The Kinks: They Really Got Me!

This usually happens with me. I listen to a track off an album. Not a single played ad nauseum on classic rock stations. I mean if I listen to "Light My Fire" on KRTH (K-Earth 101 FM) again I'm going to lasso my chiuhuahua and dangle him over the 7th floor balcony. Great song, but the Doors did record other great tunes you know.

Which leads me to my topic: The Kinks. We all heard their famous singles; "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All The Night," "Lola," "Come Dancing," just to name a few. Anyway, I owned a couple of Kinks CD's. Namely their greatest hits. An awesome collection, but not quite the Kink experience. A co-worker overhead "Mindless Child of Motherhood" off their Kronikles collection blaring from my computer. "You a Kink fan?" he asks. "Well, I know the surface of the Kinks," I reply, not sure of what I mean. "I've got the whole collection," he says. "Do you want to borrow the cd's?" "Sure," I reply.



So there I was, listening to 1966's "Face to Face" album. Amazing stuff. Then came "Village Green Preservation Society." Oh my God, incredible. Then it was followed by "Lola Versus the Powerman and the Moneygoround," "Arthur" and finally "Muswell Hillbillies." For the next several weeks I played those cds over and over again. It was reminiscent of when I first discovered the Beatles. Sure the singles are fine, but man, the album tracks hold such amazing music. It's unbelieveable but every track from Please Please Me to Let It Be could be singles. But I digress. This is not about the lads from LIverpool. This is the freakin' Kinks. Every track could be a single. From 1966 - 1972 they created some of the most amazing music in just a short time. 6 albums filled with majestic, beautiful portraits impacted by an aggressive guitars, not overly so that it loses the flavor of the music, but just the right punch to slap you around a bit.

You have to respect a band who didn't give in to the mainstream pop charts like other bands did of that era. At a time when musicians were tripping on acid in the studio and churning out experiments in sound, the Kinks always kept it real, as the kids say. While other British bands tried or perhaps unconsciously tried to sound like American blues singers, Ray Davies' vocals remained true to his background, the Muswell middle-class. He didn't pen songs about growing up in Mississippi, or riding spaceships into the vortex of his mind. He wrote about "simple people" of the Village Green. He wrote about London folks, but the sentiment was quite universal. "Terry" and "Julie" from the 1967 album "Something Else from The Kinks" (which I don't own...yet) could be anyone. And in even in a vast brushstroke of images, it's punctuated either lovingly in this case, or harshly by Dave Davies' guitarwork. It's not subtle playing. It's saying "hey, don't forget who is also responsible for the creation of these songs." Dave was no slouch as a songwriter as well. "Susannah's Still Alive" was so good that if you look up youtube you'd find him performing the song solo. His influence could be felt at a recent Ray Davies show on television. He dug into the vault and announced a song he'd written for his brother. "A Long Way From Home" resonated beautifullly, but definitely lacking Dave's harmonizing and poignant guitars. Here's hoping they reunite as soon as Dave heals.



Here is a list of notable songs off their incredible span of albums:

"Too much on my mind"- FACE TO FACE (1966)

"This Time Tomorrow" - LOLA VERSUS THE POWERMAN AND THE MONEYGOROUND (1970)

"Animal Farm" - VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (1968)

"Young and Innocent Days"- ARTHUR (1969)

"A Long Way From Home" - LOLA...(1970)

"Oklahoma USA" - MUSWELL HILLBILLIES (1971)

"Death of a Clown"- SOMETHING ELSE...(1967)