The Kinks Present Schoolboys in Disgrace [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

The Kinks

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 24, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1975
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Velvel Records
• ASIN: B00000FDJS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,933 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The Kinks' concise, typically bittersweet 1975 reflection on the trials and tribulations of the English school system would foreshadow Pink Floyd's similarly themed, if gratuitously unfocused The Wall by half a decade. It would also close out the band's oft-misunderstood "concept" period. Following on the heels of Preservation, Acts 1 and 2, and Soap Opera, albums whose sprawling, Floydian narratives were pointedly deflated by Ray Davies' lovable, Vaudevillian loopiness. Schoolboys has long seemed the red-headed stepchild in that ancestry. But, it's precisely the album's scaled-back ambitions and breezy delivery (typified by the 50's vamping "Jack the Idiot Dunce") that have preserved its charm. Dave Davies' chunky guitar progressions gratifyingly return to the fore on "In Disgrace" and "The Hard Way," while brother Ray's sharp-eyed observations wax alternately cynical ("Education") and wistful ("The First Time We Fall in Love"). --Jerry McCulley

Product Description
Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2008. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardly A Disgrace -- Great Performances, Questionable Idea, June 2, 2008

By	Geoff Hayes (Middlesex) - See all my reviews

Throughout the 1960's the Kinks were basically a singles band driven by Dave Davies' pre-grunge guitar play and Ray Davies' way with words, wit and a melody line. Ray Davies would only falter when being a bit overly McCartneyesque on tunes such as "Dandy," and then, after losing his court case regarding the Doors' blatant rip-off of Kinks classic "You Really Got Me" with Doors' song "Hello, I Love You," began to borrow rock riffs himself, sometimes to the band's detriment. However, versus hop on the bandwagons of the day, the Kinks would sweat out the 1970's with a variety of "theme" albums before punk music came along--as if the movement hadn't already been initiated by the Kinks long before in 1964--and the group would rebound with "Low Budget," "Give The People What They Want" and the live "One For The Road."

Long before that period, however, we have the "Thematic" Kinks presenting their "Preservation Acts" and "Soap Opera," and this, my personal favorite from the time, if only for the quality of half the material and the energy put forth by the band. Ray Davies is at his finest with the album's original A-side line-up of "School Days," "Jack The Idiot Dunce," "Education" and "The First Time We Fall In Love." Side two presents the group with a surefire crowd pleaser in "Hard Way," with Davies' donning his schoolmaster's mask and hobbling about the stage during later performances of the song (dressing for the part having become a common Kinks' practice at the time, with this being well before the major stage productions concert-going audiences have come to expect from artists).

The Kinks would continue to make music into the 1980's, with assorted personnel changes from original 1960's bassist Pete Quaife to 1970's bassist John Dalton and keyboardist John Gosling to former Zombies' bassist Jim Rodford, eventually disbanding at the end of the decade.

Other Kinks albums of note include earlier themed works "Village Green Preservation Society" and "Arthur," as well as "Muswell Hillbillies" and "State Of Confusion," the latter a bit more dated in its production, but still providing classic Kinks words and music from a time when both seemed to matter a little bit more than they do to today's listening audience.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the Most Overlooked Kinks Album, April 22, 2000

By A Customer

Unlike Soap Opera and the Preservation Acts, this album is entertaining from start to finish. There isn't one dud. The lyrics might be a little weak, but the music is consistent and strong. Dave Davies guitar work is particularly notable, as the riffs are clean and well placed. I am familiar with the majority of Kinks recordings, and this one is most underrated. Schoolboys In Disgrace deserves to be heard.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Schoolboys In Disgrace-ULTIMATE KINKS!, April 20, 2001

By	Alex (Earth) - See all my reviews

Well, probably their first truly great albumm since Muswell Hillbillies, this one keeps your attention. That may due to the fact that it's only 10 tracks! Oh well! All 10 are quite satisfying and proved that the lads were ready to rock after putting out the rather disappointing Soap Opera, in which the music makes one wonder if these are the same guys that put out You Really Got Me and others.Anyway, this is a lot like Lola Vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round(which is like Sgt. Pepper to Kinks fans-an absolute necessity!) The similarity is that there are a variety of songs: Schooldays is an electric country ballad;Jack the Idiot Dunce is a fine surf sound-alike; Education,though it runs 7:07,does not have one disappointing second on it; The First Time We Fall In Love at first sounds like Elvis, then it seems like Brian Wilson took lead vocals, then it finally becomes a Kinks song;I'm In Disgrace, the quasi-title track, rocks as hard as anything else up to that time; Headmaster sounds like a cross of Badfinger with a touch of Led Zeppelin;The Hard Way is a classic, which is a cross between I Can't Explain(same chords too!) and their early singles;The Last Assembly doffs its cap to Gospel;and No More Looking Back is pretty much it's own genre! By the way, the back of the album informs the reader that the little boy that this is based around grows up to become Flash, the villian from the Preservation saga (which yours truly hopes to review soon,)Well I find no fault in this album, and the finale,a brief reprise of Education,is also a brief reprise of the whole album, almost seeming like it was about to blow your stereo into oblivion.After this album the Kinks left RCA and signed with Arista and began their most successful era.But if you ask me, the RCA years,(71-76),are undoubtedly the best.Well anyway hopefully you will at least partially enjoy the album as much as I did.