Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

There is no comparing Bill Wyman to Jack Bruce, at any level, sorry if I offend.

Those guys had great instruments regardless.
In all fairness some EB-3's were great. When you got a good one OK. I'm referring to many Gibson basses I tried in the seventies that suffered from dropouts or dull spots in the sound, bad necks, bowed, or ski slopes, etc. There were EB-2's that folded up like tacos, and lots of split headstocks on EB-3's. The EB-1 was just a log. Many of the early seventies Gibsons I tried had a terrible action. Maybe they weren't meant for the higher tensed roundwounds which were proliferating at the time. I don't know. I wanted to like them but I didn't meet one available that I wanted to own. Later I owned a Ripper and I loved that Gibson bass!

I always love the looks of the early Kinks. black/red suits and red Gibson or Ricks. Just awesome and not too 'fabricated'.

Chris P wrote:I always love the looks of the early Kinks. black/red suits and red Gibson or Ricks. Just awesome and not too 'fabricated'.

The Mod look was very fresh and exciting to many of us "provincial" fans and we all sought to emulate it. I still have my white go-go boots... It wasn't a fabricated look. It was very hodge-podge, creative, and truly popular. They didn't have to sell it to us, we were it. That was in the days when the hype followed the popularity and not vice-versa. The Beatles, Kinks PR was so very "innocent", naive, compared with the sinister psycho-bending advertising of today.

+1 on the Ripper bass. Tha Phantom 12s were also cool.

Just because the Kinks look good, doesn't mean that there wasn't an effort made to control their image. They were dressed up in the stage costumes that they often appeared in, as well as other photo sessions where they were dressed in something like hunting gear.

lennon211 wrote:Just because the Kinks look good, doesn't mean that there wasn't an effort made to control their image. They were dressed up in the stage costumes that they often appeared in, as well as other photo sessions where they were dressed in something like hunting gear.

Pete Townshend didn't get that about them when he first saw them live when the Who (High Numbers) supported them in 1964. He didn't like the costumes. The music he liked.

There is an interesting story in the Dec. 2008 Mojo Music Magazine that Ray Davies is still saying that a Kinks reunion will be happening. The major issue is the health of Dave Davies, who had a stroke in 2004. Ray notes that Dave has made good progress and is moving well.

The Kinks apparently have the distinction of being the last major 60's British group with all of its original members still alive. They last played as a group in 1969 officially, but did a one time thing in 1981.

A 6 CD collection was released on Dec. 8th (Picture Box) and I'm tempted to buy it.

If they do have a Kinks reunion, seeing Peter playing a Ric bass would be a good thing.

Ray was known to be pretty tight with the $$$, and he may well have baulked at the 1993 price tag back then. Pete also says he has small hands, so a shorter scale bass would work...

Just love to see photos and clips with Dave playing different guitars from that era.
No offense to any one...It just makes me vomit when I see him in the later years with a Les Paul or a Schecter tele or something like that. It never became him. Paul Weller is like the Frozen Evolution character I wished Dave was. Anyone dig what Im sayin?! Who knows maybe he'll show up in 09 with a 360!!??
I liked the Frenetic Guild Starfire solos, and those Casino clips, where he is 17 or so and just totally going for it with Gusto! Anyone know what Kind of gear he was using when he was recording "the album that never was"?? Creepin Jean!!

There's also a lot of talk that the only way that Ray would do it is if they could do some new material. He wants to approach this as a chance to be creative again in the confines of the group, which with the Davies Brothers usually means trouble. However, I think that the time is right and that they could easily bring something wholly worthwhile out. To see them together, no matter who is on bass, although Quaife would be great, would be a lot of fun and I'd definitely pay up for a ticket.

rickboy88 wrote:There is an interesting story in the Dec. 2008 Mojo Music Magazine that Ray Davies is still saying that a Kinks reunion will be happening. The major issue is the health of Dave Davies, who had a stroke in 2004. Ray notes that Dave has made good progress and is moving well.

The Kinks apparently have the distinction of being the last major 60's British group with all of its original members still alive. They last played as a group in 1969 officially, but did a one time thing in 1981.

A 6 CD collection was released on Dec. 8th (Picture Box) and I'm tempted to buy it.

If they do have a Kinks reunion, seeing Peter playing a Ric bass would be a good thing.

Also an interesting but true piece in MOJO about how and i quote"As a fan,however,I will always prefer the 60s kinks, and hereby lies the problem with this box set; it ill-advisedly attempts to place the later 70s,80s and 90s material on a par with the songs that changed the world.I probably wont listen to that half of it again."
This is very true and a honest comment that i thought was valid in writing.Only the first 2 CDs of the box set would only be played as the second half is a more diluted form of Kinks,that is just my opinion tho! By that i mean the songs from the latter 70s have not aged well and are easy to forget....

Whenever I watch videos of The Kinks I'm amazed to see that voice coming out of Ray Davies' mouth because I listened to their records for such a long time without knowing what they looked like. The Kinks's records in the 60s were brilliant. I'd love to see them live even if they're old men now.

Well, I ended up getting another Kinks CD set, and not "Picture Box". It is called "Kinks - the ultimate collection." It contains 44 songs on two CD's. Both seem to go in a chronological order.The older stuff is certainly great. Ray Davies really had a natural song writing talent.

Another neat thing for me was the frequent use of trombones (being a trombone player too) on more than a few of the songs.

An interesting follow-up comment from someone in Mojo Music Magazine is that there is another major 60's British Pop group around with all of the members still alive, and that would be the Hollies. I think the writer also noted that the Hollie's had more top 20 hits, but I'd need to go back and review.

Kira, I owned a Gibson 1962 EBb-3 (Jack Bruce Type)it was a nice bass but the low end humbucker was very muddy you need a boat load of eq to get a clear tone I traded it straight up for my 82 4001 MG. best deal I have ever made.