[1974]
Right, for a start, here's just one tune from Preservation Act 2. How this is not an iconic canonical 70s rock tune is beyond me. So if you're not willing to sit through a double concept album of the rock-opera variety you're just not gonna find it but there are four or five others that are just as great. Really though the entire two record set is a misunderstood quasi minor masterpiece. Some of the tunes might not work out of context but it isn't like they're not accessible or fabulous. You may have to set aside your 60s Kinks expectations but its really not that hard because Ray Davies' genius is on display here too.
On the instrumental front, Flash's Confession is bizarrely reminiscent of peak 70s Anatolian Psych. This insanely funky wah-wah action is indeed some of Dave Davies' best ever guitar work. Dave is on fire throughout the entire Preservation Act 2. Lyrically it is sung from the point of view of the character Flash who is having a depersonalization experience while he confesses to his evil wrongful ways and awaits his comeuppance.
Never gave I always took
Crushed people to acquire
Anything that I desired
Been deceitful and a liar
Now I'm facing Hell Fire
I can't believe that my time has come
For confessing all the evil
And the wrong that I've done
The reckoning's come
And now I'm just a no one
I confess to the timid and the meek
To the cripples and the beggars
And the tramps in the street
I confess my cruelty, my ego and conceit
I've opened up my body and looked inside
And I'm everything that I once despised
I confess for the thieves
The affected and deranged
I confess for the muggers and incurably insane
I confess to the ugly for being so vain
I confess to those I hurt for causing them pain"
A selection of lyrics from Flash's Confession indicating a songwriter who is undeniably on top of his game.
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