That's Love, Baby! It Makes You Strong!', 'One, Two, Three', 'Blowing in the Wind', and 'Satisfaction'. Even the first side of their debut LP included a reworked 'Little Queenie', all of which were taken from the new version of _Love_ he cut with the Kinks on 29 May 1967 at IBC Studios in London. And it was that version of _Love_ that appeared in the US, as an alternative to the US version of _Kinks Kronikles_ (Mercury 314 656-2) that the group released to cash in on the single success. The UK release had been a triple-album, but their US release was simply four long-playing records – a single LP – with a fold-out poster. It was as if the group thought their material couldn't stand up to the Kinks' 'old, slow, wimpy stuff' without the use of a single record's worth of material. Maybe the Kinks were right: _Love_ didn't contain any songs that could compare with the 'old, slow, wimpy stuff' the Kinks were known for. As it turns out, the version of _Love_ that ended up on _Pepperpot_ was taken from a different studio session, conducted at Olympic Studios in London on 6 May 1967. The cover of _Pepperpot_ (Mercury SR 6024) does credit Ray Davies as producer, but it does not credit Joe Meek as co-producer, suggesting that someone else may have been involved. (Meek's name has also been removed from the liner notes in both the US and UK versions of _Love.)_ The version of 'Love Me Do', though, appears as it was, though _Pepperpot_ was still an interesting selection of material. As you might expect, _Love_ was different from the material that the band had been playing up to that time, but it was still a collection of songs that might have belonged to any other group. The album marked the first time that an artist had released a solo LP consisting of his own material, other than singles and extended plays. At least three of the tracks on the album were in fact written by Davies, though they could be classified as pop-rock songs with a lot of harmony thrown in for good measure. To make the album more cohesive, it was interspersed with several spoken monologues that added to the idea that _Love_ was a work of art. It may be possible that Davies added the spoken passages himself, because all but one (the 'Ray' segment in 'The Word') were written by someone else: a young journalist named Mick Jagger; a young writer named Malcolm McLaren; and a friend named Mike Leander (aka 'Michael', who also produced some of the tracks). The one exception is 'Ray', which Davies wrote himself. Like the other pieces, they're a bit weird, and a bit unhinged. McLaren's 'Why Don't They Understand', for instance, is told in the first person by a 'young man... in love... with a girl... at first sight, all over again.' It's a clever, witty piece of writing, but it's the tone of the spoken word that was more interesting than the content. The opening was probably the most interesting part of the track: 'Why don't you open the door... and let the wind take your picture?' It's spoken in mock documentary style by a British man in his thirties, whose accent resembles that of John Cleese. The entire passage is worth repeating: _It's a bit of a bore for you_ _Don't know why, don't you?_ _You look so shy, like a little mouse_ _Just because you can't see_ _You're looking so shy_ _I can see you are shy_ _So, let's have a little play!_ _It's not fair_ _It's not what you'd call fair_ _You're looking so shy_ _It's a bit of a bore, don't you agree?_ _You feel like that_ _But all you've got to do is look at me_ _Just see you got the look of a man in love, now_ _You must look at me_ _Just see you got the look of a man in love, now_ _Now!_ 'Ray' marked a departure from their usual style, but was a welcome change of pace. It was the perfect album for the summer of 1967. It was a way for the group to take a break from the relentless touring cycle they'd been on. The album reflected the group's love for the Beach Boys, a trend that would carry through to the Kinks' last album, _Preservation Act 1_. 'See My Friends', 'The Beast of Berlin' and 'Word of Mouth' were all love songs, and the others were not much different. 'It's Alright' came from ' _The Best of Kinks_ ', while 'Dandy' was an oldie from the early sixties. It was clear that it wasn't going to be a repeat of _Kinsals_ , and that's a good thing. _Pepperpot_ went some way towards answering questions about what direction the group would go in next. The album opens with the spoken word piece 'Why Don't They Understand'. It's followed by 'Come on, This Is Kinkdom', which is essentially the theme song from the album, and was the lead single from the album. It went to number eight in the US and number one in the UK. The last two tracks are not spoken word. The song 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else' was written by Ray and Dave for _Kinkdom Come_ , but they didn't want to record it, because they were still angry about its treatment on the album. Their feelings can be heard in the lyrics to the song. In 'The World's Last Night', David and Richard sing a song with an almost Dylan-esque tone to the lyrics, which speak of two people 'who don't understand each other, and never will.' 'It's Alright' is one of the better tracks on the album, thanks to its driving tempo and Dave Davies' strong vocal performance. The song has the feel of a classic American rock and roll number, and was the group's biggest charting single after the three from _Sunny Afternoon_. The song was released in the US as a b-side, but it took a few listens to get used to the new sound. There was nothing subtle about the song. It was very much a rock and roll song that had a strong blues element. Richard's contribution to _Pepperpot_ was the acoustic track 'A Well Respected Man'. The songs were all simple and easy listening, as opposed to the album's other songs, but it would have fit in as well as a single from _Kashmir!_ In fact, the cover would have looked very much the same, except for a simple 'Kinks' logo and a few other minor changes to the artwork. The album closes with 'See My Friends', another 'soft' song that is more of a ballad than a rock and roll number. The whole album features three previously unreleased singles from the session that produced _The Village Green Preservation Society_ and _A Period of Transition_. The three, 'See My Friends', 'The Beast of Berlin' and 'Word of Mouth', were included as bonus tracks on the US edition of the LP. The cover art for the album was an allusion to Norman Lindsay's famous painting _The Hay Wain_. The original painting, commissioned by the English Art Union in 1920, was a pastoral scene showing a team of horses pulling a cart carrying hay up a hill. It was intended to look like a painting by William Etty, although Etty was not the painter. The photograph used for the _Kinks' Pepperspot_ cover has Davies and Arthur appear to be asleep at the wheel of the charabanc that they drove around London for the session. Instead of showing their faces, it's the reflection of them in the wheel that is included in the photo. The entire cover is in black and white. The song 'This Is Where I Belong', an import from an earlier period, was originally recorded by Bo Diddley, but it's not a cover. The song had been recorded by the Everly Brothers in the US, but never saw an official release. It was later covered by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, whose version also hit the UK charts. # RAY DAVIES In addition to the cover art and the album notes, Ray Davies came up with a few liner notes for _Pepperpot_. Unfortunately, those liner notes sound like a teenager's notebook. The teenage Davies would have been all for the whole 'Love' thing, and had no problem with the idea of 'making love'. But it must have been his brother Dave who had to go about it the hard way, as this passage illustrates: _'Love! Why don't you just love me?_ _Why don't you just love me, man?_ _Love, I really can't see you getting much_ _Out of this one..._ _Why don't you just