The 500 - #232 - Kink Kronikles - The Kinks

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #232
Album Title: Kink Kronikles
Artist: The Kinks
Genre: Rock - Pop 
Recorded: Pye Studios and Morgan Studios, London, U.K. (1966-1971)

Released: March, 1972
My age at release: 6
How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Apeman

For over a decade, I have started the school year each September by sharing a quote with my students. It is often ascribed to musician and composer Frank Zappa (#297 and #246 on The 500), although I can't verify this. Regardless, it reads: "A mind is like a parachute, it doesn't work if it is not open."

My purpose is to encourage my young charges to approach the challenges and opportunities of the new school year with an open mind and a willingness to take risks. At a time when social media has super-charged the dissemination of misinformation and, worse still, disinformation, it is essential to foster critical thinking by creating an environment in which students can handle a steady bombardment of new information by questioning and analyzing what is being said. Through analysis, my pre-teens learn to sort the chaff from the wheat – to determine what can be substantiated through facts and research in order to form sound opinions.

That is where I fell down as a teen, but learned a lesson that I am anxious to pass on to my students because in my younger, impressionable days I was not particularly skilled at "open-mindedness". I would frequently lock in an opinion based on limited information, and fiercely defend it because, as a friend eventually pointed out, accurately: "You always think you have the corner on the truth, and you don't." It was a tough pill to swallow; but it helped me change for the better (a little at least).

Back in the day, my rigid mindset was powerfully and, in retrospect, comically evident in my taste in music. I once decided that I hated the hard rock band AC/DC because a guy on my water-polo team wore an AC/DC T-shirt and told me that my favourite band, Rush, sucked. I remained adamant in my petulant view until I was nearly twenty when the undeniable talent of AC/DC (with records at #200 and #77 on The 500) disabused me of my stubborn notion.

Album cover for Back In Black from ACDC #77 on The 500.

This week's album is Kink Kronikles, the third and final record from the British rock band, The Kinks, to appear on the The 500 list. I wrote about #289, Something Else By The Kinks, in November, 2022. My frequent guest blogger, Various Artists, shared his connections with #258, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, in July, 2023.

The Kinks in the 60s were (l-r) Ray Davies, Mick Avory,
Peter Quaife and Dave Davies.

Kink Kronikles is an anthology that contains 14 tracks from the band's five previous albums, as well as 13 non-album singles. It was compiled without input from the band members. Rather, it was curated by musician, rock journalist (and Kinks’ fan) John Mendelsohn.

John Mendelsohn (1970s)

Mendelsohn was approached by the record company Reprise to assemble a two-record set specifically designed to re-introduce American audiences to the group. Although The Kinks had early success in the coveted United States market, particularly with the 1964 hit You Really Got Me, their popularity waned between 1965 and 1971 after being banned from performing in America.

The Kinks, performing in the 60s.

As I covered in my previous post, The Kinks were a volatile group, with brothers Ray and Dave Davies regularly coming to blows on stage. In 1965, following a mid-year tour of the United States, The American Federation of Musicians began refusing permits for the band to perform because of their public behavior. The prohibition lasted four years, right into the heart of The British Invasion when their contemporaries, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, were making hay while the sun shined.

Four bands considered part of The British Invasion.

Shortly after starting my journey through The 500, I encountered many anthologies and "best of" albums on the list. The first record was Loretta Lynn's All Time Greatest Hits (#478). I was firmly of the opinion that it did not belong there. In fact, I wrote.

"(the Lynn record) seemed an unusual choice for the Rolling Stone list. It isn't an album - it's a collection of songs from many albums. Somehow, that seems like cheating."

However, I have opened my parachute mind, and revised my opinion on compilations on The 500 list. It was the aforementioned Various Artists, who first pushed back on my stance. He offered several instances  and cogent arguments about the value of these collections. Kink Kronikles,is one of several examples on the list of a thoughtfully and artistically organized compendium of a musician's or band's songs. It is not a haphazard collection of hits intended to repackage existing material for another bite at the financial apple.

These records are also top sellers, universally loved by millions. Of the 100 All-Time Best Selling Albums Worldwide, 17 are Greatest Hits or Anthology releases -- including four in the Top 20. That doesn't include another eight on the 100 that are soundtrack compilations.

Consequently, the guy who thought these records were "cheats" back in 2019 has given up his corner on the truth. One might argue that a few of the records are simply a way to shoehorn an important artist onto the list when a single album might not make the cut. But, that is a debate for another day, and it is certainly not the case for Kink Kronikles – an absolute gem of a compilation that I thoroughly enjoyed.


Happy New Year, folks.

The 500 - #258 - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #258
Album Title: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
Artist: The Kinks
Genre: Pop Rock, Baroque Rock, Folk Rock
Recorded: Pye Studios, London, U.K.
Released: November, 1968
My age at release: I was 3, my guest blogger was 5
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not At All
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #384, dropping 126 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: The Village Green Preservation Society

Please welcome back, "Various Artists", who hosts the website, blog and podcast My Life In Concerts. He wrote his first post for us back in October, 2022, when he shared his rich knowledge of Velvet Underground's 1968 record, White Light, White Heat. Enjoy this post about the sixth studio record from The Kinks.

It’s 1968.

Police bash hippie protesters in London’s Trafalgar Square. Civil rights icon Martin Luther King is assassinated outside his Memphis hotel room, followed by rioting. Czechoslovakia explodes with potential during the Prague Spring, which is quickly and brutally repressed. Students revolt amid violence in Paris. The Vietnam war rages on. There are riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. American Senator Robert F. Kennedy is gunned down after winning the California primary.

And the reigning kings of UK rock—The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—release astonishing, high-water-mark LPs within a two-week span near the end of the year. Each album speaks to and reflects on the turmoil of the times: the former with their fragmentary, self-titled double album—colloquially referred to as The White Album -- and the latter with their first in a series of four roots-rock masterpieces, Beggar’s Banquet.

“But when you talk about destruction 

Don't you know that you can count me out/in” 

(Revolution 1: The Beatles)

“What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?” 

(The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill: The Beatles)

“Summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street” 

(Street Fighting Man: The Rolling Stones)

“Who killed the Kennedys?”

(Sympathy For The Devil: The Rolling Stones)

They are instant classics that have never lost their punch or appeal, with reverential praise following them through the decades. Each captures the zeitgeist of the era for all posterity and are major commercial successes.

1968 releases from The Beatles (White Album) and 
The Rolling Stones (Beggar's Banquet).

On the same day that The Beatles unleash their White Album (November 22), another legendary ‘60s UK rock great, The Kinks, unveil their new LP: The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. The album is a sepia-toned reflection of a vanishing Britain, played simply and directly with music that seems simultaneously antiquated and contemporary. It features tunes with titles like Do You Remember Walter?, Picture Book, and Last of the Steam Powered-Trains, and sports wholly unironic lyrics like “I miss the village green and all the simple people'' and “God save little shops, China cups, and virginity.” It is a commercial disaster that sinks like a stone in a rural stream.

Well, at least initially.

Back Cover of The Kinks Are The Village Green
Preservation Society album cover.

To say that the Kinks sixth UK album was wildly out of step with its time would be an understatement. The band had already been heading in a downward commercial spiral by this point. They exploded out of the British Invasion with 1964’s You Really Got Me, following that by a few years of raw and rocked-out hits, with the band’s explosive sound and Dave Davies’ ferocious guitar riffs having a profound influence on garage rock, punk, and hard rock in the years to come.

Dave Davies (front) with drummer Mick Avory. (1967)

But even on their early releases, main songwriter Ray Davies’ wistful and reflective side was evident on tunes such as Tired of Waiting, See My Friends, and Where Have All the Good Times Gone? This type of uniquely British observational songwriting came to the fore with late ‘65’s appropriately titled Kwyet Kinks EP, featuring the lynchpin track, the pointed and satirical A Well-Respected Man, among others.

Album Jacket for A Well-Respected Man.

Davies delved further into this type of songwriting during ’66 and ’67, setting the tone for their classic albums Face to Face and Something Else by The Kinks (#289 on The 500). Meanwhile, an onstage fist fight between Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory got them banned from live appearances in America for four years, with all the possibility of airplay in tandem with promotional tours there similarly lost.

Mick Avory and Dave Davies (1965).

With The Kinks completely isolated from the US, Ray began to focus on specifically British-themed songs and subject matter. Related singles from this time in that vein initially rewarded Davies and the band well with big, beloved hits such as Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset (surely in my 10 favourite songs of all time).

Kinks Extended Play disc featuring Waterloo Sunset.

But this wouldn’t last. As psychedelia advanced, the Kinks slowly found themselves in a commercial no man’s land, with their reflective, (mostly) untrippy tunes out of style. As for those who wanted the Kinks to continue with their mid-decade rocked-out style, the band’s contemplative turn inward was a turn off. 1967’s Something Else (my fave Kinks album along with Village Green) was their first commercial disappointment since their breakthrough.

Something Else By The Kinks (1967).

Ray Davies felt that the Kinks’ career might irrevocably be skidding to an end, with the commercial tide turning against them, and therefore saw Village Green as possibly his final musical statement. It was initially supposed to be a solo album, but at some point mutated into The Kinks’ new project. Regardless, this was a decidedly personal album. He dug in deep and produced it himself. This one was for Davies’ own satisfaction, and if the fans came along, so be it. Unfortunately, not many did. While the album’s related, stand-alone single, the excellent Days, returned them to the UK singles chart, and the LP got rave reviews from the UK press, the album itself performed poorly. 

Days single release album cover. 

I did not hear this album at the time but was an early Kinks fanatic. My parents had emigrated from the UK to Canada in the mid-50s, and I grew up in a Brit culture-focused household where I was born a decade later than my older siblings. The Big Brit Four (Beatles, Stones, Kinks, & Who) were ever-present via albums in our home or those brought over by their friends. It’s hard to know exactly why—perhaps the visceral empathy and intelligently detailed songwriting--but I always felt a deep and immediate bond with all things Kinks. In fact, the first album that I ever bought with my own money was the Kinks’ 1969 release, Arthur (or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire). It was heady stuff for my seven-year-old self, and it took months for me to save up my allowance to buy it in 1971, but I loved it then as now. 

Village Green and Arthur from Various Artist's collection

Every word and moment on that album is engrained deeply in my DNA. I bought more vintage Kinks in the early 70s and was totally on board when they signed to Arista records in 1977, kicking-off with their terrific Sleepwalker. It heralded a new era for the band, resulting in a huge American audience for more stadium-friendly material (which I also like -- the 1972-75 concept albums on RCA, not so much).But for me, the Kinks’ ’66-’68 corridor (which actually I would extend on through to Muswell Hillbillies in ’71) are their finest hours, with Something Else/Village Green and era singles as their apex. There is not one weak track on VG, and Davies’ passion and compassion shine through on each one. It’s a concept album looking back to a rapidly retreating past of a gone Britain, revisited in songs ranging from buoyant (People Take Pictures of Each Other) to strange (Phenomenal Cat) but always bittersweet and contemplative.

Alternative album jacket for Village Green.

Sonically, the album also marked a step forward for the band who had suffered crappy productions via tight-fisted Pye Records. Some tracks, such as the title cut, still sound a bit rough and distorted, whereas others, such as Animal Farm and All of My Friends Were There, sound cleaner and brighter than most of their previous recordings, paving the way for follow-up Arthur’s crisp, sharp production. While Village Green was their lowest-selling product at the time, their career began to rebound in 1969 with Arthur and its single, Victoria, achieving full breakthrough with 1970’s Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround and its massive hit, Lola. I pretty much played the grooves off my Pye 45 copy of that one.

Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround album cover.

Even then, I loved songs that progressively screwed with assumptions. New appreciation for late ’60 Kinks started to blossom as the 70s and 80s went on. I did not hear Village Green until 1988--20 years after its release--when a friend taped it for me. I immediately went ‘verklempt’ over it, eventually buying both vinyl and CD versions.

It has since gone on to be their most acclaimed release, finding particularly large fanbases in the UK Britpop and US alternative scenes. After decades of great critical acclaim along with several reissues of this title, it has gone from being their worst to best-selling catalogue LP in the UK. The world eventually caught up with Davies and his mission, and we’re all the better for it.

The 500 = #289 - Something Else - The Kinks

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #289

Album Title: Something Else

Artist: The Kinks

Genre: Baroque Pop, Music Hall, R&B

Recorded: Pye Studios, London, UK

Released: September, 1967

My age at release: 2

How familiar was I with it before this week: One Song

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping to #478 (since 2012)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Waterloo Sunset

For me, my friends and, I suspect, many people of my age bracket, our first exposure to The Kinks was by way of Van Halen’s version of You Really Got Me.

I was also familiar with the cheeky 1970 hit, Lola, by The Kinks –a somewhat controversial song which chronicled a romantic encounter in Soho, London, between a man and a trans-woman. Over the years, I have heard a handful of Kinks songs, with A Dedicated Follower of Fashion being my favourite. However, I never purchased a Kinks record and, until recently, had never listened to a Kinks album in its entirety.

The English band was founded by brothers Ray and Dave Davies while still in high school. Ray was 18 and Dave was only 15 when they began performing at school dances under the names The Ray Davis Quintet, The Bo-Weevils, The Ramrods and The Ravens.

The Davies line-up temporarily featured a 17-year-old Rod Stewart on vocals before he went on to form his own group, Rod Stewart and The Moonrakers, who became a local rival for pub gigs in the North London region. By 1964, the group comprised the Davies brothers (guitars and vocals), Peter Quaife (bass) and Mick Avory (drums). They also settled on the name The Kinks which was intended to garner them attention because of its slightly naughty connotation.

The Kinks (1965) (l-r) Quaife, D. Davies, R. Davies, Avory

The group gained international fame with the release of You Really Got Me in 1964 when they began heavy touring. The schedule was grueling and tempers soon flared. The most notable incident was an on-stage fight between Dave Davies and Avory at the Capitol Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. Frustrated by his bandmate's playing, Davies insulted Avory and kicked over his drum set. Avory responded by hitting Davies in the head with a cymbal stand, knocking him unconscious. Thinking he had killed the guitarist, Avory fled. Davies was taken to the hospital for 16 stitches. When the police became involved, Avory managed to avoid charges by telling them that it was "part of the show" and had just gotten a little out of hand.

Something Else By The Kinks (often shortened to Something Else) was the group’s fifth studio record. It became  the first of their three records to make The 500 list. It was a departure from their earlier releases which were more rock oriented. Something Else is considered baroque pop, a genre best described as a fusion of ornate and majestic styles from classical music, with rock and roll rhythms. Often, the harpsichord is included to create the classical effect. Legendary studio musician Nicky Hopkins was recruited to play this complex instrument on two of the tracks, Two Sisters and Love Me Till The Sun Shines. 

Hopkins (1974)

Something Else also features many of Ray Davies' introspective lyrics, including the only track from the album with which I was familiar, Waterloo Sunset. In the song, a solitary narrator is watching two lovers, Terry and Julie, passing over a bridge at sundown. The song is often studied in university arts courses and purportedly the lovers were inspired by Terence Stamp and Julie Christie who starred in the contemporaneously released film, Far From The Madding Crowd. Davies has dismissed the assertion, saying  the couple was inspired by one of his sisters and her boyfriend.

Music journalist Robert Christgau has called Waterloo Sunset "the most beautiful song in the English language" and Pete Townshend of The Who declared it a "divine masterpiece". Consequently, it was an easy pick for my 500 Spotify playlist. We'll be back with The Kinks in about eight months with album #258, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society.