Rank Kojak Variety

[King Hoarse]

I'm not expecting too many to jump onto this one, but it would be interesting to see if anyone agrees with me - I think Kojak Variety gets off to a great start but by the latter third or so I'm mostly yawning and/or wincing.

More than elsewhere, btw, these are estimations of the recorded versions rather than the quality of the songwriting, with a few exceptions.

*****
1. Everybody's Crying Mercy
2. I've Been Wrong Before

****
3. Hidden Charms
4. Strange
5. Running Out Of Fools
6. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man

***
7. I Threw It All Away (I love how he sounds relieved in places; IMHO he should've gone for more of that)
8. Remove This Doubt
9. Payday
10. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
11. Leave My Kitten Alone (prefer solo & Attractions versions)
12. Please Stay

**
13. Bama Lama Bama Loo
14. The Very Thought Of You (vastly superior on McPartland's Piano Jazz)

*
15. Days

[And No Coffee Table]

1. Please Stay
2. Strange
3. Remove This Doubt
4. I've Been Wrong Before
5. Everybody's Crying Mercy
6. The Very Thought Of You
7. Hidden Charms
8. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
9. I Threw It All Away
10. Days
11. Payday
12. Bama Lama Bama Loo
13. Running Out Of Fools
14. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
15. Leave My Kitten Alone (he's done it so much better elsewhere)

[bambooneedle]

1. Everybody's Crying Mercy
2. Remove This Doubt
3. I Threw It All Away
4. I've Been Wrong Before
5. Please Stay
6. Running Out Of Fools
7. Hidden Charms
8. Leave My Kitten Alone
9. The Very Thought Of You
10. Strange
11. Payday
12. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
13. Days
14. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
15. Bama Lama Bama Loo

[verena]

Many thanks for the lead, K.H.

I never looked into Kojak Variety before (although I almost bought it 2 days ago), man I wish I had. Do you mean this is an underrated album ? Cause I like it ! Well, need to check, I only printed the lyrics out today ! But they have good vibes in them.

Maybe I'll go as far as ranking... Which is not my thing, but if you're interested in an odd fan opinion I'll do it.

[BlueChair]

Agree that this is hard to rate, cause I love most of these songs but not necessarily how they're arranged/produced

1. Strange
2. Everybody's Crying Mercy
3. Remove This Doubt
4. Hidden Charms
5. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
6. I Threw It All Away
7. Leave My Kitten Alone
8. Payday
9. Bama Lama Bama Loo
10. Please Stay
11. I've Been Wrong Before
12. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
13. The Very Thought Of You
14. Running Out Of Fools
15. Days

[wardo68]

I agree with the sentiment so far. My favorite versions of these songs are often not EC's. Consequently, their ranking below may well be tempered by how much I like the song in general, or even whether I've heard it by anyone else.

1. Days
2. I've Been Wrong Before
3. Strange
4. I Threw It All Away
5. Bama Lama Bama Loo
6. The Very Thought Of You
7. Leave My Kitten Alone
8. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
9. Everybody's Crying Mercy
10. Remove This Doubt
11. Hidden Charms
12. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
13. Please Stay
14. Payday
15. Running Out Of Fools

Kinks fans will cry foul at my preference for #1; at the same time, I feel the only version of "Leave My Kitten" worth hearing is by the Beatles.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

1. Hidden Charms (love the Ribot solos)
2. Please Stay
3. I Threw it All Away
4. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
5. Payday
6. Bama Lama Bama Loo
7. Strange
8. Remove this Doubt
9. Leave My Kitten Alone
10. Running Out Of Fools
11. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
12. I've Been Wrong Before
13. The Very Thought Of You
14. Everybody's Crying Mercy
15. Days

[Otis Westinghouse]

Rampant individualism from Wardo re Days!

[wardo68]

Rampant individualism from Wardo re Days!

What can I say? I like the tree-frog effect. I used to have an amp that did that.

[alexv]

***1/2

1. I Threw it All Away
2. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
3. Remove this Doubt
4. Hidden Charms
5. Please Stay
5. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
6. I've Been Wrong Before
7. Everybody's Crying Mercy

***

8. Strange
9. Leave My Kitten Alone

**

10. Payday
11. The Very Thought Of You
13. Running Out Of Fools
14. Bama Lama Bama Loo
15. Days

[bambooneedle]

KV is a pretty half-baked effort really... for me this just undermines the whole thing and makes me not want to listen to it again. Frankly, I detest horribly unconvincing sentimentality... and EC seems to so be going through the motions too often on KV. I mean, if you're going to have yourself some fun and share it or share songs with a sense of boo hoo (almost all of them), you wanna make sure it feels convincing. That's why I probably haven't put it on and listened to it thoroughly more than three times since 1999...

Speaking of 'Days', it's obvious how EC is trying to weave some type of magic spell there but it doesn't manage to say much to me other than that that is what he is trying to do...

Overall, KV seems up itself. It's like the musicians would go only as far as satisfying themselves they could do pretty good or superior versions of the songs (if they really could be bothered).

[migdd]

Bambooneedle wrote:

KV is a pretty half-baked effort really... for me this just undermines the whole thing and makes me not want to listen to it again. Frankly, I detest horribly unconvincing sentimentality... and EC seems to so be going through the motions too often on KV. I mean, if you're going to have yourself some fun and share it or share songs with a sense of boo hoo (almost all of them), you wanna make sure it feels convincing. That's why I probably haven't put it on and listened to it thoroughly more than three times since 1999...

Speaking of 'Days', it's obvious how EC is trying to weave some type of magic spell there but it doesn't manage to say much to me other than that that is what he is trying to do...

Overall, KV seems up itself. It's like the musicians would go only as far as satisfying themselves they could do pretty good or superior versions of the songs (if they really could be bothered).

I tend to agreed with your assessment, bambooneedle. For an album of pretty great sad songs, there isn't much true feeling conveyed. It was as if, at the time, Elvis could relate to the songs but hadn't the experience to put real heartfelt emotion into them.

[manoutoftime]

1. I threw it all away
2. Remove This Doubt
3. Leave My Kitten Alone
4. Must you throw dirt in my face
5. Hidden Charms
6. Running Out Of Fools
7. Everybodys Crying Mercy
8. Please Stay
9. Bama Lama Bama Lou
10. The Very thought of you
11. I've been wrong before
12 Days
13. Strange
14. pouring water on a drowning man
15 . payday

[BlueChair]

I'd also like to add that the Kojak Variety bonus disc of the Rhino reissue is 100x better than the album itself

[spooky girlfriend]

I know I've dumped this on you guys before, but KV has a lot of sentimental value to me, not only because it was the first Elvis cd that I became familiar with, but because Doc and I were listening to it while trying to decide if we were going to take the plunge and try things again. Hence my choice on No. 1. Ten years ago today all that started as a matter of fact.

Guess if I hadn't married Doc, I wouldn't have gotten myself into this fancy-ass group of people on the board.

1. Remove This Doubt
2. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
3. I Threw It All Away
4. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
5. The Very Thought Of You
6. Strange
7. Everybody's Crying Mercy
8. Please Stay
9. Days
10. I've Been Wrong Before
11. Hidden Charms
12 Bama Lama Bama Loo
13. Leave My Kitten Alone
14. Running Out Of Fools
15. Payday

[Who Shot Sam?]

This album has never been one of my faves, and it's something I listen to very rarely. I gave it another spin this morning, because I had not listened to it in a long long time.

Some of the covers are just weak versions of what I think are pretty weak songs ("Days", "Payday"). I also prefer the B&C bonus disc versions of "Leave My Kitten Alone" and "Pouring Water On A Drowning Man". I too think that the McPartland version of "The Very Thought Of You" is superior. "Strange" strikes me as a bizarre way to kick things off. So, here goes:

1. Hidden Charms (a nice little rocker)
2. Everybody's Crying Mercy (really like this tune and have good memories of him singing it in Providence)
3. I Threw It All Away
4. Running Out Of Fools
5. Bama Lama Bama Loo (dumb song, but well done for what it is)
6. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
7. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
8. Remove This Doubt
9. The Very Thought Of You
10. Leave My Kitten Alone
11. Strange
12. I've Been Wrong Before
13. Payday
14. Please Stay
15. Days

[verbal gymnastics]

I know I've dumped this on you guys before, but KV has a lot of sentimental value to me, not only because it was the first Elvis cd that I became familiar with, but because Doc and I were listening to it while trying to decide if we were going to take the plunge and try things again. Hence my choice on No. 1. Ten years ago today all that started as a matter of fact.

And it's better than Elvis' worst album, King of America

Guess if I hadn't married Doc, I wouldn't have gotten myself into this fancy-ass group of people on the board.

You're not talking about my ass again are you Spooky?

[alexv]

I'm with you Blue on the KV second disc. Ship of Fools, My Resistance is Low, Innocent When You Dream (my favorite song from the whole 2-disc set), and the amazing rendition of Full Force Gale (which admittedly appeared earlier in the van cover record, and will be played at my Last Party, assuming they follow my directions, the lucky bastards) are superior in my opinion to anything on the main record.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I agree, though Innocent When You Dream ain't a patch on the original (what Tom Waits cover ever could be?). I didn't hear KV until last year, and like Boo can scarcely find the motivation (other than completion) to listen to it. Shame, really. Wasted opportunity. The original songs are all better.

[bambooneedle]

I tend to agreed with your assessment, bambooneedle. For an album of pretty great sad songs, there isn't much true feeling conveyed. It was as if, at the time, Elvis could relate to the songs but hadn't the experience to put real heartfelt emotion into them.

It seems to me that EC deceived himself into thinking that he could wing it and it would turn out 'spontaneous' or something.

[legman open to offers]

1. Remove This Doubt
2. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
3. Hidden Charms
4. I Threw It All Away
5. Pouring Water on a Drowning Man
6. Days
7. Please Stay
8. Running Out of Fools
9. Leave My Kitten Alone
10. The Very Thought of You
11. Everybody's Crying Mercy
12. Bama Lama Bama Loo
13. I've been Wrong Before
14. Payday
15. Strange

I damn diverse group we are.

[verena]

Heaven ! I was just about to abandon the stiff upper lipp policy and tell ya what a bloody electrochoc the avatar of the "stupid dick" was.
(It's not that the docu was stupid, but every time it was Abbu Graib's perversity slammed to my face. Don't know why. Same underlying patterns of behaviour, perhaps).

Thank you, man. Better late than never. Finally I can breathe.

By the way I just bought Kojak Variety.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Heaven ! I was just about to abandon the stiff upper lipp policy and tell ya what a bloody electrochoc the avatar of the "stupid dick" was.
(It's not that the docu was stupid, but every time it was Abbu Graib's perversity slammed to my face. Don't know why. Same underlying patterns of behaviour, perhaps).

If I read you correctly, you're referring to legman's "frustrated man banging head against keyboard" avatar. What it could possibly have to do with Abu Ghraib is beyond me.

[invisible Pole]

01. Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
02. Please Stay
03. I Threw It All Away
04. Pouring Water on a Drowning Man
05. Remove This Doubt
06. The Very Thought of You
07. I've been Wrong Before
08. Days
09. Hidden Charms
10. Everybody's Crying Mercy
11. Bama Lama Bama Loo
12. Running Out of Fools
13. Leave My Kitten Alone
14. Strange
15. Payday

[pophead2k]

Any of you familiar with 'Days' original release context? Before KV was finally released, Days was on the excellent soundtrack to the Wim Wenders film, Until the End of the World. In that context, Days works absolutely beautifully. I was so used to it in that setting, it is still jarring for me to hear it on KV. Check out that soundtrack and you'll see what I mean. BTW other artists on UTEOTW include REM, Talking Heads, U2, Julee Cruise, Nick Cave and Daniel Lanois.