Kinks Lola Versus Powerman & The Moneygoround CD - Import

UK digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1970 album from the British Rock band led by the ever-bickering Davies brothers, Ray and Dave. Contains the original album joined by a myriad of non-album tracks, rare mixes and more. 14 tracks. Sanctuary.

The Kinks: Ray Davies (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Dave Davies (vocals, guitar); John Dalton (bass instrument, background vocals); Mick Avory (drums).
Additional personnel: John Gosling (keyboards).
"Lola" gave the Kinks an unexpected hit and its crisp, muscular sound, pitched halfway between acoustic folk and hard rock, provided a new style for the band. However, the song only hinted at what its accompanying album Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1 was all about. It didn't matter that Ray Davies just had his first hit in years -- he had suffered greatly at the hands of the music industry and he wanted to tell the story in song. Hence, Lola -- a loose concept album about Ray Davies' own psychosis and bitter feelings toward the music industry. Davies never really delivers a cohesive story, but the record holds together because it's one of his strongest set of songs. Dave Davies contributes the lovely "Strangers" and the appropriately paranoid "Rats," but this is truly Ray' show, as he lashes out at ex-managers (the boisterous vaudevillian "The Moneygoround"), publishers ("Denmark Street"), TV and music journalists (the hard-hitting "Top of the Pops"), label executives ("Powerman"), and, hell, just society in general ("Apeman," "Got to Be Free"). If his wit wasn't sharp, the entire project would be insufferable, but the album is as funny as it is angry. Furthermore, he balances his bile with three of his best melancholy ballads: "This Time Tomorrow," "A Long Way From Home," and the anti-welfare and union "Get Back in Line," which captures working-class angst better than any other rock song. These songs provide the spine for a wildly unfocused but nonetheless dazzling tour de force that reveals Ray's artistic strengths and endearing character flaws in equal measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
This 1970 album serves as the final installment in the Kinks' string of '60s masterpieces. In an age when most rockers were capitalizing on the new sound inspired by The Beatles' SGT. PEPPER, Ray Davies and the Kinks were looking back in time for musical inspiration on records like ARTHUR and VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY. Mixing classic rock & roll, blues, American country, and English dance hall music, The Kinks were ahead of and behind the times all at once. LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN AND THE MONEY-GO-ROUND merges some of Davies's highbrow stylistic concepts with the edgier rock & roll of the band's early years on some of the finest songs of the group's career.
The 14-track disc features the irresistible radio hits "Lola" and "Apeman"--the first a confused love song to a transvestite, the second a tongue-in-cheek celebration of primitivism. Both songs have rightfully become part of the rock song canon. Equally impressive are Ray Davies's countryish ballad "Denmark Street," the edgier "Get Back In Line," and music industry satire "Top of the Pops." Guitarist Dave Davies also contributes one of his most beautiful songs, the delicate "Strangers." The Kinks were among the all-time masters of the smartly crafted, idiosyncratic pop song. LOLA VERSUS POWERMAN AND THE MONEY-GO-ROUND is a great collection, ranking just behind their brightest moments in the '60s.

Rolling Stone (1/7/71, p.47) - "..This may be the best Kinks' album yet. And brother, that's saying a mouthful.."