The Kinks - Low Budget (Red vinyl)
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Ray Davies - guitar, keyboards, vocals
Dave Davies - guitar, background vocals
Jim Rodford - bass, background vocals
Mick Avory - drums
Nick Newall - saxophone
Gordon Edwards - piano on "Low Budget"
1 LP, Gatefold Cover
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : Red
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : Friday Music
Original Label : Arista
Recorded January - June 1979 at Power Station and Blue Rock Studios in New York
Engineered & mixed by John Rollo
Produced by Ray Davies
Remastered by Joe Reagoso
Originally released in 1979
Reissued in 2017
Tracks:
Side A :
- Attitude
- Catch Me Now I’m Falling
- Pressure
- National Health
- (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
Side B :
- Low Budget
- In A Space
- Little Bit Of Emotion
- A Gallon Of Gas
- Misery
- Moving Pictures
Reviews :
"Low Budget doesn't have a narrative like Preservation or Soap Opera, but Ray Davies cleverly designed the album as a sly satire of the recession and oil crisis that gripped America in the late '70s -- thereby satisfying his need to be a wry social commentator while giving American audiences a hook to identify with. It was a clever move that worked; not only did Low Budget become their highest-charting American album (not counting the 1966 Greatest Hits compilation), but it was also a fine set of arena rock, one of the better mainstream hard rock albums of its time. And it certainly was of its time -- so much so that many of the concerns and production techniques have dated quite a bit in the decades since its initial release. Nevertheless, that gives the album a certain charm, since it now plays like a time capsule, a snapshot of what hard rock sounded like at the close of the '70s. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Davies' songwriting fluctuates throughout the album, since it's dictated as much by commercial as artistic concerns, but the moments when he manages to balance the two impulses -- as on the disco-fueled "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman," the vaudevillian "Low Budget," "A Gallon of Gas," the roaring "Attitude" (possibly their best hard rocker of the era, by the way), and "Catch Me Now I'm Falling," where Davies takes on the persona of America itself -- are irresistible. Low Budget may not have the depth of, say, Arthur or Village Green, but it's a terrifically entertaining testament to their skills as a professional rock band and Davies' savvy as a commercial songwriter." AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4 / 5 , Discogs : 3,82 / 5