Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22540 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2001-09-25
• Running time: 0 seconds

Customer Reviews

The Kinks: The RCA Years
With the notable exception of MUSWELL HILLBILLIES, the five albums that the Kinks recorded for RCA from 1971-1975 are among the weakest in their entire catalog. What CELLULOID HEROES does is cherry pick the best tracks from those albums to give even the die-hard fan about everything you really need from this period of their career. [Although you should purchase Velvel's re-issue of MUSWELL HILLBILLIES.]

The first three tracks are from their classic HILLBILLIES album. Tracks 4-6 are from EVERYBODY"S IN SHOWBIZ. The standout is the excellent "Celluloid Heroes." [Curiously missing from that album is "Supersonic Rocket Ship," which went to No. 16 in the U.K.]

Tracks 7-12 come from their theatrically staged Preservation Act I and II. In his liner notes, author John Swenson exaggerates when he calls these releases a masterpiece, but they include some wonderful songs, including the lovely "Sitting in the Midday Sun" and the campy "Mirror of Love." [By this time, the Kinks commercial success was waning. Act I peaked at No. 177 and Act II did little better at No. 114.]

A SOAP OPERA (tracks 13-15) peaked at No. 51, and songs like "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" showed that the band could still rock. "(A) Face in the Crowd" is typical introspective Ray Davies songwriting. "You Can't Stop the Music" opens with the lines: "Let's all raise a glass to the rock stars of the past/ those who made it, those who faded, and those who never even made the grade/ and those that we thought would never last." The Kinks would surprise most critics when by the end of the decade they became one of the biggest arena draws in the country.

Their final RCA album, SCHOOLBOYS IN DISGRACE (tracks 16-18), peaked at No. 45. I would have preferred including the doo-wop stylings of "The First Time We Fall In Love" to the melancholia of "I'm in Disgrace." Also, "Jack the Idiot Dunce" was another terrific rocker from that album.

The Kinks would close out the Seventies on the Arista label and record such classic albums as MISFITS and LOW BUDGET. But while the Kinks' RCA years are seen as a low point, they did produce some great songs and this anthology does a nice job of putting them all on one disc. With the Kinks having recorded for so many labels, it's unlikely that there will ever be a comprehensive box set. So this is the only way to add these songs essential to your Kinks Kollection. [Running Time: 74:00] HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I don't like it as much as the original version...
I may be alone here, but I had absolutely no problems with the original LP version of this (which I still own). I don't know if the original version has ever been released on CD yet and until it does get released, I'm still holding on to my vinyl copy. As a collection of songs, I think it hung together quite well and had a nice flow to it. None of the selections were bad, with the possible exception of "Sitting In The Midday Sun" from Preservation Act 1.

The track listing for the original Celluloid Heroes was:
"Everybody's A Star", "Sitting In My Hotel", "Here Comes Yet Another Day (Live)", "Holiday", Muswell Hillbilly", "Celluloid Heroes", "20th Century Man", Sitting In The Midday Sun", "One Of The Survivors", "Alcohol" and "Skin And Bone" (live versions), and "(A) Face In The Crowd". Maybe fans thought they included too many songs from Muswell Hillbillies and Everybody's In Showbiz and not enough from the other RCA-VICTOR albums. Whatever the case, I would say the original Celluloid Heroes is one of my favorite albums by The Kinks.

All of that said, this new CD version acts better as an anthology (or overview, whatever term you prefer) of the RCA-VICTOR albums, with three songs apiece from each of those albums. I personally love this era of The Kinks. Ray Davies may not have had all his wits about him at the time with all of those elaborate concept albums, and the band were not exactly at their tightest back then, but all of those albums had a charm of their own..and there are some terrific songs to be found on all of those albums, many of which are included here.

Some welcome additions to this CD are "Complicated Life" from Muswell Hillbillies, "Sweet Lady Genevieve" from Preservation Act 1, and "I'm In Disgrace" and "The Hard Way" from Schoolboys In Disgrace. There were no songs from Schoolboys on the original version and I'm happy that they included my two favorite songs from it. On the other hand, I'm that crazy about the tunes they selected from Preservation Act 2. My favorites from that album include "Introduction To Solution", "When A Solution Comes" and "Shepherds Of The Nation". And...hey, why did they leave off "Sitting In My Hotel" and "Skin and Bone"?

Back on a positive note, the CD includes several pages of liner notes and some cute photos. This was an interesting era for The Kinks and this compilation does a good job capturing most of the highlights.

Get the Japanese equivalent!
I just want to let everyone know that there is a 2001 Japanese release (which is still available, although kinda hard to find) that covers this period of the Kinks music much better, and works better as an expanded version of the original CELLULOID HEROES. It's called THE GREATESET HITS II 1971-75 (the price is about $30), and looking over the track listing you'll see it's just about definitive:

1> Sweet Lady Genevieve; 2> Everybody's A Star (mono mix); 3> Mirror Of Love; 4> Sitting In My Hotel; 5> 20th Century Man; 6> Sitting In The Midday Sun; 7> Holiday Romance; 8> Holiday; 9> Supersonic Rocketship; 10> One Of The Survivors (single edit); 11> Celluloid Heroes; 12> He's Evil; 13> Alchohol (studio version); 14> Ducks On The Wall; 15> You Don't Know My Name; 16> The Hard Way; 17> Look A Little On The Sunny Side; 18> No More Looking Back; 19> Muswell Hillbilly; 20> You Can't Stop The Music

It's become of my favorite Kinks CDs...