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AMG Review: Ray Davies and company had already participated in one failed television musical when the movie Percy came along -- it wasn't as original as Arthur, nor did Davies have nearly as much to do with its creation, but he still outdid himself given the material at hand. Directed and co-produced by Ralph Thomas, who had been responsible for some brilliant thrillers (The Clouded Yellow, Above Us the Waves) and very popular comedies (Doctor in the House) in past decades, Percy was the story of the world's first penis transplant (it was probably inspired, or at least justified, by big-budget efforts of the period like Myra Breckinridge). Although virtually unseen in the United States, it was still popular enough to yield a sequel (Percy's Progress), but its real impact came from its soundtrack. Davies wrote some hauntingly beautiful ballads and some solid blues and country as well -- "God's Children" and "Animals in the Zoo" have turned up on some career anthologies, but there's a lot more to Percy than those two tracks. "Completely" is as fine a slow blues as the band ever recorded, with a sizzling performance by Dave Davies, and "Dreams" is a pretty solid rocker, even up alongside "Animals in the Zoo." To this day the album has never appeared in the U.S. catalog -- recorded at the tail end of their contract with Pye Records in England and Warner/Reprise in America, and connected with a movie that was never going to see much exposure in the U.S.A., Reprise passed on it at the time.
Amazon.com:
This is the soundtrack to the quirky 1971 film "Percy" that saw Ray Davies and bandmates contribute all of the music to the film. If you're a fan of the 60's and early 70's music by The Kinks then you will surely find much to love here on this album. There are a few instrumentals including a great version of "Lola" combined with many new full songs with lyrics. They include my personal favorites "Moments", "Dreams", "Animals in the Zoo", and "God's Children".
I'm overstating the star rating slightly (this is probably more of a 4 star album) but because it's so overlooked and there are no other reviews I wanted more fans to take notice of this forgotten piece of the Kinks catalog.
This album is also part of the great remastered re-issue Sanctuary series, so you'll get great sound, great packaging, and great liner notes with some really great background info on the album and that period of the Kinks career.
Don't miss out. Help celebrate the entire career of one of the best bands of all time.
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