Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One
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''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'', commonly abbreviated to ''Lola Versus Powerman'', or simply ''Lola'', is the eighth studio album by the English rock band
the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
, released on 27 November 1970. A
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
, it is a
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
appraisal of the music industry, including song publishers, unions, the press,
accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...
s,
business manager The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company". Compare manager. Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...
s, and life on the road. It marked the group's expansion to a five-piece with the addition of keyboardist
John Gosling John Gosling may refer to: *John Gosling (The Kinks musician) (1948–2023), British keyboardist in The Kinks *John Gosling (Psychic TV musician) (born 1963), British big beat and industrial musician *John Gosling (cricketer, born 1833) (1833–188 ...
. Although it appeared during a transitional period for the Kinks, ''Lola Versus Powerman'' was a success both critically and commercially for the group, charting in the Top 40 in America and helping restore them in the public eye, making it a "comeback" album. It contained two hit singles: " Lola", which reached the top 10 in the US and UK, and " Apeman", which peaked at number five in the UK. In October 2020, Sanctuary Records released a 3-disc 50th Anniversary set that includes 36 extra tracks that include B-sides, outtakes, new mixes and alternate versions. Musically ''Lola Versus Powerman'' is varied, described by
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
as "a wildly unfocused but nonetheless dazzling ''tour de force''", containing some of
Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...
's strongest songs. A second part never followed ''Part One''.


Background and recording

The Kinks' ban by the
American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in N ...
on performing in America, which had been in force since their 1965 US tour,Alterman, Loraine. ''Who Let the Kinks In?''.
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
, 18 December 1969
was lifted in 1969, so the group's management arranged a North American tour. However, members of the band fell ill, and the tour was shuffled, resulting in the band playing only a few dates in America and Canada. A follow-up tour in 1970 met with similar results, with the group performing at only a select number of venues, with many dates cancelled. The down time between the tours allowed
Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...
, lead singer and songwriter of the group, to develop the band's next single, "Lola". The Kinks returned to England to start work on their new LP in spring 1970. The group used Morgan Studios, an independent studio in
Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...
, London, which was a change for them. They would continue recording their albums there until ''Preservation'', when they switched to their newly purchased studio, Konk. Recording began in late April/early May. Some of the first songs recorded were "Lola", the outtake "The Good Life", "Powerman" and " Got to Be Free". The sessions for "Lola" were especially long, and the recording continued into late May. Davies would recall later how he achieved the signature clangy sound at the beginning of the track: The National Steel would play an integral part in many Kinks projects after that. In the 1972 song " Supersonic Rocket Ship", Ray Davies would use the guitar to create a
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
feel for the record. Davies would play it on numerous ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'' appearances, and it would be featured in several music videos the Kinks made in the future, including " Scattered" in 1992.The Kinks: ''Phobia'', "Scattered" music video, 1992 –
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
.
Keyboardist John Gosling was added to the Kinks' lineup in May. He auditioned on the final backing master track for "Lola", and was hired soon after. He was initially taken on solely for their upcoming US tour, but his post evolved into a more permanent position soon after. Gosling would remain with the band until 1978, departing after the release of '' Misfits''. Dubbing for "Lola" was finished in June. Recording for the LP was completed by October, and it was mixed throughout the remainder of the month. ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' was released on 27 November 1970. For "Lola", Ray Davies overdubbed the trademarked word "
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
" with the generic "cherry cola" for the mono single release, as
product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...
rules meant the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
(being a public service broadcaster) would not have played it. The lyrics in the gatefold sleeve of the original LP use the "cherry cola" line, though the album track contains the original stereo "Coca-Cola" version. A similar situation was encountered with the song "Apeman", concerning the line "the air pollution is a-foggin' up my eyes". "Fogging" was mistaken for "fucking", and consequently Ray Davies had to re-record this line prior to its single release.


Themes

The album is a satirical look at the various facets of the music industry, including song publishers ("Denmark Street"), unions ("Get Back in Line"), the press and the hit-making machine ("Top of the Pops"),
accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...
s and
business manager The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company". Compare manager. Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...
s ("The Moneygoround") and the road (" This Time Tomorrow"). Musically, ''Lola Versus Powerman'' is varied, contrasting gentle ballads like "Get Back in Line" and "A Long Way from Home" against
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
songs like "
Rats Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...
" and "Powerman", with "Denmark Street" and "The Moneygoround" paying homage to the English
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
tradition.


Critical reception

''Lola Versus Powerman'' was well-received throughout the British music press. A review in ''
New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'' called " ayDavies ... one of the finest writers in contemporary rock," and praised the record's British styles and originality. ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
''s interpretation of ''Lola Versus Powerman'' was Davies "taking a cheeky nibble" at the pop music business; they continued that "The music's pure Kinks simplicity—but it works." The album received generally positive reviews in the US. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine commented that it was "the best Kinks album yet". '' Village Voice'' critic
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
commented that "Lola" had been an "astounding single," but gave ''Lola Versus Powerman'' a lukewarm review, saying that "the melodies are still there, but in this context they sound corny rather than plaintive." The single "Lola" received positive reviews, and, due to its success, an interview with Ray Davies by Jonathan Cott was featured as a cover story for ''Rolling Stone'' in November 1970. Modern critical opinion towards ''Lola Versus Powerman'' is generally positive, albeit slightly less so. Initially given a positive review by the magazine in 1971, ''Rolling Stone'' rated it 31/2 out of 5 stars in its 1992 printing—however, the fourth edition (published in 2004) ranked it at only 2 stars.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, writing that "Davies never really delivers a cohesive story, but the record holds together because it's one of his strongest sets of songs."


Commercial performance

''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' went virtually unnoticed by the record-buying public in the UK and failed to chart, despite the success of its lead single, "Lola", which topped the ''New Musical Express'' charts in the UK, and reached #2 on ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
''. "Lola" became the Kinks' biggest success since " Sunny Afternoon" in 1966; the group would never again have another single reach this position in the UK. "Lola" was also successful in the US market, charting at #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, staying on the charts for 14 weeks. It also peaked at #7 on the ''
Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...
'' charts. ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' reached #35 on ''Billboard'', and on the ''Record World'' charts it peaked at #22, making it their most successful album since the mid-60s.


Aftermath and legacy

The success of the singles and album allowed the Kinks to negotiate a new contract with
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
, construct their own London Studio, which they named Konk, and assume more creative and managerial control. The record also proved influential:
Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...
told ''Rolling Stone'' that he "especially liked" it, and cited the album as an influence on ''
The Last DJ ''The Last DJ'' is the 11th studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The title track, "Money Becomes King", "Joe" and "Can't Stop the Sun" are all critical of greed in the music industry, which led to a song boycott by ...
'', another album critical of the music industry. Tracks from ''Lola Versus Powerman'' have been featured in multiple films across several languages. One of the most notable uses of songs from the album was when " This Time Tomorrow", "
Strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, chara ...
", and "Powerman" were featured in the 2007
Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...
film '' The Darjeeling Limited''; these tracks were later included on the accompanying soundtrack album. In France, " This Time Tomorrow" appeared in the 2005 Philippe Garrel film '' Les amants réguliers''. "Apeman" has been featured in multiple films, including '' Mondovino'' (2004) and Harold Ramis' '' Club Paradise'' (1986). Ray Davies adapted the album into an autobiographical drama, with the help of co-writer Paul Sirett, including new versions of songs from the album. This was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
in December 2021.


''Part Two''

Before the release of ''Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One'' the band discussed the possibility of it being released as a double album. According to Doug Hinman's book, ''The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night'', a sequel album was planned for release sometime in 1971, but was ultimately scrapped and the band opted to record ''
Muswell Hillbillies ''Muswell Hillbillies'' is the tenth studio album by the English rock group the Kinks. Released on 24 November 1971, it was the band's first album released through RCA Records. The album is named after the Muswell Hill area of North London, w ...
'' instead. Due to the fact that an official title to the follow-up album was never revealed, Hinman refers to the album simply as ''Part Two'' and suggests that preliminary sessions may have occurred in late 1970/early 1971. It is unclear what songs would have appeared on this album, and it is unknown if any songs were even recorded, with the possible exception of some unreleased backing tracks. Almost certainly no songs were completed or mastered. Ray Davies addressed the question of the unfinished sequel in a 2014 ''Uncut'' interview:
''Lola Versus Powerman…'' was good versus evil, obviously, and in ''Volume Two'', I sketched out how you become your worst nightmare, how the good man goes so far he becomes the evil person he always fought against. But we had to do another tour, we had the RCA deal, and we had other recording projects that we had to work towards, and it got lost, unfortunately.


Track listing

Notes *Some CD editions separate the first 40 seconds of "The Contenders" as its own track titled "Introduction" *The 2014 Deluxe edition included the Kinks' following album '' Percy'' as a second disc, also with bonus tracks. The 2-disc set is titled ''Lola versus Powerman and The Moneygoround and Percy''.


B-sides


Personnel

According to the band biographer Doug Hinman: The Kinks *
Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...
 – lead vocals; acoustic, electric and
resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reso ...
guitars; harmonica , producer * Dave Davies – backing vocals; electric and acoustic guitars; lead vocals *
John Dalton John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He introduced the atomic theory into chemistry. He also researched Color blindness, colour blindness; as a result, the umbrella term ...
 – bass guitar *
Mick Avory Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the English rock band the Kinks. He joined them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remained with them until 1984 ...
 – drums *
John Gosling John Gosling may refer to: *John Gosling (The Kinks musician) (1948–2023), British keyboardist in The Kinks *John Gosling (Psychic TV musician) (born 1963), British big beat and industrial musician *John Gosling (cricketer, born 1833) (1833–188 ...
 – baby grand piano,
electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...
,
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
Additional musician *Ken Jones
maracas A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas, also known as tamaracas, were rattles of d ...
Additional production *Mike Bobak
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...


Charts


Weekly charts


Singles

All positions sourced to except where noted.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1970 albums The Kinks albums Pye Records albums Albums produced by Ray Davies Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios 1970s concept albums