Customer Reviews

Live at Kelvin Hall

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A truly great show by the Kinks at the start of their career, and this release is the best you could own. The problem with it is not in the reissue. Castle has done it's best to make this listenable, and even includes both the mono and stereo versions of the album, which is great. The problem is that the original recording sounds almost like it's a bootleg recorded by someone in the audience. This is good in that it has a kind of raw feel to it that makes it seem like you're actually there, but for the most part, it's hard to listen to. The crowd is frequently louder than the band, and the overall sound is rather flat. I would reccommend this to any Kinks fan simply because it's all that is available of the Kinks performing live in this era of their career, but be warned - it's rough.

This is the earliest live capture of the Kinks' original line-up, before egos and in-fighting, even before their masterpiece, "Arthur," and their many break-ups. What must have been crude recording, the band plays note-by-note versions of their early "hits," to a wild, unruly audience that seems to scream forever and take little notice to Ray and Dave's cheeky remarks. Since the Stones came out first with a "simulated" live recording, fans were slow to pick up on this rare gem. After hearing it a few times you realize Lennon was right when he said fans didn't care about their performances live. However, I've known this all this time, what a rare gem it was to hear the Kinks on their rise.

This is a great collectors CD showcasing the great Kinks live at home in the outrageous 60's at thir heyday..Similiarly like the Stones,Got Live If You Want It CD,(in feel,not actual technical recording issues) these live documents are made for collectors and for ravers because the sound is usually average at best.When it comes to great sounding live cd's overdubs are a natural..
It is nice to hear both mono and stereo versions of the CD and to know this is live..the book and photos are nice..like the remaining Pye re releases on their early catalogue you won't be dissapointed as to the quality and sound.
The song selections are good and the era is the Face To Face period when the Kinks began experimenting with a bit of Indian Music,a touch less blues, more introspective sounds and lyrics, getting ready for their defining greatness to be found on such classic releases such as Something Else,We Are The Village Green, Arthur,Lola,Muswell Hillbillies etc. when the Kinks started to morph in earnest into the less angry more interior band they became.

I have to disagree with anyone who feels that this recording is bootleg quality because this album sounds a hell of a lot better than recordings, official or otherwise that are sourced from an audience recording. The issue is that live recordings were in their infancy at the time so naturally you are not going to get the same quality as a modern live concert. That said it is a fascinating recording. The more rocking numbers such as "You Really Got Me" come off better than the more introspective songs. The Kinks did put on a good live show but live they were not all that different from in the studio (unlike say the Who, who would turn songs into extended jams live). Live at Kelvin Hall was recorded as the Kinks were ending their pre-punk phase and entering their most interesting period, 1966-70 where they rightfully deserved the title of the English equivalent of Bob Dylan, rather than the insufferable Donovan. Obviously, one of the drawbacks of the recording is the audience of screaming fans who just won't let up. The Kinks at this point obviously tired of concert goers who were idol worshippers instead of actual fans (but didn't have the clout of the Beatles or the Stones to stop touring)decide to have some fun on "Sunny Afternoon" and ask the audience to sing along (which they do). Two years later, the Kinks would regain the right to tour in the U.S. again (which they had lost due to conflicts on the 1965 tour) and by then they would be a more sophisticated and "well respected" band but that's another story...

In 2007, there were two Kinks catalog Japan mini-sleeve releases, one in July and another in September. The July release were JVC K2HD remastered discs. Chronologically, these started at "Muswell Hillbillies" and continued thru the end of the Kinks catalog.

However, the September release, and this is despite the text of at least one Japanese on-line retailer, are NOT JVC or K2/K2HD remastered discs. These were issued by BMG. The discs themselves have a "Made In Hong Kong" stamp on the inner ring.

The BMG titles are: The Kinks (1st album), Kinda Kinks, Kontroversy, Face To Face, Something Else, Live At Kelvin Hall, The Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire, Lola Vs. Powerman And The Money-Go-Round Part 1 and Percy.

After A/B comparison, these are the 1998 Castle/Essential remasters. These also contain the same same booklets as those releases. The Castle discs have the benefit of an absolute plethora of bonus tracks on each, which do not appear on the 2000 Japan K2 remasters.

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.

Man, sometimes it is really difficult being a fan or a completist of a band's work - you have to have everything! Especially when one of the cornerstones to your collection is a crappy live album from the `60's. It really blows my mind that bands and their managers were thinking that their fans would want to hear girls scream more than the actual music. Both the Kinks and the Stones put out live records around the same time period (and they both suck, at least the Stones didn't release theirs in the UK initially). The worst part about `Live at Kelvin Hall', apart of course from the sound quality is that chronologically the Kinks were well beyond old school PA systems and screaming teenagers and in the middle of their classic era of conceptual ENGLISH rock albums. This record was already an anachronism upon release and the years have not been kind. The song selection isn't the problem as the Kinks feature singles, EP cuts and album tracks (key highlights are from the `Face to Face' record, "Dandy" in particular). The Castle reissue does include both mono and stereo versions of the album which can get annoying if you listen to the whole disc from start to finish. You have to believe Ray was annoyed when he had another classic album in the can ('Something Else')while the US label couldn't wait to issue `Kelvin Hall' first! Oh well, only for the Kinks committed, others don't bother.

Performance-wise, The Kinks are in prime live form here. Wonderful setlist from their early peak period, played electrifyingly. GREAT stuff. And the audio quality of these musical performances is clean and direct, contrary to the opinions of other reviewers. Those reviewers either have not actually heard this concert or they are utterly clueless regarding the live recording technology available on-average to rock artists of the mid-1960s.

No, the main source of complaint with this release is the "audience" sound itself. It is glaring and unnatural. I have never read or heard this elsewhere but it is apparent that the so-called audience reaction on this recording/mix is a tape loop. Being quite familiar with live documents of other British Invasion acts, the looped crowd reaction present on the disc is totally fake. And too LOUD. Especially on the stereo mix, less so on the mono mix of the show.

To clarify, the looped aspect of the screaming audience audio is most evident on the loudest passages. The high frequency and sheer shrillness of these moments are simply too linear and the exact SAME pitch is sustained for far too long, to be believed. The actual crowd at Kelvin Hall DID screech hellishly for The Kinks at certain points but that feverish din was not omnipresent throughout the ENTIRE concert. The mix of the gig released on this CD --- as well as the original vinyl mixes --- makes the non-discerning listener think otherwise.

Truly farcical is the knowledge that Ray Davies actually chose to slam The Beatles (and The Rolling Stones, I think) for "sweetening" their official live recordings. It is factual that The Beatles did significant audio doctoring on the film soundtrack of their 1965 Shea Stadium concert...while The Stones were guilty of recording certain segments of their "Got Live If You Want It!" in the studio. Perhaps not so lively after all, but neither band decided to boost the volume of the audience track on their live recordings, just to stroke their egos. This is something that can't be denied by The Kinks, of their "Live at Kelvin Hall" release.

My recommendation is that the original Kelvin Hall master tapes should be freshly remixed. All of the obnoxious looped audience noise should be removed and the brilliant live playing by The Kinks should be allowed to shine and stand on its own merits. Yes, the reel-to-reel masters --- and quite a bit of the Kelvin Hall audio currently in-circulation --- do feature the band rocking before a live audience, but the TRUE sound of that crowd needs to be heard rather than the sonic bastardization that is now commercially available.