20th century man (The Kinks) (LP 4407 - 4410)

 

The Kinks  One for the Road (Vinyl/CD, Arista Records, 1980) *****  

The Kinks  Give the People What They Want (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1981) ****  

The Kinks  State of Confusion (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1983) ***

The Kinks  Come Dancing with The Kinks: The Best of 1977 - 1986 (CD, Arista Records, 1986) *****

Genre: Pop, rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman (One for the Road)

Gear costume: Victoria, David Watts (One for the Road)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: I truly, deeply, madly fell for The Kinks because of One for the Road - a live double album that sounds like one awesome continuous concert (in fact it's made up of the best versions from an American tour from 1979 to 1980).

Ray's stage announcements are judiciously chosen, pithy and entertaining. The music is muscular arena rock thanks to Dave Davies brilliant guitar attack and Mick Avory's drums. The influence of the latter is often forgotten - he is a versatile drummer who serves the song - the perfect foil for Ray's idiosyncrasies. The backing vocals from Jim Rodford, Dave and Ian Gibbons (keyboards) are another superb feature.

This is an amazing album - pretty much providing definitive versions of these songs from throughout the catalogue, from You Really Got Me to Low Budget.

The first studio album of the eighties, Give the People What They Want (1981) carried on the punkish hard-driving energy from the late seventies. I am happy to report that Ray's proclivities for solid hooks and a dry sense of humour were alive and well as the eighties started. 

State of Confusion is The Kinks 20th studio album. Come Dancing was the big hit single from this album. It has a lovely warm glow of nostalgia about it. That success helped the album become commercially successful. It was also Mick Avory's last album as a Kink.

The cover image of the band sprinting away in different directions was a telling one. There is also way too  much synth on this album - that's 1983 for you. I haven't bothered with the albums released after State of Confusion.

Where do they all belong? That's it apart from the compilation album, Come Dancing with The Kinks: The Best of 1977 - 1986. It's a useful compilation of some fine songs between those years and a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with the albums.