Cheap The Kinks - One for the Road (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Kinks - One for the Road

Not a Klassic, but Still a Keeper
Dave Davies nails it in his commentary: this period of Kinks history seems like a dream. The video documents that strange time in the 80s when the group found arena-rock fame, particularly in the U.S., and was playing to large houses --- complete with Spinal Tap moves. For those who prefer the cultish days of the 60s, or Ray Davies's ambitious concepts of the 70s, it's not a treasured era. At times, the Kinks come off as just another rock band. Yet Ray's songs are still in there, and he was in peak performing shape, so this DVD is worth owning as a period piece.
Unfortunately, the editing is ham-fisted. Songs are out of sequence, plenty of material from the show is missing and the beginning of Catch Me Now I'm Falling is just chopped right off. The audio commentary by Dave Davies is hit and miss: sometimes funny but more often of the "Oh, yeah. I remember this song! I used to love playing that!" variety. The brief tour through the Kinks London is fun, but the trivia quiz is lame.
All in all, a must for fans. Others should wait for a more definitive history.

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Kinda Kinky!
"One For The Road" shows the Kinks performing at the Providence Civic Center circa 1980. This is not an overproduced, slick concert with dazzling special effects filmed in a cavernous arena. It's a no frills, genuine rock and roll concert filmed in a fairly intimate, mid-size venue. You can almost smell the sweat and smoke. "All Day And All Of The Night" gets things off to a rocking start and whips the crowd into a frenzy. "Lola" is a definite crowd pleaser; who doesn't like a love song about a transvestite? Of course, several selections were taken from their most recent album at the time, "Low Budget." On one hand, that's one of their best albums, which makes for a very enjoyable concert. On the other hand, since there's only a dozen songs, many older classics from their vast repertoire were not included. Fortunately, a moving version of "Celluloid Heroes" and a blistering "You Really Got Me" are featured. The quintessential English song "Victoria" closes the concert out on a high note. Dave Davies provides humorous, if not always insightful, commentary. When talking about his physique back then he remarked, "I had the muscles. Ray had the bruises!" Being the only Kinks concert available on DVD at present, it is an essential purchase for every Kinks fan.

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One for the Collection
Fantastic footage from a late '70s concert in Providence, R.I. interlaced with running commentary by a ruminative latter-day Dave Davies. The concert can be viewed with or without commentary. Plus, there's a map and pictures of North London Kinksites. Any fan will enjoy this well-thought out and executed DVD.
I'd have liked more extra goodies befitting the DVD format, though; a very small complaint.