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Return to Waterloo/Come Dancing |
List Price: $9.99
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Reviews |
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Description:
Ray Davies, singer-songwriter-leader of the Kinks, has long been one of rock music's strongest storytellers. His only film, this overlooked hour-long rock opera, feels like a slightly bleaker extension on the same themes Davies once explored on the timeless Kinks album, The Village Green Preservation Society. Told entirely in the mind of a middle-age commuter (a solemn Kenneth Colley) during a train trip he takes every day, the film both laments the passing of old-fashioned English traditions and bashes them for the complacency they've caused in modern life. This short is essentially a concept album put to film: lyrics take the place of dialogue, and rhythm and melody set the dynamics. The tunes (unavailable on any Kinks record) are easily the strongest output of the band's '80s material. Davies ambitiously chooses a nonlinear structure, shows no fear in painting our protagonist as a possible rapist and/or pedophile, and creates a haunting mini-masterpiece. It feels like Dennis Potter blended with The Wall minus the latter's excruciating pretentiousness and bombast. Hard-core Kinks fans will also appreciate the anthology of '80s rock videos, Come Dancing with the Kinks that accompanies the film. The eight songs include "Come Dancing," "Predictable," "Lola" (live), "State of Confusion," "Don't Forget to Dance," "You've Really Got Me" (live), "Do It Again," and "Celluloid Heroes" (live). --Dave McCoy
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