Thanks to The Kinks for one of my favorite Christmas songs - one that did not get much airplay back when it came out. Probably due to the depressing subject matter of the song, but damn if the tune isn't a killer knock-off of Pete Townshend circa "Tommy".
Without further ado, from 1977 here is "Father Christmas":
But the last time I played Father Christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor
After their 1975 hit single "I'm On Fire" the Dwight Twilley Band suffered through the collapse of their record company, the yanking of their follow-up single "Shark In the Dark" from distribution due to record company worries that it would be seen as cashing in on the new hit movie "Jaws", and the cancellation of the LP they had been recording in England while "Fire" was riding up the charts.
So in 1977, with Arista as the new distributor for Shelter Records they recorded their second LP Twilley Don't Mind. Dwight and Phil Seymour along with their longtime guitarist Bill Pitcock IV enlisted some help from friend Tom Petty. The resulting album was a template for what power pop could and should have been. But Arista seemed to lose interest and radio stations ignored the LP and singles
The great and sadly departed Mr. Pitcock lays down some 12 string jangle of the highest order in That I Remember. This video from what appears to be a children's TV show is unfortunately lip synced. However it is great to see the band in their prime. The chorus never fails to choke me up a bit.
Putting the concept albums behind, The Kinks moved forward with an album that became a blueprint for what would follow until the end of their career. Sleepwalker paved a path into the rock mainstream for a band that had never been a follower. The glove did not quite fit - and for me that's why it works. Little bits of the real Ray Davies keeps popping up in both the lyrics and the music. Years later I read a quote from Dave about Ray's habit of sleepwalking. Coupled with Ray's insomnia, suddenly the song made sense to me. The sentiment reflected in Brother is carried aloft by a slow lilting melody in a gorgeous middle period Beach Boys style, with Ray sounding exactly like Carl Wilson on the high chorus parts.
The album produced a couple of entries into the pop charts in the USA. Sleepwalker kicks off with a great jangly guitar, a perky verse melody and a classic rock construction, ending with a repeated harmonic line over which the band plays with a real gusto and Ray and band literally bellow the chorus. It is a cathartic moment. Juke Box Music offers a glimpse at how great the Davies Brothers could be when sharing the vocal lines, and Dave lets loose with some very fine guitar playing. Listening to the radio in 1977 was wonderful for me because there was new Kinks music being heard by the masses.
If Ray had taken a further step down the path he had started with Preservation, The Kinks would likely have come to an end. I wonder what he might have produced on his own at the point, but the fact is he didn't, and the band moved ahead to reach their highest levels of success on this side of the Atlantic. This is the starting point for that next journey.
