Jimmy, You Really Got Me

[Michael Shannon <michaels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For Badgeholders Only (If your not a Badgeholder of Zep you'll just have
to skip this post),

;-)


The following is taken from a book called "The Kinks Part One, You
Really Got Me.  An Illustrated World Discography of The Kinks,
1964-1993.  By Doug Hinman with Jason Brabazon."  (This 560 page book
with a 66 page supplement is only available from Doug Hinman who I
managed to bump into on the Kinks Mailing list.  I think he had less
than 100 left out of a 1000).


Jimmy Page(guitar;Aug 1964)

Session guitarist Jimmy Page was, along with Bobby Graham, a fixture of
many Shel Talmy-produced sessions at the time.  Page of course
eventually forsook the anonymity of session work and embarked upon a
public career, first as a member of the Yardbirds, and later to greater
reknown as the founder and guitarist of Led Zeppelin. The exact nature
of page's contributions to the very early Kinks recordings has long been
a matter of heated debate.  What is known for certain is that he played
12-string acoustic guitar on the song I'm a Lover Not a Fighter (Ray
Davies played lead guitar, a rarity for him) on the first Kinks LP.  It
is also quite likely that Page played rhythm guitar (not lead guitar) on
some other tracks on that LP.  Despite some popular opinion to the
contrary, any involvement by Jimmy Page on Kinks recording sessions was
limited to material recorded for this first LP.  The common assertion
that Jimmy Page is responsible for the distinctive guitar sound on YOU
Really Got Me is definitely incorrect, denied by everyone involved,
including Page himself.  Dave Davies unquestionably played the fierce
lead guitar heard on that record; and it is unlikely that a musician of
Jimmy Page's relative discipline could have produced the amorphous fury
which characterizes Dave Davies' guitar solos on the early Kinks
records.  Furthermore, the release in the 1990's of early live
performances by the Kinks taped for the US TV program Shindig! clearly
shows the guitar solos to be of Dave Davies" doing.  It has in some
accounts been stated that Page played rhythm on You Really go Me; in
other accounts the rhythm guitar part is usually ascribed to a
combination of Ray Davies and another guitarist who worked at his
publisher's office, recalled only as either "Harry", "Bob" or "Ed" (take
your pick).  It should be considered that there was a never-released
version of You Really Got Me recorded at Pye Studios before the released
version was redone at the band's expense at IBC studios.  It is possible
that Jimmy Page's involvement, if any, was on that earlier unreleased
version.  That two separate recording sessions were held only a few
weeks apart, resulting in two finished masters of the same song, perhaps
contributes to contradictory recollections over the years. 
Interestingly, Jimmy Page did furnish the lead guitar for the Larry Page
Orchestra's KINKY MUSIC LP which provides listeners the opportunity to
contrast his approach to playing much of the same material against the
Kinks' Originals.


I've never heard of this KINKY MUSIC LP.  Has anybody?  Might be
interesting.


Michael Shannon