Words Fail Me (An Occasional Series): The Blues Came Down From Muswell Hill

From (I think) German TV in 1966 it's The Kinks and an astounding totally live version of "Milkcow Blues."



Found this one the other day, having previously not even suspected its existence, and frankly you could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather. Until now, I was unaware that there was any decent live documentation of the Kinks in their original and greatest incarnation; most of the TV stuff I've seen has either been lip-synched or has terrible sound, and the admittedly entertaining 1967 Live at Kelvin Hall album features taped-looped audience noise, badly overdubbed solos, and is in general a mess from a technical standpoint.

This, however...wow. It helps, of course, that the Kinks' take on the venerable Elvis song is pretty much my favorite rave-up in all of 60s rock. And it's nice to finally have a chance to hear how it sounded on what I would say was a very good night.

Dave Davies was 19 at the time, I might add.

Also -- make sure you watch this with some decent speakers turned on; otherwise you'll miss the ace bass work by the criminally underrated Pete Quaife.