The Kinks have been rightly revered in rock history as one of those Important bands you should get into if you're a Serious Rock Fan. Though the band's career has followed the pattern of a sine wave, you can't argue with their legacy. There were the early, ragged distorto-hits like "You Really Got Me," which then gave way to Ray Davies' constant studies of the Everyman and Hipster ("Dead End Street"; "Dedicated Follower of Fashion). The band found superstardom in the early '70s with "Lola," then commenced on releasing decent stuff and absolute crap, with the occasional still-rockin' hit single, and even managed to make some kids think they were an '80s one-hit wonder ("Come Dancing"). Through it all, the band has managed to remain...if not vital or interesting at all times, Ray Davies has refused to go away. More power to him, even if he decides to have his old chestnuts sung by choirs these days.
Now we can sit here and discuss the Kinks' greatest LP and bat about the usual titles such as Something Else or Arthur or Face to Face, etc. But I declare that the greatest album the Kinks ever released was the fantastic double LP compilation The Kink Kronikles. Sure, it doesn't have those early hits such as "All Day and All of the Night," but kicking off with the stomping "Victoria" from Arthur, the thing never lets up. It takes in album tracks ("Shangri-La"; "Holiday in Waikiki"), big hits ("Lola"; "Apeman"), and absolute treats that were previously not captured on the LP format ("Berkeley Mews").
Even better, this is perhaps the greatest "best-of" collection ever released as well. Anyone with even a passing interest in the Kinks should listen to this and become bowled over by just how good Ray Davies was in his prime. Stuff like "Did You See His Name?" and "Sunny Afternoon" are classic snapshots of '60s UK history. Then you also get favorites like "Waterloo Sunset" and "Days" that still manage to shatter the hell out of 98% of contemporary sweet tunes of these times. And who could argue with the absolute rock of "King Kong" or better-than-the-Beatles "Polly"? It's all here.
It introduced me to the Something Else, Village Green Preservation Society, and Arthur albums. And honestly, after hearing those albums, great as they are, none of them stacked up to the pure listening satisfaction that The Kink Kronikles offers. So yeah. Go buy this and dig into it and wallow around in the rich, brainy goodness of Ray Davies. It made me want to write songs like his. I completely failed.
