Ray Davies - Return To Waterloo (1985)

'Return To Waterloo' is the only album ever credited solely to Kinks singer/songwriter/guitarist Ray Davies, and it contains "music from the motion picture" of the same name. The film was written and directed by Davies, and depicts the daydreams and nightmares of a commuter taking a one-hour train trip from the London suburbs to Waterloo train station. The format allows Davies to write a series of story-songs, including 'Going Solo' and 'Missing Persons', both of which refer to the commuter's daughter who had left home, while 'Sold Me Out' and 'Not Far Away' are punk rock rave-ups expressing the anger of the young people on the train, and 'Expectations' is a Davies reflection on one of his favourite subjects, the decline and fall of the British Empire. This would have been an excellent Kinks album, and in fact three of the songs had appeared on the last Kinks album, 1984's 'Word Of Mouth', but 'Return To Waterloo' is credited as a solo Davies record, possible because his brother Dave reputedly refused to play on it, and so despite the fact that the rest of the The Kinks did contribute, it would be pushing it to call it a Kinks album. The hour long feature film was a unique approach to the synthesis of music, video and cinema, and instead of dialogue, the story is told through music and lyrics. The haunting songs take renowned actor Ken Colley on a suspenseful journey through his imagination, as he confronts reality and fantasy, love and violence, and it also features Valerie Holliman, Dominique Barnes, Tim Roth and (briefly) Ray Davies himself as a busker. It was broadcast just the once by Channel 4 on a Sunday evening on 04 November 1984, and has become something of a cult classic, particularly among Kinks fans, and so this expanded edition of the "soundtrack" album is a god-send. It includes songs which were not on the original album, and the tracks which were on there are either remixed or alternate versions. It's been put together with a lot of attention to detail, and includes sound-bites of dialogue, sound effects, and ambient segues which all enhance the listening experience, whether you've seen the film or not.  

Track listing

01 Intro (Unreleased Extended Version)
02 Return To Waterloo (Edited Mix)
03 Ladder Of Success (Unreleased Recording)
04 Going Solo (Alternate Mix)
05 Missing Person (Alternate Mix)
06 Sold Me Out (Alternate Mix)
07 Lonely Hearts (Extended Alternate Mix)
08 Good Times Are Gone (Unreleased Recording)
09 Not Far Away (Alternate Mix)
10 Expectations (Alternate Mix)
11 Return To Waterloo (Reprise) (Unreleased Recording)
12 Voices In The Dark (Alternate Mix)
13 Outro (Unreleased Recording)

The Kinks - Give The People What They Want (REJECTED) (1981)

'Give the People What They Want' was the nineteenth studio album by The Kinks, released in August 1981 in the US, and in January 1982 in Europe. It was delayed because Ray Davies wanted to produce a full-length video for the album, but financing fell through and this didn't happen. While working on the sessions, drastically different versions of the songs were taped and cut to acetate, showing what Davies thought the next album could/should be, but the people at Arista thought differently, and insisted that some of the tracks be edited down, and ended up seconds or even minutes shorter on the finished album. One of the most notable casualties was 'Around The Dial', with the released version running at 4:48, while the acetate version runs to nearly eight minutes, although a lot of those extra minutes are the intro of someone turning the radio dial. The title track is approximately a minute longer than the officially released version, and while a few are suspiciously close to the original versions ('Killer's Eyes', 'Back To Front', 'Add It Up'), a closer listen reveals that these are slightly different mixes. The acetate version of 'Entertainment' is the original 1981 mix and not the glossy version that was ultimately released on 'UK Jive' in 1989, and 'Bernadette' is not the version we know from 1982's 'State Of Confusion', but a much rawer version with Dave Davies on the lead vocals. There are two extra bonus tracks, with the version of 'Massive Reduction', the b-side of 1981's 'Better Things' single, being a completely different version to the one released in 1984 on 'Word Of Mouth', while 'Noise' was probably recorded some time in 1981 and canned, but ultimately released as a b-side to 'Come Dancing' in 1982. 

Track listing

01 Back To Front (Acetate Version)
02 Entertainment (Outtake; Original 1981 Mix)
03 Add It Up (Acetate Version)
04 Killer's Eyes (Acetate Version)
05 Give The People What They Want (Acetate Version)
06 Around The Dial (Acetate Version)
07 Yo Yo (Acetate Version)
08 Little Bit Of Abuse (Acetate Version)
09 Art Lover (Acetate Version)
10 Predictable (Acetate Version)
11 Bernadette (Acetate Version - lead vocal Dave Davies)
12 Destroyer (Acetate Version)
13 Massive Reductions (Original 1981 Version)
14 Noise (Outtake Recorded 1981)

Many thanks to Michael for letting me hear this one. 

The Kinks - Four More Respected Gentlemen (1969)

There is a lot of mystery about this album, as no-one seems to know why it was recorded or why it was never released. The songs were mostly written in 1968 and recorded in early 1969, just after the release of 'The Village Green Preservation Society' album, and it's rumoured that once Reprise got their hands on the completed songs they kept them as collateral in case the band defaulted on their contract and refused to deliver any new material. These were the fifteen songs that were delivered to Reprise, but in the end they dropped the last four before cutting acetates of the eleven track album.

Track Listing

01 She's Got Everything
02 Monica
03 Mr. Songbird
04 Johnny Thunder
05 Polly
06 Days
07 Animal Farm
08 Berkeley Mews
09 Picture Book
10 Phenomenal Cat
11 Misty Water
12 Autumn Almanac
13 Did You See His Name
14 There Is No Life Without Love
15 Susannah's Still Alive

These were the fifteen songs that were delivered to Reprise, but in the end they dropped the last four before cutting acetates of the eleven track album. No final masters were ever made, and no cover artwork was completed, although I did manage to find this cover online, and it looks pretty good, so it could be the one that Ray Davies rejected. 

The Kinks - Where Was Spring? (1969)

The Kinks must have more unreleased songs hidden away than almost any other band that I know of, and after reading about their involvement in a 60's sketch show called 'Where Was Spring?', starring Eleanor Bron and John Fortune, and aired in 1969/1970, I decided to try and find some of them. The Kinks were booked to record one song for each of the six shows, which they did, but it turns out that only two of them - 'Where Did My Spring Go?' and 'When I Turn Off The Living Room Light' - would ever make it onto record. However, along the way I did find another dozen or so rare singles and out-takes that make up this late 60's compilation, which I've titled 'Where Was Spring?' after the TV show.

Track listing

01 Till Death Us Do Part (1968 out-take)
02 Lavender Hill (1967 out-take)
03 Groovy Movies (1969 out-take)
04 Rosemary Rose (1967 out-take)
05 When I Turn Off The Living Room Light (from 'Where Was Spring?')
06 The Way Love Used To Be (from the 'Percy' soundtrack)
07 Plastic Man (unreleased stereo version of 1969 single)
08 This Man He Weeps Tonight (1969 out-take)
09 Pictures In The Sand (1968 out-take)
10 Where Did My Spring Go? (from 'Where Was Spring?')
11 King Kong (b-side to 'Plastic Man')
12 Drivin' (1969 single)
13 Mindless Child Of Motherhood (b-side to 'Drivin')
14 Did You See His Name (1968 out-take)
15 Mr. Shoemaker's Daughter (1969 out-take)

Cover borrowed from Albums Forgotten Reconstructed, who also have their own version of the album.