The Kinks’s debut album is pretty remarkable in the fact that its not all that remarkable. Which is not to say it’s a bad album… as a representative of the British Invasion’s first wave, it’s a hardy mix of blues rock, rockabilly, and that overall Merseybeat flavor that mixes R&B, skiffle, rock, and the like.…
Call it Muswell Hangover… You know, the first time I listened to Everybody’s In Show-Biz, I was right in the middle of my Kinks “discovery phase”, a time during which I made it a habit to dive deep into the, shall we say, “less than classic” albums in the band’s catalog. Upon first listen, in an…
Click here for my review of Preservation: Act I. It goes deeper into the history of the project, its origins, production, release, and reception. You know, the worst thing you can say about Preservation: Act II (PA2 for the rest of this review) is that it really stinks, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.…
By 1973 Ray Davies seemed ready to wash his hands entirely of The Kinks; that is to say, The Kinks of the late 60s through early 70s. Or maybe just popular rock music as a whole. The band’s 1970 album Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, Part One was a monster seller for the band and gave them some…
So it’s 1967. The so-called “Summer Of Love” is in full swing. Bands are taking advantage of new-found artistic freedom to explore their musical boundaries, and the shift from singles-oriented bands to album-based music is already in full bloom. Psychedelia is the order of the day, or so it seems anyhow. So what were The Kinks…
The Kinks’s previous album, the exquisite The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society, certainly didn’t deliver on the commercial front, did it? Never mind that it would go on to become the most acclaimed and biggest selling non-compilation album of their careers… Still, that must have smarted a bit for the Ray and the…
Muswell Hillbillies was the start of a new era for The Kinks, as they left longtime label Pye and signed with RCA. Emboldened by the commercial success of their previous album Lola v. Powerman…, they would release six albums with RCA that would go on to be commercially disappointing and critically quizzical, to say the least.…