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The Kinks: Live In San Francisco 1969 (London Calling LCLP C5055)
Venue: The Fillmore Aud., November 29, 1969
Sound Quality: weak and annoying. NOT the KSAN broadcast it claims to be. (Was KSAN even broadcasting concerts in 1969?)
Cover-packaging: hand #d edition of 500 on 180g green vinyl with glossy jacket and a color insert inside containing an interview with Ray Davies from 1969. By far, the most redeeming thing about an otherwise abysmal release.
Tracklist: (side 1) Till The End of the Day/ Last of the Steam Powered Trains/ You’re Lookin’ Fine/ Mr. Churchill Says/ Big Sky/ You Really Got Me (side 2) Love Me Till the Sun Shines/ Brainwashed> Milk Cow Blues> Tired of Waiting> Brainwashed/ Louie, Louie/ Victoria/ A Well Respected Man
Comments: After a 4 year ban on The Kinks by the American Federation of Musicians, ostensibly because of rowdy behavior on their 1965 tour, The Kinks returned in 1969 with a dwindling audience and as a transformed band. Gone were the raucous 2-3 minute singles that were their greatest successes up until that point. The Kinks were now a more cerebral band performing well crafted songs with inspiring melodies. They were on a creative streak that ran four albums (Face to Face thru Arthur), all released during their 4 year banishment from the U.S. How would the Americans react?
Quite well, thank you. While a few old rockers remained in the set list, the bulk of it was made up of U.S. non-hits, all worthy of airplay, but which The Kinks received virtually none on these shores. Nonetheless, Arthur was gaining traction on the album charts, fueled by the new FM “free-form” stations. The AFM took note, and permits were granted for American shows.
The shows from 1969 contain some of the most diverse setlists of the band’s career, with not only a new album to promote, but a degree of catch up to be done as well. And the track list on this album is one that would cause even the most casual of Kinks fan to salivate. And FM radio quality as well? This has got to be the holy grail, right?
Not so fast.
The first disappointment is that this is not the FM broadcast promised on the cover. It’s the same old reel-to-reel audience recording that hard-core Kinks fans have circulated for years. That might make for a pretty good bootleg in and of itself, as the recording was very good for the era, with clear vocals and a full-bodied representation of the Kinks in concert. A little boomy perhaps, and the propensity of the taper to pause the recording between songs (common for the time). Not so fast, again.
What London Calling has used as their tape source is a high generation tape with warble and volume fluctuations reminiscent of a high speed cassette dub. The “gaps” in between songs have been removed to make it more fluid, but so has the entire bottom end of the sound spectrum, resulting in something that resembles hearing this already flawed source sounding as if it was being played through a 1960’s portable transistor radio.
In conclusion, this is something for completists and color vinyl fetishists only. The hard-core Kinks fan (raising my hand) will have to have it, if for no other reason than as a reminder to dig out that old tape sitting in a box and transferring it to a CD-R for some listening pleasure (done). All others should avoid it like the plague.
Grade: C (upgraded a whole letter due to the setlist and the graphics)
[Review by Bill Glahn]
Thanks for posting
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