The Kinks, Brainwashed

Posted in The Kinks, Youtube Favs on September 2nd, 2011 by Willie

I promised more Kinks, and by God I’m delivering more Kinks.  For who?  I have no idea.  Who are you people?  Are you even out there?  Is this just a daily exercise in attempting to augment my already distorted sense of self and importance?  If it is, it’s not working, as those last two things are at all time lows.  I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of this website, and I realized that theme is reflected 100% accurately in its title.  This website is for me.  It’s not about me, rather, it’s for me.  This is the exact website I would read, with music I’d like to hear on a daily basis.  Some of the posts bore me, but I put them up because some version of me in the past was interested in it.  In other words, it’s a chance to exclaim a notion or some admiration I had five years ago.  Exclaim is a stretch, as I’m probably communicating these long dead sentiments to myself again, exclusively.  Well, here’s a new notion that just came to me.  I have a problem with this song, “Brainwashed” by the Kinks.  The crux of the problem rests in how I can’t get over what a perfect rock and roll song this is.  It’s got everything you could ever want out a 2:32 long pop song, and here’s why.  It was released in the 60s yet its still fresh because no one really knows about it.  It laid the groundwork for punk rock while also managing to be perhaps the greatest punk rock song ever created.  Lastly, the lyrics are unassailably inspired.   My spell check is telling me that unassailably is not a real word, driving me nuts as that squiggly red line underneath refuses to disappear lest I add it to the dictionary myself.  Fuck it, its going in the dictionary.  Vote for me.

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The Kinks, Australia

Posted in The Kinks, Youtube Favs on September 1st, 2011 by Willie

I’m moving to Australia!  That’s right, come October, I’m packing my life up, grabbing a friend, and taking a 21 hour flight overseas to the land down under.  Actually, I’m headed to South Korea for a week first, and then off to the land of kangaroos.  Don’t worry, it’s only for a year at most, and the website won’t change one bit, except for what time in the day I update it.  Anyway, in honor of this historic event in the life of Willie Simpson, I present you “Australia,” a track from one of my favorite albums of all time Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire.)  This song, from the Kinks’ best album, was the longest cut, and is like some hilarious sardonic commercial for moving to the continent.  Thematically, the song is part of the album’s concept about an idealistic British man named Arthur who is a World War I vet who tries to live the British dream, but can’t find real satisfaction because of the hollowness of such pursuits.  It’s a great groovy 60s song that blends satire, psychedelia, hard rock, and piano pop.  In honor of the this occasion, I’m gonna post as much as I can from Arthur for the rest of the week, assuming youtube is chalk full of videos.  In the meantime, you can vote me as CBS’s Best NYC Local Blogger by clicking here!

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