The Kinks

[JakeK]

The only song I know is "You Really Got Me", and I love it.

What is a good compilation album for me to start off with? I'm planning on getting in to this band, and I want to know a good compilation.

[bksmithey]

The only song I know is "You Really Got Me", and I love it.

What is a good compilation album for me to start off with? I'm planning on getting in to this band, and I want to know a good compilation.

"The Kink Kronikles". It covers up through the "Lola" LP, the golden era of the Kinks.

Once the hook is set you'll want to pick up Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, and Lola as has been mentioned here. But I'd also like to suggest giving a listen to "Something Else by the Kinks", the album that preceeded Village Green. "Something Else" opens with the rocking "David Watts", closes with the beautiful "Waterloo Sunset", and in between you'll find a few of my Kinks favorites -- "Two Sisters", "Harry Rag", "Afternoon Tea", etc. Lots of great songs, most of them relatively unknown, on this early Kinks classic.

[beatlefreak]

My favorite Kinks album has always been their 1970 offering Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round Part 2. I bought it back when I was 13 after hearing Lola and Apeman on the radio. I still play that entire album on a regular basis - All great songs!

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

My favorite Kinks album has always been their 1970 offering Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round Part 2. I bought it back when I was 13 after hearing Lola and Apeman on the radio. I still play that entire album on a regular basis - All great songs!

+1, bigtime. If you've never really listened to The Kinks much, but you kinda like them, this is probably the one to get. So many great songs, most of them you've never heard. Riffs galore.

[winston]

Almost anything played by these guys was simply fantastic in my books.

[randyz]

I didn't notice this Kinks thread until a few moments ago. I'm a major Kinks fan and have been ever since seeing them on Saturday Night Live in 1976 or 1977. They played 'Sleepwalker' and then a medley of the 60's hits. I was hooked immediately and started buying everything I could find. I used to listen to their 70's concept albums as a guilty pleasure (i.e. so bad they're good), but now I think that some of the songs on those albums stand up quite well. I got to see them live in 1979 and 1980. Although he's an obnoxious person, Ray Davies is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. And it wouldn't/couldn't be The Kinks without Dave's guitar. That said, anyone who reads Dave's autobiography 'Kink' will be shocked at some of the revelations that it holds. I like to think of myself as an open-minded person and I appreciate his honesty, but as a long-time fan I found Dave's admissions to be disturbing.

[winston]

That said, anyone who reads Dave's autobiography 'Kink' will be shocked at some of the revelations that it holds. I like to think of myself as an open-minded person and I appreciate his honesty, but as a long-time fan I found Dave's admissions to be disturbing.

I have not read the book myself so, can you tell us what these admissions are all about?

[mgauction]

I read Dave's book and I know what Randy means. Yes I was surprised - skocked? Nothing shocks me much anymore.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Huh?

Like what, like what?

Dish it out!

[mgauction]

An ongoing homosexual relationship Dave had with an older man. He describes his mind set in detail.

[winston]

Alrighty then!

Ok. Their music is amazing though isn't it?

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Oh...I thought it might be something surprising...

La La La La Lola....

[randyz]

Basically, I knew that Dave was a wild teenager when The Kinks started having major chart success (he's several years younger than Ray). I also knew that Dave was a heavy drinker and a party animal, but I didn't know about his bisexual tendencies. Ray and Dave have both always acted 'camp', but I didn't know that Dave regularly slept with men. In the book, he states that he's never considered himself 'homosexual' and that it was just part of life in the 1960's. He says he was experimenting and liked the intimacy of sleeping with like-minded drinking buddies.

I just had a hard time with that explanation. Obviously, my life experiences have been very different from Dave's, but I can't imagine such a casual attitude towards sexual orientation. Overall I would call the book a must-read for Kinks fans (despite a few gag-inducing passages). It spends a lot of time on the strained relationship between Dave and Ray. Unfortunately, despite several attempts, I've never gotten to the end of the book. For me it gets boring during the 1970's when he gets obsessed with UFO's.

[mgauction]

Good comments, Randy! Yeah, he never considered himself anything more than curious. He gives his best to show how distant, cold, shrewd and such a loner that Ray was/is. It was in the top 3 R&R books I've read and certainly hard to put down!

[shamustwin]

How does it compare to Ray's book "Kinked"?
Some blogs have said that's the better of the two for Kinkophiles. (Kinkies?)