No More Looking Back

"No More Looking Back" is the penultimate track on The Kinks' 1975 concept album, Schoolboys in Disgrace. Like all of the other tracks on the album, it was written by Ray Davies.

Background

Like the rest of the tracks on Schoolboys in Disgrace, "No More Looking Back" describes the back story of Mr. Flash, the main character from the Preservation saga. In the song, Flash is seen "walking along a crowded street", where he keeps "seeing the things that remind [him] of [his former lover]". He sees her everyday, but she's "not really there 'cause [she belongs] to yesterday." Now, for Flash, there is "no more looking back". On Schoolboys in Disgrace, the track is second-to-last, only followed by the 1:04 long track "Finale", which borrows elements from "Education", another track on the album.

The track was released as a maxi-single in Britain (the only single from Schoolboys in Disgrace) with "Jack the Idiot Dunce" and "The Hard Way" (both album tracks from Schoolboys in Disgrace) on the B-side. The track was unsuccessful. However, it has since appeared as the only song from Schoolboys in Disgrace on the compilation album Picture Book.

Reception

"No More Looking Back" has received mixed reviews. Rolling Stone's Paul Nelson spoke negatively of the track, saying that "'No More Looking Back' is no 'Waterloo Sunset'".^[1] However, Joe Tangari of Pitchfork Media was more approving of the song, saying in his review of the Picture Book album that "'No More Looking Back', is a cinematic preview of 90s Britpop, from Dave's harmonized lead guitar intro to Ray's perceptive lyrics about the way people who've left us linger in strange ways."^[2]

References

↑ Nelson, Paul. "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 2014-05-14.
↑ Tangari, Joe. "Pitchfork Media". Retrieved 2014-05-14.

The Kinks singles discography

UK and US singles 1960s	1964 "Long Tall Sally" "You Still Want Me" "You Really Got Me" "All Day and All of the Night" 1965 "Tired of Waiting for You" "Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy" "Set Me Free" "See My Friends" "Who'll Be the Next in Line" "A Well Respected Man" "Till the End of the Day" 1966 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" "Sunny Afternoon" "Dead End Street" 1967 "Mister Pleasant" "Waterloo Sunset" "Death of a Clown" (Dave Davies solo) "Autumn Almanac" "Susannah's Still Alive" (Dave Davies solo) 1968 "Wonderboy" "Days" "Lincoln County" (Dave Davies solo) 1969 "Starstruck" "Hold My Hand" (Dave Davies solo) "Plastic Man" "Drivin'" "The Village Green Preservation Society" "Shangri-La" "Victoria"

UK and US singles 1970s	1970 "Lola" "Apeman" 1971 "God's Children" "20th Century Man" 1972 "Supersonic Rocket Ship" "Celluloid Heroes" 1973 "One of the Survivors" "Sitting in the Midday Sun" "Sweet Lady Genevieve" "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" 1974 "Money Talks" "Mirror of Love" "Mirror of Love" (Band Version) "Holiday Romance" "Preservation" 1975 "Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)" "Ducks on the Wall" "You Can't Stop the Music" 1976 "I'm in Disgrace" "No More Looking Back" 1977 "Sleepwalker" "Juke Box Music" "Father Christmas" 1978 "A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" "Live Life" "Black Messiah" 1979 "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" "A Gallon of Gas" "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" "Moving Pictures" "Pressure"

UK and US singles 1980s	1980 "Lola" (live) "You Really Got Me" (live) 1981 "Better Things" "Destroyer" "Predictable" 1982 "Come Dancing" 1983 "Don't Forget to Dance" 1984 "Good Day" "Do It Again" 1985 "Living on a Thin Line" (Radio Promo only) "Summer's Gone" 1986 "Rock 'n' Roll Cities" "How Are You" 1987 "Lost and Found" 1988 "The Road" 1989 "Down All the Days (Till 1992)"

UK and US singles 1990s	1990 "How Do I Get Close" 1993 "Only a Dream" "Scattered"

Notable Non-UK/US Singles	1966 "Dandy" (Europe) 1969 "Picture Book" (Australia) "Australia" (Australia) 1983 "State of Confusion" (Germany) 1991 "Did Ya" (Europe)

Other Selected Songs	"Bald Headed Woman" "Stop Your Sobbing" "I Need You" "I Go to Sleep" "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" "Big Black Smoke" "Party Line" "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home" "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" "David Watts" "Two Sisters" "Polly" "She's Got Everything" "Do You Remember Walter?" "Johnny Thunder" "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" "Big Sky" "Sitting by the Riverside" "Animal Farm" "Village Green" "Phenomenal Cat" "All of My Friends Were There" "Wicked Annabella" "Monica" "People Take Pictures of Each Other" "Berkeley Mews" "Mr. Churchill Says" "Strangers" "This Time Tomorrow" "Rats" "Got to Be Free" "Have a Cuppa Tea" "Oklahoma U.S.A." "Muswell Hillbilly" "Sitting in My Hotel" "The Hard Way" "Life Goes On" "Misfits" "Attitude" "Low Budget" "Give the People What They Want" "Heart of Gold" "Long Distance"

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