Lola Versus Powerman & The Moneygoround Part 1: Expanded Edition

キンクス、最高の完成度と言われる名盤『Lola VersusPowerman and the Moneygoround, Part One』のエクスパンデッド・エディションが登場!
今回リリースとなる『ローラ対パワーマン、マネーゴーラウンド組第一回戦(Lola VersusPowerman and the Moneygoround, Part One)』は1970年に発表した8作目のアルバム。モノラルとステレオのミックス、未発表音源、別ヴァージョンなど合わせて17曲ものボーナストラック(うち13曲は完全未発表)を収録した2枚組。キンクスのアーカイヴ担当者アンドリュー・サンドヴァルがすべてオリジナル・テープからリマスタリングを手掛けた、2014年最新リマスター音源でのリリースとなる。ブックレットは当時のレアな未発表写真が満載となるほか、名盤を紐解くピーター・ドゲットの書き下ろし長編ライナーノーツが収録される。ディスク2には1971年『パーシー』(1971年に公開されたイギリスのコメディ映画『パーシー』のサウンドトラックとして制作)が素晴らしいボーナス・コンテンツを追加して収録される。

"Lola" gave the Kinks an unexpected hit and its crisp, muscular sound, pitched halfway between acoustic folk and hard rock, provided a new style for the band. However, the song only hinted at what its accompanying album Lola Versus the Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One was all about. It didn't matter that Ray Davies just had his first hit in years -- he had suffered greatly at the hands of the music industry and he wanted to tell the story in song. Hence, Lola -- a loose concept album about Ray Davies' own psychosis and bitter feelings toward the music industry. Davies never really delivers a cohesive story, but the record holds together because it's one of his strongest set of songs. Dave Davies contributes the lovely "Strangers" and the appropriately paranoid "Rats," but this is truly Ray' show, as he lashes out at ex-managers (the boisterous vaudevillian "The Moneygoround"), publishers ("Denmark Street"), TV and music journalists (the hard-hitting "Top of the Pops"), label executives ("Powerman"), and, hell, just society in general ("Apeman," "Got to Be Free"). If his wit wasn't sharp, the entire project would be insufferable, but the album is as funny as it is angry. Furthermore, he balances his bile with three of his best melancholy ballads: "This Time Tomorrow," "A Long Way From Home," and the anti-welfare and union "Get Back in Line," which captures working-class angst better than any other rock song. These songs provide the spine for a wildly unfocused but nonetheless dazzling tour de force that reveals Ray's artistic strengths and endearing character flaws in equal measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine|