For me, he's England's greatest songwriter of his generation. No one comes close to him. He makes his points clear and direct, consistently album after album. Lyrically just poetic, observational, storytelling. His songs are part of a huge novel he has written about Life. Life as he's seen it lived, lived it himself. They're all just sentences from a larger paragraph. Fragments of his creative beauty.
Sadly, deeply under appreciated in his time. Thankfully among musicians and Kinks fans worldwide, today he is held in the utmost respect as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. If he wasn’t a musician, he would’ve been a poet. Dave as well for being a certified genius with guitar. The man with the mean right hand, like a boxer as Ray said. The Davies brothers are without a doubt two of the greatest to ever grace rock with their presence.
There are a lot of gems on the albums that are generally considered by the "critics" to be The Kinks' worst work. I disagree. Listen to Preservation 1 and 2, Soap Opera and Schoolboys in Disgrace and you will find a lot of wonderful songs. Soap Opera even occasionally pops up on some "worst album of alltime" lists. Crucially shameful to overlook this period of the band's canon.
Ray is not under rated and unappreciated. He was knighted, inducted into the RR Hall of Fame (for whatever it's worth) and the Kinks are typically mentioned as one of the five best British Invasion groups. Lots of people appreciate him and his brother Dave as geniuses. Yes, I think this song itself is overlooked among so many Kinks masterpieces. Too bad, the video also shows how distant Ray and Dave are so that it looks they are playing so far away on different stages.
You have a point. But, then again, most people know Lola, You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the NIght. Do they know TKATVGS? Muswell Hillbillies? Arthur? Face to Face? Etc Etc. It is a paradox. @@paulbrucker7512
Walking along a crowded street I see thousands of faces before me. Then I see a face that I used to know Long ago in my life story. It starts me thinking about the things you said For your image is still inside me. The past is gone but in my head You're still walking along beside me. Is it something playing tricks with my eyes Or just an illusion deceiving me, Or is it someone in a disguise Or visions of things that used to be? But lately I've been going to All the places that we once knew, And just when I think that I am free of you I keep seeing the things that remind me of you, And just when I think you're out of my head I hear a song that you sang or see a book that you read. Then you're in every bar, you're in every cafŽ, You're driving every car, I see you everyday, But you're not really there 'cos you belong to yesterday. No more looking back, No more living in the past, Yesterday's gone and that's a fact, Now there's no more looking back. Got to be hard, Yeah, look straight ahead. That s the only way it's going to be, Yesterday's gone and that's a fact, Now there's no more looking back, Perhaps someday I'll stop needing you, Then maybe one day I'll be free of you. But lately I've been going to All the places that remind me of you. And just when I think you're out of my head I hear a record you played or see a book that you read. Then you're in every bar, you're in every cafŽ, You're driving every car, I see you everyday But you're not really there 'cos you belong to yesterday. No more looking back, No more living in the past. Yesterday's gone, that's a fact, Now there's no more looking back. No more looking back. No more living in the past. Yesterday's gone, that's a fact. Now there's no more looking back.
Time goes on as we get older and watch as our lives start slipping away. The flood of emotions that come over you as you do think of past loves, heartbreak and the lose of those you love. Will anyone remember us? What a great song.
Saw them at the Uptown Theatre in Milwaukee in December, 1974. This and Lola Vs. the Powerman are my favs but they've done so much good work that it's silly to really try to pick one. This song has ALWAYS knocked me out. Everything about it fits beautifully. God Bless The Kinks.
God, this takes me back. This has to be one of the few, really great, rock love songs. It's so damn powerful, and the words work PERFECTLY with the melody.
"But lately I've been going to All the places that we once knew, And just when I think that I am free of you I keep seeing the things that remind me of you....."
Pete Townsend has been heard to say on more than one occasion that Ray Davies should've been named Poet Laureate of Great Britain. This from another of the great rock lyricist songwriters. More importantly I think Gayla might have been referring to the popularity of The Kinks in The United States. Considering they were unable to tour in America from 1966 - 1970 because they were effectively banned here I think she may have a point. Has they been able to tour though Ray may not have written half the great songs he did write as he would've been too busy so... double edged sword...
@@kevinwhite616 Yes, but I know what Gayla means. The average person hears, in the media and to some degree from the general populace, so much about Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and especially Lennon/McCartney as THE great 20th century rock music writers, and, yes, they were wonderful. But, as Andy Partridge of XTC said in that recent documentary, there are songs Ray Davies has written that reach emotional depths that Lennon/McCartney never did. The Kinks have always been a close second to the Who for me in terms of live performances, but I truly believe that Ray Davies was the greatest writer of my era in so many senses, and you just don't hear as much recognition of him as I wish you did.
@ThisIsRuthie A real slow cooker... couldn't fully appreciate this when I was a younger Kinks fan. Now it's one of my all-time fav's. Awesome chord changes and emotional ferocity...
From "School Boys In Disgrace." One of the greatest of the Kinks concept lps of the 70's. Ray looked at the trials and tribulations of adolescence in his usual insightful style.
"Schoolboys" was the prequel to "Preservation." Jack the Idiot Dunce went on to become Mr. Flash! Sir Ray is the most brilliant storyteller in Rock history!
An overlooked Kinks, the best song on the Schoolboys in Disgrace album. It's a perfect Kinks song, from the lyrics, to the melody, to the guitar riffs .
I just bought Schoolboys in Disgrace on vinyl at a record store for only $10 US. It's used and a little worn but the album still sounds great. One of my all-time favorite Kinks albums and one of their last concept albums.
Complete with Dave and Mick, the Two Johns, Horn Section post- Michael Cotton and Debi Doss with that soaring voice. GREEEAAT song with full complement.
This video was posted a few years back, and then was removed. I'm just glad it's back; Every well known band/group reaches a point in their history when their sound has to go through a metamorphosis. This song represents that change for the Kinks, who went on to do some great stuff in the late 70 and early 80's. I especially love the brass section. Bravo vivalabeat !!!
I love and have always loved this album. Unfortunately, when it was reviewed in my hometown newspaper, THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE (or was it THE PITTSBURGH PRESS?) used the headline, “ KINKS IN DISGRACE. “
2:38 "Gotta be hard... Yeah, look straight ahead... That's the ONLY way it's gonna be... Yesterday's gone...That's a fact... NOW there's no more looking back." SUCH brutal truth uttered in such a poignant way.
One of my most treasured Kinks songs. The performance seems to be a live lead vocal over a pre-recorded backing track. (Note the absence of cords coming out of Dave's and the bass player's guitars.) This was a very prevalent practice for UK television in the 70s. Often, a band would come in the day before and record the backing track. This was good in that the viewing audience would be hearing a different version of the song from the record, and it would create the illusion of a live performance.
Absolutely sure you are right. If you listen to the album version and this one after the other, they are not identical. The vocal is clearly live; the backing is slightly different as well - probably, as you say, recorded separately for the TV programme, which is what typically was done on British TV shows at the time.
This song saw them regain their focus. The album was top fifty in the States and over the next ten years there were to be several more albums that did even better.
I remember hearing about some bizarre BBC rule where part of the song had to be performed live or some such thing so you'll see this a lot in British clips. I think the vocals are better here than on the record.
Wow...this is so cool...and strange...seems to be a blend of live and prerecorded....and yes...one of the most amazing overlooked songs ever...but the Kinks catalogue is littered with others as well!
The biggest compliment the Kinks earn when I play this cut for a friend, here and there, is "THAT was 1975??" The Beatles were never this good - and the Kinks only got better for another ten years. (Their LAST eight years, they were phoning it in...until Phobia in 1993. That was what tipped me off that they were about done...their last hurrah.)
avivalabeat: When they performed this concert as part of the "Schoolboys In Disgrace" tour, it was presented with a film in the background, of the stage showing Ray/"Norman" walking the city streets, seeing the love he sings about, everywhere he goes, and every woman has a mask with that face he misses so much! A great song, gret show and words to live by: Unfortunately, "yesterday's gone, and that's a fact, now there's No More Looking Back!" Thanks for the post!
Not sure what you're saying but Mick Avory the drummer is clearly in the video, and you can catch a glimpse of the bassist probably John Dalton although this is circa 1975-76 around the time he left. The more anonymous guys are the brass guys - Cotton, Brown, Beecham, et al. I also nominate John Gosling as the most under-appreciated Kink.
In this video, Ray looks just like an actor who plays a vampire in Interview with the Vampire movie. It is one of the vampires that belong to Armand’s coven in the theatre. I cannot find a screenshot but the resemblance is eerie.
For me, he's England's greatest songwriter of his generation. No one comes close to him. He makes his points clear and direct, consistently album after album. Lyrically just poetic, observational, storytelling. His songs are part of a huge novel he has written about Life. Life as he's seen it lived, lived it himself. They're all just sentences from a larger paragraph. Fragments of his creative beauty.
Correct yet still so under appreciated by most
And he wrote very personal songs that many of us in the human race could relate to. You felt like he wrote the song just for you. He’s brilliant.
@@KoolKatDave Woke up this morning, started to sneeze. I've done that! ;)
Pete Townshend gives him high praise for lyrics.
Ohne Zweifel. !!
Schoolboys in Disgrace is such an extremely underrated album... You must listen from start to finish... Every song is GREAT!
With such a great cover art! Loved that album.
That's the fact jack.!!
So beautiful how the chorus is a duet between Ray’s voice and Dave’s lead guitar line.
Or is it the prechorus? I dunno…his song structure is complex.
Ray Davies has to be one of the most under-rated and unappreciated songwriters/artists ever. Such an incredible and overlooked song.
Sadly, deeply under appreciated in his time. Thankfully among musicians and Kinks fans worldwide, today he is held in the utmost respect as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. If he wasn’t a musician, he would’ve been a poet. Dave as well for being a certified genius with guitar. The man with the mean right hand, like a boxer as Ray said. The Davies brothers are without a doubt two of the greatest to ever grace rock with their presence.
There are a lot of gems on the albums that are generally considered by the "critics" to be The Kinks' worst work. I disagree. Listen to Preservation 1 and 2, Soap Opera and Schoolboys in Disgrace and you will find a lot of wonderful songs. Soap Opera even occasionally pops up on some "worst album of alltime" lists. Crucially shameful to overlook this period of the band's canon.
Ray is not under rated and unappreciated. He was knighted, inducted into the RR Hall of Fame (for whatever it's worth) and the Kinks are typically mentioned as one of the five best British Invasion groups. Lots of people appreciate him and his brother Dave as geniuses. Yes, I think this song itself is overlooked among so many Kinks masterpieces. Too bad, the video also shows how distant Ray and Dave are so that it looks they are playing so far away on different stages.
You have a point. But, then again, most people know Lola, You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the NIght. Do they know TKATVGS? Muswell Hillbillies? Arthur? Face to Face? Etc Etc. It is a paradox. @@paulbrucker7512
Ray is not under-rated or under-appreciated by People that Know and Understand Great music. Unfortunately not enough People do.
Walking along a crowded street
I see thousands of faces before me.
Then I see a face that I used to know
Long ago in my life story.
It starts me thinking about the things you said
For your image is still inside me.
The past is gone but in my head
You're still walking along beside me.
Is it something playing tricks with my eyes
Or just an illusion deceiving me,
Or is it someone in a disguise
Or visions of things that used to be?
But lately I've been going to
All the places that we once knew,
And just when I think that I am free of you
I keep seeing the things that remind me of you,
And just when I think you're out of my head
I hear a song that you sang or see a book that you read.
Then you're in every bar, you're in every cafŽ,
You're driving every car, I see you everyday,
But you're not really there 'cos you belong to yesterday.
No more looking back,
No more living in the past,
Yesterday's gone and that's a fact,
Now there's no more looking back.
Got to be hard,
Yeah, look straight ahead.
That s the only way it's going to be,
Yesterday's gone and that's a fact,
Now there's no more looking back,
Perhaps someday I'll stop needing you,
Then maybe one day I'll be free of you.
But lately I've been going to
All the places that remind me of you.
And just when I think you're out of my head
I hear a record you played or see a book that you read.
Then you're in every bar, you're in every cafŽ,
You're driving every car, I see you everyday
But you're not really there 'cos you belong to yesterday.
No more looking back,
No more living in the past.
Yesterday's gone, that's a fact,
Now there's no more looking back.
No more looking back.
No more living in the past.
Yesterday's gone, that's a fact.
Now there's no more looking back.
Chef’s kiss.
Just brilliant The Kinks were just so incredible Ray Davies is a star
I've been experiencing what Ray sings in this song in my life for too long^^
One of the most touching songs by Ray, he is a genius.
Song puts him in his own own artistic category- it emotes longing in the present.
And just listen to Dave's guitar! All the agony and the tension half-hidden by the defiantly-in-denial lyrics expressed by those strings.
Catjoe12. You were able to say exactly what I have felt for years about this remarkable jam. I was never able to put it into words. Thank you!!!
Yes!
Aren’t they brilliant.
Great job by Dave on lead guitar, and Mick on drums. And great song written by Ray. The most underrated and influential UK band from the 60s.
Time goes on as we get older and watch as our lives start slipping away. The flood of emotions that come over you as you do think of past loves, heartbreak and the lose of those you love. Will anyone remember us? What a great song.
One of their best songs, Ray has always been a brilliant writer throughout, shame it took people in general so long to realise that fact.
The Kinks have always been my favorite band even ahead of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
In total agreement, with you!
ME TOO SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me too
One more to the club!!!
Same here Sue.....
This song is a real heartbraker. Wonderful.
Had to pull over this song and Days great but still brings tears to the eyes saw Ray from Glastonbury after Pete died Ray looked a little choked up
@@dogfart1915 Oh god, "Days"
I love this song. Especially the "Just when I think you're out of my head..." bit.
Saw them at the Uptown Theatre in Milwaukee in December, 1974. This and Lola Vs. the Powerman are my favs but they've done so much good work that it's silly to really try to pick one.
This song has ALWAYS knocked me out. Everything about it fits beautifully. God Bless The Kinks.
Too many great KINKS songs to ever get tired of them.
We all reminisce great song.Unless people are on your boat everyone moves to pastures green 🙂👍
My personal theme song. When the past gets me down and I think about all the bad stuff that happened, I always turn to this gem.
Gets me through...
It will be for me, too.
God, this takes me back. This has to be one of the few, really great, rock love songs. It's so damn powerful, and the words work PERFECTLY with the melody.
More great lyrics from Ray, more great guitar licks from Dave....GSTKINKS FOREVER!
Kinks live cow palace
i'm from chicago,God save the kinks
"But lately I've been going to
All the places that we once knew,
And just when I think that I am free of you
I keep seeing the things that remind me of you....."
Ray Davies is a brilliant, though underappreciated, lyricist. This is in my top 5 favourite Kinks songs. They should have been more recognized.
Where? The Kinks have had huge recognition and it is now Sir Ray Davies.
Pete Townsend has been heard to say on more than one occasion that Ray Davies should've been named Poet Laureate of Great Britain. This from another of the great rock lyricist songwriters. More importantly I think Gayla might have been referring to the popularity of The Kinks in The United States. Considering they were unable to tour in America from 1966 - 1970 because they were effectively banned here I think she may have a point. Has they been able to tour though Ray may not have written half the great songs he did write as he would've been too busy so... double edged sword...
@@kevinwhite616 Yes, but I know what Gayla means. The average person hears, in the media and to some degree from the general populace, so much about Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and especially Lennon/McCartney as THE great 20th century rock music writers, and, yes, they were wonderful. But, as Andy Partridge of XTC said in that recent documentary, there are songs Ray Davies has written that reach emotional depths that Lennon/McCartney never did. The Kinks have always been a close second to the Who for me in terms of live performances, but I truly believe that Ray Davies was the greatest writer of my era in so many senses, and you just don't hear as much recognition of him as I wish you did.
@@andyvinstra Townshend has always been one of RD's biggest fans.
One of my top 20 Kinks' songs -- to think that at the time, some writers were saying they shouldn't even be playing anymore!
On the dvd, this is my favorite. What a great band. Prolific writing. All members made meaningful contributions during all the phases of the band.
What's the name of the DVD you're mentioning????
Never understood why this wasn't a hit.
This and about 20 others
Agreed
@ThisIsRuthie A real slow cooker... couldn't fully appreciate this when I was a younger Kinks fan. Now it's one of my all-time fav's. Awesome chord changes and emotional ferocity...
Schoolboys is a great album
I love Dave's guitar work on Schoolboys In Disgrace as well as Ray's vocals.
From "School Boys In Disgrace." One of the greatest of the Kinks concept lps of the 70's. Ray looked at the trials and tribulations of adolescence in his usual insightful style.
"Schoolboys" was the prequel to "Preservation." Jack the Idiot Dunce went on to become Mr. Flash! Sir Ray is the most brilliant storyteller in Rock history!
Damn Ray is so gorgeous! Must be why I have a taste for British men. My first big celebrity crush and I still have it :)
Oh My Maude...
School Boys in Disgrace.!! Complete album.
An overlooked Kinks, the best song on the Schoolboys in Disgrace album. It's a perfect Kinks song, from the lyrics, to the melody, to the guitar riffs .
Agreed
Absolute classic for those smart enough to hear real beauty
I just bought Schoolboys in Disgrace on vinyl at a record store for only $10 US. It's used and a little worn but the album still sounds great. One of my all-time favorite Kinks albums and one of their last concept albums.
Their very last concept album in fact
Happy birthday, Ray - thanks for all the gifts you give us.
An all time classic post-break up song. It nails the feeling!
This song breaks my heart😥
man. im so glad that i was born at this time , what a great time for music!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aren't we lucky?!
Complete with Dave and Mick, the Two Johns, Horn Section post- Michael Cotton and Debi Doss with that soaring voice. GREEEAAT song with full complement.
This video was posted a few years back, and then was removed. I'm just glad it's back; Every well known band/group reaches a point in their history when their sound has to go through a metamorphosis. This song represents that change for the Kinks, who went on to do some great stuff in the late 70 and early 80's. I especially love the brass section. Bravo vivalabeat !!!
Kinks rocked, love that riff , thanks ! Get into it all!
Cuts to the core; love it
I've Known this song for about 7 years and only now I see it is one of the best Kinks songs since "Celluloid Heroes".
I love and have always loved this album. Unfortunately, when it was reviewed in my hometown newspaper, THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE (or was it THE PITTSBURGH PRESS?) used the headline, “ KINKS IN DISGRACE. “
They’re deaf then
Too many great songs from ROCK'S GREATEST BAND ; THE KINKS !!
This is the most '70s song. I saw them on the Schoolbays tour in San Diego early 77, if I remember correctly
One of my favorite songs ever.
EVERY kinks album could be in the "Top 50 albums" of all time ,..no seriously I MEAN THAT !
Dave was an excellent and underrated guitarist.
2:38 "Gotta be hard... Yeah, look straight ahead... That's the ONLY way it's gonna be...
Yesterday's gone...That's a fact... NOW there's no more looking back."
SUCH brutal truth uttered in such a poignant way.
I absolutely love every inch of this ❤ one of my absolute fav kinks tracks !!
Such a great song
This and 3 the most overlooked gems ever: 1) Me And Sarah Jane -Genesis 2) It's Just A Thought -CCR 3) For No One -The Beatles
Dave Davies is great!
He is! I really thought the way they set the guys up was awful. Dave should have been seen better.
Just simply a great song by a great band and songwriter. HapptyBirthday Ray! anf thanks for the tunes
From one of the best albums.
This song really hits home! God save the Kinks!
Absolutly
i think was a brilliant album, flogged it to death in the day, this will always be the Kinks to me..
One of my most treasured Kinks songs. The performance seems to be a live lead vocal over a pre-recorded backing track. (Note the absence of cords coming out of Dave's and the bass player's guitars.) This was a very prevalent practice for UK television in the 70s. Often, a band would come in the day before and record the backing track. This was good in that the viewing audience would be hearing a different version of the song from the record, and it would create the illusion of a live performance.
Absolutely sure you are right. If you listen to the album version and this one after the other, they are not identical. The vocal is clearly live; the backing is slightly different as well - probably, as you say, recorded separately for the TV programme, which is what typically was done on British TV shows at the time.
This song saw them regain their focus. The album was top fifty in the States and over the next ten years there were to be several more albums that did even better.
love you Ray
classic you rarely see this version of the band live...thanks for posting
I'm from massachusetts, God save the Kinks
Im from Wakefield MA...down by the village green
Always fascinates me. Ray's singing live until the chorus to a pre-recorded musical track it sounds like. Quite a mashup.
matthew stetson if you look at the well known clip of them doing Lola on Top of the Pops in 1970, they do exactly the same thing. Ditto Apeman.
I remember hearing about some bizarre BBC rule where part of the song had to be performed live or some such thing so you'll see this a lot in British clips. I think the vocals are better here than on the record.
This is one of my fav Kinks tunes from the later period.
Would love to see the Kinks one more time before I die.
Such a perfect marriage of lyrics and melody. Bella canción. ❤❤❤❤❤
Wow...this is so cool...and strange...seems to be a blend of live and prerecorded....and yes...one of the most amazing overlooked songs ever...but the Kinks catalogue is littered with others as well!
Favorite song off my favorite album of all time!!! :)
This song haunts me occasionally.
ALWAYS for me!
@@meyerdude Love your name! Me, too. But, then, "Can You See The Real Me?" by The Who is my theme song.
One my favorite songs. I saw Ray in concert in Madison, Wis. a few years ago...great show!
...from one of the great albums of all time.
Thank you!
This song is so true about life this how I feel about my life
If the lyrics don't make you remember someone, you are a robot or something.
10 year anniversary of my father dying unexpectedly just passed. Trying to move on brought me back to this one and I’ve had this song on repeat since
There more to Dave than I realized Ray is one best all time song writers in history amazing ability to make lyrics singable
What a song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The biggest compliment the Kinks earn when I play this cut for a friend, here and there, is "THAT was 1975??" The Beatles were never this good - and the Kinks only got better for another ten years. (Their LAST eight years, they were phoning it in...until Phobia in 1993. That was what tipped me off that they were about done...their last hurrah.)
Es la culminación de una gran etapa (RCA) de las grandes operetas que realizó este maravilloso grupo.
I totally agree.. I loved my School Boys in Disgrace LP...looked a long time to find these songs...really glad TH-cam came along.
Love this song. heard it and stays in my head. Great Licks, lryics
avivalabeat: When they performed this concert as part of the "Schoolboys In Disgrace" tour, it was presented with a film in the background, of the stage showing Ray/"Norman" walking the city streets, seeing the love he sings about, everywhere he goes, and every woman has a mask with that face he misses so much! A great song, gret show and words to live by: Unfortunately, "yesterday's gone, and that's a fact, now there's No More Looking Back!" Thanks for the post!
Thank you!!!
Great!
I'm glad we can look back at this. People should check out "Schoolboys In Disgrace". One of their best albums.
Wow Ray Davies GENIUS!! 🤩🤩👍👍👌👌
Brilliant offering!
Brilliant song
Fantastic
Such an under-rated LP....
Man no more looking back is so fing good so scary to the truth with a past love !!ray Davies hits a home run awesome!!!pkb45
Not sure what you're saying but Mick Avory the drummer is clearly in the video, and you can catch a glimpse of the bassist probably John Dalton although this is circa 1975-76 around the time he left. The more anonymous guys are the brass guys - Cotton, Brown, Beecham, et al. I also nominate John Gosling as the most under-appreciated Kink.
In this video, Ray looks just like an actor who plays a vampire in Interview with the Vampire movie. It is one of the vampires that belong to Armand’s coven in the theatre. I cannot find a screenshot but the resemblance is eerie.
great song
Great video
love this band
Love, love, love it
Incredible... thank you SO much for sharing, vivalabeat!
About damn time someone posted this one !
Thanks !
~ZD~
Beautiful song
The song is called No More Looking Back; so what does he do?? looks back at 0:25