If you were to look beyond the music to the backstory of any Kinks studio album, of which there were 20, prior to WORD OF MOUTH (November 1984), there is every chance investigation would reveal some degree of consternation and contradiction.
Since emerging in 1964 with incendiary single ‘You Really Got Me‘, the subsequent twenty years and score of albums they had to their name were littered with episodes of conflict, much of it personal between chief creative force Ray Davies and younger brother, lead guitarist Dave.
More often than not, however, the songwriting genius of the elder sibling had defied the odds in creating some of the most resonant popular music of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. In the process The Kinks had become standard bearers for rock songs that were stylish, spirited and often satirical.
Through a career of such longevity there had been triumph and tribulation, highlights and thin spots. The artistic muse of Ray Davies had, down the years, led them through a run of exemplary hit singles during the ’60s, a series of critically-shunned, poor selling mid-70s concept albums, which in turn were followed by a commercial renaissance in 1979 (particularly in the U.S.) with the hugely successful ‘Low Budget‘ L.P.
Featuring songs that were brash and belligerent, yet ideal for the arenas The Kinks were now playing, ensuing releases ‘Give the People What They Want‘ (1981) and ‘State of Confusion‘ (1983), contained, to varying degree, more of the streamlined bombast that had triggered their resurgence – the latter album containing ‘Come Dancing‘ a witty Ray Davies composition that after a nine year absence also restored them to upper reaches of the singles chart in their U.K. homeland.
So with the U.S. finally conquered, Britain once more receptive to a Kinks 45 and a relatively familiar line-up of founding members Ray, Dave and drummer Mick Avory, along with Jim Rodford (bassist, seven years) and Ian Gibbons (keyboards, five years), there was a feeling of uncommon stability, not to say satisfaction, when time came to cutting their next album.
Yet the line, ‘Think of all the fun we had in 1984‘ from the track ‘Too Hot‘ that was about to be cut would prove sadly ironic. From the moment the band entered Konk, their own North London recording studio, circumstances within The Kinks inner circle began to unravel – the backdrop to ‘Word of Mouth‘ more fraught than anything even they had previously encountered.
Besides having a set of new songs to record, Ray had a solo project, a long form video entitled ‘Return to Waterloo‘ to complete, the accompanying, (self-written) music being recorded with support from band his mates, all bar brother Dave that is, who declined any involvement.
For his part the younger Davies brother brought a set of grievances to the sessions. These centred upon what he perceived was a poor effort from Warner Brothers in promoting his last solo album (‘Chosen People‘ – August 1983), but more pointedly his rapidly deteriorating relationship with Avory.
In a bid to alleviate the tension – Ray and Dave also at their customary state of loggerheads – The Kinks played a series of U.S. and U.K. shows through the spring of 1984. But when they reconvened at Konk in mid-April, the situation between Dave and Mick had declined to such a degree that following a couple of highly-charged weeks it was put to the long-serving drummer, (who had played on three tracks destined for the new album), his tenure as a Kink was over.
The news was broken to him by Ray whose own emotions were unsteady, as just prior to letting Avory go his four year relationship with Chrissie Hynde came to an abrupt end – the Pretenders guitarist with whom Davies had a daughter, to the surprise of many including a bewildered Ray, announcing from New York on May 5 that she had married Simple Minds front man Jim Kerr.
Into an atmosphere at Konk, later described by bass player Rodford as ‘tense, tenuous and traumatic‘ entered Bob Henrit, whose impressive drum credentials included high profile session work (Dave Davies being one artist he had worked with) and lengthy spell in ’70s U.K. rockers Argent, where with Rodford he had formed an accomplished rhythm section.
His more muscular style is evident in the tracks The Kinks were about to record in completing an album that is conscientious, if at times contrived. For the most part this uneven 11-track collection caters, similar to the trio of albums which precede it, to the markets now most receptive to their wares, namely American rock radio and stadium performances.
While mid-80s production techniques are evident they are not all pervading, to the extent that some of the up-tempo numbers are interchangeable with others from the past five years – and while it is tempting to bemoan a lack of bygone-era Kinks originality, the album stands as testament to their sheer bloody-mindedness in remaining a valid proposition.
Heralded by the clang of a guitar chord lifted virtually verbatim from ‘A Hard Day’s Night‘, opening track ‘Do It Again‘ makes for a punchy start, The Kinks, now durable to a fault through the years spent playing big venues, receiving additional propulsion through the assertive drum fills of Henrit.
Reflecting upon recurring patterns of behaviour that occur in everyday life, (‘Where are all the people going?/Round and round till we reach the end/One day leading to another/Get up, go out, do it again‘), Ray laments how fear of change creates a cycle of repitition:
‘The days go by and you wish you were a different guy/Different friends and a new set of clothes/You make alterations and affect a new pose/A new house, a new car, a new job, a new nose/But it’s superficial and it’s only skin deep/Because the voices in your head keep shouting in your sleep/Get back, get back.’
Forceful, yet engaging ‘Do It Again‘ appeared to have the necessary attributes required for frequent airplay and success when issued as a single. But this 45 and the album itself were to become more injured parties of these tempestuous times in Kinks country.
With their current deal with Arista up for renegotiation, Kinks manager Elliot Abbott was already someway down the road in discussions with MCA, to whom they would subsequently sign. Their current label reacted with predictable annoyance at being sidelined and kept promotional spending on ‘Word of Mouth‘ to a minimum.
As a consequence ‘Do It Again‘ made little headway while the parent album stalled at 57 on the Billboard listings – a drop of 45 places from where ‘State of Confusion‘ had peaked the previous year.
Altogether it made for a messy end to their seven year stay on Arista, a period that galvanized their profile and commercial fortunes – and while disappointment with the poor showing of ‘Word of Mouth‘ was understandable, it was the last time a new Kinks album would be seen anywhere near a respectable chart placing.
Of the more aggressive numbers, the title track, amidst the strident guitar work of Dave, bristles with indignation at how gossip spreads to become a variation of the truth, Ray adding a personal perspective, (‘The word of mouth says that I’ve gone insane/That wine and women have affected my brain/Well who’s the big mouth spreading the news again?’), to make clear his distaste for rumours.
Of similar hard-rocking hue, side two opener ‘Massive Reductions‘ rails against corporate greed and how a downturn in the economy had affected one previously affluent individual, (‘Good-bye my big house, my big car/Now it’s all up to welfare/I hear that everybody’s going there‘), Ray having the good sense to wrap up this somewhat pedestrian offering in less than three minutes. Attaching an ’80s drum sound to a track with rockabilly inflections, in ‘Too Hot‘ he evokes the stress of modern life (‘Julian is out there looking at locations/Arthur’s on the picket line winding up the nation/Sara Jane’s working on her way to a degree)’, from the standpoint of three diverse, if thinly drawn characters.
One of three cuts to feature Avory, side one closer ‘Sold Me Out‘ has an accusatory tone (‘I always knew that they’d get me/Sooner or later/But with a bullet in the head, a knife in the back/Not a pocket calculator‘), Mick thumping away to good effect through an energetic offering not out of place on any Kinks set of recent times, the breezy harmonica a pleasant touch even if the lyric overdoes the sense of grievance.
The other two tracks played on by Avory were recut after originally being included on the ‘Return to Waterloo‘ soundtrack, ‘Missing Persons‘ and ‘Going Solo‘ both among the less boisterous inclusions.
The soon-departing drummer makes a necessarily understated contribution to ‘Missing Persons‘, an ambiguous, piano-based song depicting either a lover reeling from the absence of another or father worried in regard to an estranged daughter, (‘Now I’m sitting at home, staring at the wall/Waiting for the missing person to call/Waiting for the message I’m dreading to hear’, Ray producing a suitably touching vocal, irrespective of the lyrical intent.
Avory also plays in restrained manner on closing cut ‘Going Solo‘ which is more defined in describing a teenage child wanting independence from her parents. While mid-paced in tempo – the handclaps strange decoration given the subject matter – some despairing sentiments, (‘The toys are forgotten, now it appears/You’ve let them down after all of these years/Sacrificed all, now there’s nothing to show/Ungrateful youth, decided you’re going solo‘), make for a somber conclusion to what is, generally speaking, a musically upbeat album.
In terms of energy, ‘Good Day‘ and ‘Summer’s Gone‘ are each engaging pieces, although both are grounded by wry or regretful ruminations.
The former, which is built upon a programmed drum track, suggesting it was recorded in the brief post-Avory, pre-Henrit juncture, finds Ray contemplating the hours ahead with no great anticipation, (‘The sky is blue but there are clouds in my head/With big decisions looming ahead/The sun is out but the room is so grey/So much confusion headed my way‘), his personal strife briefly interrupted by an item in the Sunday paper:
‘News of the world, tea and biscuits in bed/The headlines said that Diana is dead/She couldn’t act much but she put on a show/
She always smiled even when she felt low/I used to fancy her a long time ago.’
The lady in question is clearly English actress Diana Dors who passed away at the age of 52 in May 1984 (his comment on her acting ability not entirely fair as anyone aware of her outstanding performance in the 1956 crime drama ‘Yield to the Night‘ will testify). The narrator, however, while trying to be cheerful cannot stop thinking about the source of his dismay, ‘They could drop a small atom bomb on the city today/But if you walk through that door honey/You know it’ll be a good day.‘
There is greater emotional resonance attached to ‘Summer’s Gone‘ which stands tall as the best song Ray contributes to the album.
With the band sounding at their most assured, energized here by the crisp precision of Henrit, the writer, a master throughout his career of finding solace in nostalgia, finds no comfort in turning the clock back 12 months, ‘It should have been a laugh/It should have been fun/When I think of all the things that we did last Summer/Now I look back, it seems such a crime/We couldn’t appreciate it at the time’.
Due to a fragile state of mind neither is there any joy to be found in evoking the distant past, this despite feelings to the contrary – Ray writing a delightfully poignant verse in capturing his sorrow and confusion:
‘Now I’m standing in a doorway, thinking of Summers gone by/It ought to make me happy/But it just makes me want to cry/I was riding in the car with my mum and dad/He was drivin’ the car, the kids were drivin’ him mad/Dad looked at us, then he looked at his wife/He must have wondered where we all came from/And then mum said, “Dad, you know it won’t last for long/Before you know it, Summer’s gone.”
With Dave contributing a concise guitar solo to an already buoyant melody, ‘Summer’s Gone‘ would have provided the album with a more memorable ending had it been sequenced as the final track – a claim that could also be made for the superior of the two songs credited to the lead guitarist.
While ‘Guilty‘ is a frantic, if undistinguished rocker bemoaning individuals who flaunt their wealth and status, (‘Secure in your offices of self-gratification/Deaf to the cries of the innocent strangers you buried‘), ‘Living on a Thin Line‘ is not only his finest writing since ‘Strangers‘ from the 1970 ‘Lola‘ album, but the most politically pertinent Kinks song since those Ray wrote for ‘Muswell Hillbillies‘ in 1971.
From an ominous opening of brooding bass lines, Dave is then joined by ringing guitars and incisive drums as he offers state of the nation observations:
‘All the stories have been told/Of kings and days of old/But there’s no England now/(There’s no England now)/All the wars that were won and lost/Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore/All the lies we were told (all the lies that we were told)/
All the lies of the people running round/Their castles have burned/I see change/But inside we’re the same as we ever were.’
Finding little in the way of national identity and times gripped by uncertainty, the lyric takes on added significance when set against the emotive social issue of the day, namely the 1984-85 U.K. miners strike. An episode that created deep divisions within British society it often resulted in violent clashes between striking miners, led by union supremo Arthur Scargill, and the police – the forces of law and order deployed by Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher to prevent picket line disruption.
Having already asked the question ‘Now another century nearly gone/What are we gonna leave for the young?‘ Dave then makes allusion to the confrontations currently taking place in mining towns across the country:
‘Then another leader says:”Break their hearts and break some heads”/Is there nothing we can say or do?/Blame the future on the past/Always lost in bloody guts/And when they’re gone, it’s me and you.’
Given the song was topical and superbly crafted to boot, it was prime contender to be the flagship single from the album – something to have crossed the mind of the writer as revealed in his 2022 autobiography, which has the same title as the song:
‘The big question for me though, was why ‘Living on a Thin Line’ was not being released as a single. It was receiving massive airplay on the radio, then it transpired Ray had it written in his publishing contract that the first three singles from a Kinks album had to be written by himself. By the time anyone realised what was going on, it was too late to put it out as a single.’
Thus another opportunity to give ‘Word of Mouth‘ a helpful push toward a higher chart placing was missed, although ‘Living on a Thin Line‘ was spared the fate of joining a long list of lost Kinks classics when in 2001 it featured in an episode of acclaimed U.S. television drama ‘The Sopranos‘.
Through 1985 The Kinks undertook two lengthy U.S. tours in trying to regain lost momentum in the wake of ‘Word of Mouth‘ returning modest sales figures, but ‘Think Visual‘ (November 1986) their first release for MCA performed even worse (U.S.81) and prompted a round of negative reviews, being dismissed by the New Musical Express as ‘a travesty‘.
Their proficiency as performers ensured the band remained a popular concert draw, yet in terms of chart presence they were greatly diminished (1989 release L.P. release ‘U.K. Jive‘ failed to make the top 100 on either side of the Atlantic), the golden glow of their late-70s/early-80s run receding further into memory.
‘Summer’s Gone‘ was no longer just applicable to a memorable track from ‘Word of Mouth‘.
THE KINKS – WORD OF MOUTH (Released November 19 1984):
Do It Again/Word of Mouth/Good Day/Living on a Thin Line/Sold Me Out/Massive Reductions/Guilty/Too Hot/Missing Persons/Summer’s Gone/Going Solo;
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