Julie McLaughlin
An introduction to the works of Kinks mastermind Ray Davies
Ray Davies and The Kinks spent much of their storied careers in the shadow of The Beatles’ worldwide takeover underappreciated by the masses but developing an influence far greater than their sales would indicate. Davies’s band has always had its place in pop music thanks to a string of early hits like “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night” but it’s interesting to wonder how things would have turned out had the group not been banned by the American Federation of Musicians from performing in the U.S. in the ’60s heyday of the British Invasion (an official reason was never given but it was likely due to the band’s rowdy 1965 tour) or if Davies’s masterwork The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society had been as well-received commercially as critically. Depending on your taste The Kinks’ turn to stadium rock in the early ’80s may have dulled the edges and tarnished one of the most uniquely British discographies in rock history but it was a well-deserved foray into stadium-sized success for the band.
Above all else what’s separated Davies from his contemporaries (not to mention just about anyone else who’s tried to follow him) has been his steadfast dedication to telling real-life stories through pointed lyrical observations. His witty sense of wordplay and droll British humour has gone unmatched no matter how close Damon Albarn may have come with Blur’s Parklife and The Great Escape which wore their Kinks influence heavily on their starched sleeves.
Even without the same commercial standing as his contemporaries Davies has been an incredible presence in pop music since the ’60s — his catalogue contains more touchstones per decade than most artists achieve in a lifetime. His recently launched solo career only reinforces the strength of Davies’s songwriting voice. Last year’s Working Man’s Café added to his collection of working-class British vignettes but the string of Kinks albums released between 1966 and 1971 remain the songwriter’s crowning achievements:
Face to Face (1966): While critics often point to The Kink Kontroversy released the year prior as Davies’s entry point into true brilliance Face to Face holds up better thanks to its more subtle palette. Aside from “Sunny Afternoon” a No. 1 hit in the U.K. there’s “Too Much on My Mind” and “Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home” showing off the first seeds of The Kinks’ dark pop heart. The best pop is always the saddest and few pull this off quite like The Kinks do here.
Something Else (1967): As everyone else got louder The Kinks turned towards the pastoral and folksy. “Waterloo Sunset” gets the bulk of Something Else ’s praise (an eternally fascinating sketch of a couple’s loving meetings at the titular London tube station it’s not surprising) but Something Else also offers up the simple pleasures of “Afternoon Tea” and “Situation Vacant” a tale of a better job a better life and spatting with the in-laws.
The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968): There’s been more said about Village Green than any other Kinks album despite its initial flop of a release. While The Beatles captured a snapshot of their hometown of Liverpool with “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” Davies turned his attention to small-town English life in the process creating one of the finest 20th century documents of a nation as a whole.
Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire (1969): Davies’s reaction to the Summer of Love was the composition of his first decidedly narrative concept record enlisting a range of English characters including Second World War soldiers Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill. It’s nearly as perfect as Village Green yet even more painfully underheard.
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part One (1970): A sudden stylistic shift saw the orchestral overtones of Arthur and Village Green dropped in favour of Southern-flavoured rock leading to one of The Kinks’ greatest opening salvos “The Contenders.” There’s far more here than just “Lola” although that song alone helped keep the good ship Kinks afloat after the commercial failure of everything from Something Else onward.
Muswell Hillbillies (1971): Striking a chord with “Lola” made Davies shift gears again resulting in this dark portrait of middle-class London. “Alcohol” and “Oklahoma U.S.A.” stand up as two of his best heartbreakers.
The Kinks were soon to jump headfirst into arena rock but even at their most pedestrian there’s always been something to maintain Davies’s stature from album to album. Be it Misfits ’ title track or State of Confusion ’s mega-hit “Come Dancing” bringing the Kinks through their 1980s transformation into stadium-fillers Davies has proven time and again he’s a songwriter operating in a class all his own.
