Thursday, July 26, 2007

Breaking News: Wes Anderson loves the Kinks

That was a joke. Anyone who's spent anytime with Wes Anderson's pleasantly quirky catalog knows the guy loves pastoral, loping, acoustic pop from the 60s and 70s. I could give examples, but I won't.

The Kinks pretty much invented/perfected this template on a series of albums running from 1966's Face to Face (the underrated one) to 67's Village Green Preservation Society (the overrated one) to 68's Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire (all conveniently re-released with bonus tracks these days). Songs like "Picture Book" have seen the light of day through commercials, but the real gems remain buried in there. Every Kinks fan has his/her favorite, but if you haven't given "Little Miss Queen of Darkness", "Drivin'", or "Days" a few spins, you'd do well to track them down.

Maybe Ray Davies attention to minutiae -- the guy's penned multiple songs about having an afternoon tea, for example -- that fits so well with Anderson's films. Maybe it's the tragic characters, maybe its the way the camera focuses on individual characters in their moments of crisis -- think about Davies's character studies. Either way, his affinity for the Kinks is beyond doubt, and I'm damn thankful for that, which is why I was pretty excited when GL sent me this trailer for his newest film, The Darjeeling Limited.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

what's the name of the kinks song in this trailer?

xtx99 said...

"Strangers" & "This Time Tomorrow"

G.H. said...

Shit, I forgot to mention the two songs. My bad folks. They're both on Lola Versus the Powerman and the Money-go-round.

Anonymous said...

Anderson makes appropriate use of early Stones material as well... "I Am Waiting", "She Smiled Sweetly" and "Play With Fire" are about as British and "Kinks" sounding as the Stones ever got.

Anonymous said...

Gruss von deinem D. :)