now I'm Falling is just chopped right off. The audio commentary by Dave Davies is hit and miss: sometimes funny but more often of the "Oh, yeah. I remember this song! I used to love playing that!" variety. The brief tour through the Kinks London is fun, but the trivia quiz is lame.
All in all, a must for fans. Others should wait for a more definitive history.

I just got this disc today and was blown away. First of all the sound is awesome in 5.1. The picture could be better but I'd imagine that the source material is ancient. My favorite part of the disc though is DAVE DAVIES!! He's actually on the disc doing a running commentary and also does a couple songs on camera. Its great to see him as he is today. There's also a trivia game that was pretty easy for me but fun. Also a cool video tour of famous kinks jaunts that is like a subway map thing. I wish there were more songs but they play all the usual hits and a few more. Wish there was more from other Kinks members. Definitely get this one-for the road!

Fantastic footage from a late '70s concert in Providence, R.I. interlaced with running commentary by a ruminative latter-day Dave Davies. The concert can be viewed with or without commentary. Plus, there's a map and pictures of North London Kinksites. Any fan will enjoy this well-thought out and executed DVD.
I'd have liked more extra goodies befitting the DVD format, though; a very small complaint.

Finally it's been re-released! I'd been looking for a copy of this video for the last 8 years or more. When I saw that it was scheduled for re-release I immediately signed up for an advance purchase so that whenever it came out I would get a copy. It captures the energy and excitement of a live Kinks performance as well as any film could. The music is great, as well as the stage presence of the band. I quickly sat down to watch it with my kids, since it is appropriate for all ages. Recorded in 1980, it's lacking the profanity and vulgarity that is so prevalent in music these days. My only complaint would be that it's not longer. 60 minutes leaves me wanting still more. Anyone who likes The Kinks even a little will love this video.

I was not overwhelmed by the video quality but it was quite acceptable considering the age of the tape. The music itself more than makes up for any questionable video quality, as there is a great combination of old and new (for that time, around 1980, I think) songs that are just a glimpse of Ray Davies' genius. The entire band rocks, though, and even at his age Ray Davies is quite the showman! He puts Mick Jagger to shame! Ray jumps, runs, poses, hams it up, and in spurts acts plain crazy! Even if you are not that familiar with The Kinks you will enjoy the music on this DVD. Dave Davies does a running commentary and at times is pretty funny, especially when he makes fun of himself. Wish there could have been more extras, such as more songs, more archive footage, and perhaps some commentary by Ray or an interview of him. Minor complaints aside, this DVD is still worth having. Get it before it goes out of print!

The Kinks are one of the Top 5 seminal rock-n-roll bands of all time. That being said, there is shamefully almost no live video footage available commercially other than "One For The Road". This is the only commercial video release available of The Kinks in the 1970s, and this was filmed September 23, 1979 (you would not know that because the concert date is not given on the DVD)! This concert was filmed at the Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI, which is now piggishly named the "Dunkin' Donuts Center" (catch me now i'm falling indeed)!
The editing on this DVD is horrible as the concert is joined in progress (wha?) and clipped! For some wierd reason, the producers decided to begin the film showing The Kinks playing their encore "All Day And All Of The Night"; Ray Davies is soaked with sweat, his open shirt barely clinging to his body, and you're wondering why Ray is sweating so profusley and looking exhausted when the show has just started, LOL! THEN, it shows the band doing "Lola" and Ray is suddenly clean, dry, wearing his suit coat, bowtie and looking fresh (too surreal)! Besides the extremely poor editing, the concert is FANTASTIC! The Kinks put on a show for the ages! Ray is in top form strutting around and haming it up for the enthusiastic and rollicking Rhode Island crowd. The band consists of only three original members (Ray, Dave and Mick Avory), with Jim Redford (b), Ian Gibbons(k) and Nick Newell(k) making up the other half. The band makes a few errors, but Ray is able to keep the groove going with his expert frontman abilities. The setlist for this DVD is:
All Day And All Of The Night
Lola
Low Budget
Superman
Attitude
Celluloid Heroes
The Hard Way
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
You Really Got Me
Pressure
Catch Me Now I'm Falling
Victoria
During "Celluloid Heroes", footage of the band getting ready backstage is shown, and during "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", some early footage of the band in '60s is shown. As I said before, the concert is great! The band and audience feed off each other's energy and the peformance is classic! Shamefully, this is not the complete concert. The CD companion to this DVD has alot of additional music recorded from this tour at other sites, which makes it a must have in order to get the complete set list The Kinks performed during this tour. The DVD has a small interactive menu in which you are able to tour famous Kinks locations; in studio video commentary by Dave Davies on "Lola" and "The Hard Way", and a Kinks trivia game where the prize for winning is an additional clip of Dave Davies in studio commenting and reviewing the "Celluloid Hereos" performance. The Dave Davies commentary is OK, there is some interesting information from Dave as well as the usual Dave funny stuff. I do not know why Ray was not involved with Dave for this DVD release, I guess there was some brotherly animosity betwixt the two. It is interesting seeing on this DVD how at the end of the concert the band leaves the stage, while Ray lingers on the stage giving solo thank yous and bows. I mean c'mon guys, this is (or was) a BAND, a team if you will, where it takes EVERYONE working together to make a show. There is no Kinks without a band to play the music. Ray might think he is The Kinks, but Ray going onstage with a tape deck, speaker and mic and doing a karaoke version of Kinks songs is NOT The Kinks. Regardless, this is indeed a terrific performance by the Kinks, as well as being a classic document of late '70s Kinks. Highly recommended! Oh yeah, watching the Rhode Island audience sing along to Ray's pro-England paean "Victoria" is a real LFOL moment! Cheers!

The Kinks are one of the legendary bands of rocknroll - Beatles, Stones, The Kinks - then came everyone else. Who doesn't know the opening of "You Really Got Me"? I've seen The Kinks a number of times and I recall a show at the Nassau Colosseum: the crowd was younger and Ray Davies announces, "...we're gonna do a Van Halen song now" - and the young crowd seemed genuinely stunned to learn the Kinks did it in 1964.

The Kinks body of work is quite remarkable if one takes the time to travel through time with them... Ray Davies writes the most interesting lyrics. And the music: before there was metal, before there was punk, there was The Kinks. Dave's guitar playing is excellent! Somehow, legend has it that Jimmy Page is responsible for the early Kinks guitar: NOT TRUE! Dave's guitar is the driving force of The Kinks. I know Dave didn't invent the power chord, but since it's almost Christmas: listen to the opening of "Father Christmas" sometime and the lyric to that song - this epitomizes the energy and sentiments of The Kinks. (I wish that was performed here).

The DVD: the production could have been much better. The lighting is just a bit dark, the arena seems a bit cold, and as the other reviewer said, the editing could be better. But the crowd is energetic and enthusiastic as they sing along and grab and paw at Dave's guitar. The band is in good form and having fun. The set list draws from the early years and from what I'd call the "comeback" years: Misfits and Low Budget. Even Dave comments that some of the songs are played at fast tempo - faster than normal. But on the whole: great performance.

If you're a fan, or just curious about The Kinks, then buy this dvd. It's such a shame that this seems to be all there is.

The Kinks are one of the Top 5 seminal rock-n-roll bands of all time. That being said, there is shamefully almost no live video footage available commercially other than "One For The Road". This is the only commercial video release available of The Kinks in the 1970s, and this was filmed September 23, 1979 (you would not know that because the concert date is not given on the DVD)! This concert was filmed at the Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI, which is now piggishly named the "Dunkin' Donuts Center" (catch me now i'm falling indeed)!
The editing on this DVD is horrible as the concert is joined in progress (wha?) and clipped! For some wierd reason, the producers decided to begin the film showing The Kinks playing their encore "All Day And All Of The Night"; Ray Davies is soaked with sweat, his open shirt barely clinging to his body, and you're wondering why Ray is sweating so profusley and looking exhausted when the show has just started, LOL! THEN, it shows the band doing "Lola" and Ray is suddenly clean, dry, wearing his suit coat, bowtie and looking fresh (too surreal)! Besides the extremely poor editing, the concert is FANTASTIC! The Kinks put on a show for the ages! Ray is in top form strutting around and haming it up for the enthusiastic and rollicking Rhode Island crowd. The band consists of only three original members (Ray, Dave and Mick Avory), with Jim Redford (b), Ian Gibbons(k) and Nick Newell(k) making up the other half. The band makes a few errors, but Ray is able to keep the groove going with his expert frontman abilities. The setlist for this DVD is:
All Day And All Of The Night
Lola
Low Budget
Superman
Attitude
Celluloid Heroes
The Hard Way
Where Have All the Good Times Gone
You Really Got Me
Pressure
Catch Me Now I'm Falling
Victoria
During "Celluloid Heroes", footage of the band getting ready backstage is shown, and during "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", some early footage of the band in '60s is shown. As I said before, the concert is great! The band and audience feed off each other's energy and the peformance is classic! Shamefully, this is not the complete concert. The CD companion to this DVD has alot of additional music recorded from this tour at other sites, which makes it a must have in order to get the complete set list The Kinks performed during this tour. The DVD has a small interactive menu in which you are able to tour famous Kinks locations; in studio video commentary by Dave Davies on "Lola" and "The Hard Way", and a Kinks trivia game where the prize for winning is an additional clip of Dave Davies in studio commenting and reviewing the "Celluloid Hereos" performance. The Dave Davies commentary is OK, there is some interesting information from Dave as well as the usual Dave funny stuff. I do not know why Ray was not involved with Dave for this DVD release, I guess there was some brotherly animosity betwixt the two. It is interesting seeing on this DVD how at the end of the concert the band leaves the stage, while Ray lingers on the stage giving solo thank yous and bows. I mean c'mon guys, this is (or was) a BAND, a team if you will, where it takes EVERYONE working together to make a show. There is no Kinks without a band to play the music. Ray might think he is The Kinks, but Ray going onstage with a tape deck, speaker and mic and doing a karaoke version of Kinks songs is NOT The Kinks. Regardless, this is indeed a terrific performance by the Kinks, as well as being a classic document of late '70s Kinks. Highly recommended! Oh yeah, watching the Rhode Island audience sing along to Ray's pro-England paean "Victoria" is a real LFOL moment! Cheers!

"Rock bands may come, rock bands may go, but rock and roll's gonna go on forever, all day and all of the night!" So says Ray Davies, lead singer and main songwriter for the Kinks, in this video recorded in 1979 - one of the first concerts released simultaneously as a record and video. We're very lucky the cameras captured the Kinks at their peak. Many of us long for the return of the band, but this is an excellent document of the band at the time of their greatest popularity in the U.S. It's also my favorite lineup of the band - Ian Gibbons on keyboards, Jim Rodford on bass and vocals, Mick Avory on drums, and Dave Davies on lead guitar on vocals, along with loony Ray. Mick lays down the rock solid beat, his energy level is just amazing - in fact, the entire band is energized through the whole show. Ray Davies may not have a beautiful voice, but it is perfect for the songs he writes - songs about people dealing with financial downsizing, feelings of inferiority, struggling just to get through another mundane day. These songs would not sound as convincing with a Caruso singing them. Dave Davies is probably the most underrated guitarist in all of rock, and it's fun seeing him and Jim Rodford running around onstage and backing up Ray vocally. These guys are having a ball onstage, and the audience is with them all the way. The versions of "Superman" and "Attitude" here rip the studio takes to shreds, and 'Low Budget" just sizzles, with Dave's smokin' guitar riffing. It's also nice to see/hear them do lesser known Kinks classics like "The Hard Way" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone", along with the standards "All Day and All of the Night", "You Really Got Me" and "Lola". Recommended for all Kinks fans, or anyone who loves hard driving rock and roll.