This is Captain America Calling

The Kinks : Catch Me Now I'm Falling

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On July 10, 1979 The Kinks released Low Budget, their biggest selling album in the U.S., peaking at #11 in the charts. Recorded quickly, mostly in New York, the album has a rough quality and no sign of the years The Kinks spent creating double album length rock operas. Now living in New York, Ray Davies takes on inflation ("Low Budget") , the gas crisis ("A Gallon of Gas")  and, on "Catch Me Now I'm Falling", America's foreign diplomacy:

Now I'm calling all citizens from all over the world 

This is Captain America calling 

I bailed you out when you were down on your knees 

So will you catch me now I'm falling 

While U.K. critics were lukewarm about Low Budget ("Low Budget is actually worth spending money on."--Melody Maker), the American critics were more welcoming. The album would make the Pazz + Jop year end critics poll at #40, and David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote 

There is, however, no energy crisis on Low Budget, the hardest rocking Kinks record in recent memory...the Kinks haven’t mounted this kind of rock + roll attack since Lola. Low Budget may not be the best of their twenty-odd albums released in America, but it’s not bad either. 

A 9 Stone Weakling With Knobbly Knees

The Kinks : ( Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman (extended version)

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On January 26, 1979 The Kinks released "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" b/w "Low Budget" in the U.K. Ray Davies says the A-side was inspired by the 1978 movie starring Christopher Reeve.

I've always admired Superman comics. I went to see the film when it came out at Christmas ... I was overwhelmed ... I thought it was so true to the comic books and I wanted to write kind of a rock disco cause I hate disco music as a rule ... but now we've got a sort of mix with a rock and roll backbeat and it works real well.

The disco beat was Arista Records boss Clive Davis's idea. He wanted something that could be played in the clubs. ( Arista would release a six minute version for discos). Brother Dave thought it was a bad idea and now says only the humorous lyrics kept the single from being a big mistake for the band. 

Though "Superman" failed to chart in Europe, it peaked at US#41, and would be the Kinks' last American hit until "Come Dancing" broke into the Top 10 in 1982.