The Kinks - The Live Broadcasts [2006] [DVD]

I'm writing this from the perspective of a Kinks fan who has been a fan for over 25 years and owns every album and video they've put out along with several they didn't. The Kinks almost always re-invented their songs so the live versions never sounded much like the records did. If you're not a Kinks fan or not open-minded to hearing different interpretations of familiar songs, this disc may not be for you. If you're still interested, read on.

In its title this disc claims to be "Live Broadcasts" which I infer to mean broadcasts of live performances. While it has several live performances, "Sleepwalker," "No More Looking Back" and the "You Really Got Me/All Day and All of the Night" medley are lip syncs. The tracks you hear are not the familiar studio recordings, however, so there is plenty of collector merit for a fan. The "Sleepwalker" recording is especially interesting in that it is a studio recording of the live version of the song. The album version started in the key of D and stepped up to E but, when they played it live, it started in C, moved up to D and then to E. The live versions I've heard of this song using this arrangement had more energy than the album version but this one actually seems very laid-back.

Except for 1986's "Lost and Found" (which looks out of place next to the other 1975-1978 clips), none of the actual live performances takes place in front of an audience. Most disappointing to me was that the ends of most of them fade to black, in some cases clipping the last word or chord or, on "Live Life" and "Life on the Road," fading out just as Dave was starting a guitar solo. Both of those tracks middle solos are intact but the big, '70s style concert ending solos are cut out. Considering two of the live clips are 100% Dave-free, it seems like the people who put this together were unaware that there are two Davies brothers at the core of the band. Those two tracks still manage to showcase what a tight, rocking unit the Kinks were with Jim Rodford and Gordon Edwards newly installed as bassist and piano/keyboard player and are worth the purchase price for me. The rest is like bonus material.

The full song list is:

1. Medley: You Really Got Me/All Day and All of the Night (mid '70s band w/horns)

2. Waterloo Sunset (Ray w/Gordon Edwards)

3. Lola (Ray w/Gordon Edwards)

4. Celluloid Heroes (5-piece '78 band w/2 horns)

5. No More Looking Back (mid '70s band w/horns)

6. Life on the Road (5-piece '78 band)

7. Sleepwalker (5-piece '77 band)

8. Misfits (5-piece '78 band & Nick Newell adding keyboards)

9. Live Life (5-piece '78 band)

10. Lost and Found (5-piece late '80s band)

1, 5 & 7 are lip syncs; the rest is live.

1 & 5 were shot together.

2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9 were shot together.

One more thing to note: This DVD is in 16x9 format but this footage was originally shot on 4x3 video for TV long before anyone dreamed up widescreen. They apparently chopped the top and bottom off of the original image to do this and, for the most part, the composition looks surprisingly good. There are some shots, mostly a few of the close-ups of Ray singing, where it's just cropped too far. Also, if viewed on a wide HDTV, you'll be able to see the original source's lines of resolution because the remaining cropped image is now stretched vertically which actually reduces the resolution to less than low-def NTSC. It still looks good and only the picky technophiles will have a complaint. Personally, I'm just happy to own a copy of this unusual footage.

So there you go. Four stars from a hard core fan, the fifth star taken away because of the fade-outs and resolution issues.

I bought this DVD with an open mind.One reviewer said there was no lip-synching.The first thing I see is a badly lip-synched"You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All The Night".I've seen much better live versions of these songs over the years.This whole DVD is very subdued. I was hoping for something a bit rowdier. Not enough of their early songs or better known songs overall.Some good songs are on here, but not enough to give it a higher rating.

I bought this one site unseen. I'm pleasantly surprised. All of these performances were taken from British TV performances and are live, not lip synced. It does not represent a complete concert performance. Video quality is excellent throughout and would appear to be from well preserved original source tapes. Some of the clips rely on extended fade-ins and quick fade-outs which don't distract too much from the overall performance. Audio quality is very good 2 channel stereo. Don't expect any extras here. Just good quality stereo and considering some of the performances go back to around 1970, I would say the quality is much better than expected. A couple performances are Ray Davies singing unplugged with just guitar and piano. Very nice. Of course this would have pre-dated the MTV unplugged phenomenon by about 20 years, but Davies has always been ahead of his time. For me the biggest treat here is I've never seen any of these performances in the U.S. before. Only complaints are I wish it were longer and included some more information on the performances such as date and place. Overall nice addition to a DVD collection for a Kinks fan.