Kinks- Mr. Reporter (LP)

[axel]

The other day I got this new bootleg in a record store. Can't find it in the net though. It has two pre-Kinks songs and a couple of rock'n'roll songs from '65 and some from '67, Something Else period, mostly alternate versions but also some songs I never heard before. The label is or claims to be from Israel.
The Kinks are one of my top favourite bands, I dig most of their material from their first album up to Muswell Hillbillies. So I'm totally biased, but I really dig this one. The alternate versions are significantly different from the released tunes and the unheard stuff is cool, too. The sound is great, too!

 

[depravedskippy66]

Axel, can you provide a track listing for this?

 

[axel]

Sure, here 'tis:

The Kinks: Mr. Reporter and other unreleased 60's gems

Side 1

1. I Believed you (as the Boll-Weevils)
2. I'm A Hog For You Baby (as the Boll-Weevils)
3. I Don't Need You Anymore
4. Don't Ever Let Me Go
5. And I Will Love You
6. Mr. Reporter
7. Sand In My Shoes
8. Mr. Shoemaker's Daughter

Side 2

1. Too Much Monkey Busines
2. Got Love If You want It
3. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
4. See My Friends
5. Dedicated Follower...
6. Dead End Street
7. David Watts
8. Harry Rag

It's all pretty great I think, but the breakneck version of "Too Much Monkey Business" alone is worth the whole album.

The liners:

"This album is not just a rare tracks Kinks album, it is the ultimate vinyl collection of newly discovered 60s stuff that collectors have heard of but were never able to listen to. Vinyl affectionados will be delighted to hear for the first time, among others, two Boll-Weevils tracks (...)
All tracks are crystal clear studio recordings.
We hope that you will listen to this album, in the same care and dedication that we had while assembling it. We also hope that the Davies brothers will allow us to hear more from the vaults so we can, one day, have a volume 2 of this album.

Dana (Mrs. Reporter)

EMTOM Records, Lady Davies School, Israel, Bekita"

There's even a small picture of the Lady.
It's nicely done indeed. Really looks like a product of "care and dedication". And the sound on most tracks is impeccable.

 

[beccabear67]

I think that take of Monkey Business also turned up on the recent Deluxe 2CD edition of the first LP. Some of the other rarities I recognize from 'The Great Lost Kinks Album', like the Boll-Weevils tracks.

Maybe it actually is from Israel?

 

[axel]

Some of the other rarities I recognize from 'The Great Lost Kinks Album', like the Boll-Weevils tracks.

Hm, don't know if there are other versions of 'The Great Lost Kinks Album', but usually it's an album that came out on Reprise (I think) in 1972 (I think), with unreleased material from around 1968, around the time of 'Green Village Preservation Society'. It's really almost like a lost album. I like it a lot.
But the two Boll-Weevils songs are early beat stuff. Pretty good, too.
The sound is good, but it's absolutely possible that someone collected material from various Kinks CDs and did a decent vinyl master of it.

 

[axel]

I will ask the record dealer where he got it from. Maybe he knows something about the origin of this record...

 

[depravedskippy66]

Most of these tracks made their initial appearance on the first series of Kinks remasters, circa 1998. There is nothing on here that previously appeared on The Great Lost Kinks Album.

The two Boll Weevils tracks, to my best knowledge, have never been given a legitimate release. I believe they first showed up circa 2002 or thereabouts on a 3 CD bootleg entitled Secret Sessions. I take it that tracks 3 through 8 on Side 2 are BBC sessions?

I think you hit the nail on the head regarding this LP being a collection of tracks from various CDs.

 

[axel]

I haven't checked out any BBC sessions by the Kinks. Are they recommendable?

 

[depravedskippy66]

The Kinks' BBC sessions are something of a mixed bag. The early sessions are pretty good for the most part as they did a few tracks that they never put on any of their albums. However, as you head into the late '60s and early '70s material, it appears that what they did is simply use the backing tracks off of the records and just put a different vocal on over them. The 6 CD box set that came out last year may be overkill for you as it features a lot of material from the '70s - concerts from '72 and '77 - and there's even a session from the early '90s. If you can find a release, bootleg or otherwise, that concentrates solely on the early material then that is what I would recommend. Unless, of course, you like all eras The Kinks in which case I would recommend the box.

 

[beccabear67]

Hey, that's weird, seems I've got a bootleg of the Lost Album... this one...

http://www.kindakinks.net/discography/showrelease.php?release=605

It seems to have all the Reprise LP cuts too. I really didn't know. Someone burned it for me and wrote that title on and supplied a basic track list but didn't have the nice inserts.

 

[depravedskippy66]

Hey, that's weird, seems I've got a bootleg of the Lost Album... this one...

http://www.kindakinks.net/discography/showrelease.php?release=605

It seems to have all the Reprise LP cuts too. I really didn't know. Someone burned it for me and wrote that title on and supplied a basic track list but didn't have the nice inserts.

The original "Great Lost Kinks Album" was issued by Reprise in 1973 and was not on the market very long as, I believe, Ray Davies was none too pleased with it. There have been several bootleg CDs of the LP since.

The track listing for the official LP is as follows:

Till Death Us Do Part
There Is No Life Without Love
Lavender Hill
Groovy Movies
Rosemary Rose
Misty Water
Mr. Songbird
When I Turn Out The Living Room Light
The Way Love Used To Be
I'm Not Like Everybody Else
Plastic Man
This Man He Weeps Tonight
Pictures In The Sand
Where Did My Spring Go