THE KINKS — Kinks (review)

Album · 1964 · Proto-Metal

3/5 · 2015-06-28
siLLy puPPy

The debut album by THE KINKS happens to be the very 1st album chronologically here at MMA!

Although overshadowed by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, THE KINKS were very much a part of the original British Invasion of rock ’n’ roll that took the US by storm in the early 60s. The band was started by the two brothers Ray and Dave Davies and original bassist Pete Quaife in 1963 in the London suburb of Muswell Hill. The three played under myriad monikers before finally settling on THE KINKS and wasted no time garnering enough attention to release their first full album only a year later and riding the musical tsunami that The Beatles set in motion.

I pretty much agree with the critics of the day regarding this eponymous (minus the “THE”) debut album. It is highly inconsistent. The album is roughly half covers and half originals. The covers are the weakest part of this album as it sounds like they are trying to be The Beatles but it’s obviously not in their DNA to pull it off. Where this album really shines and what makes it so terribly influential in the harder edged music that would evolve into hard rock, metal and punk is in the upbeat tracks like the one they burrowed into the future and stole from Van Halen :P, you know which one.

“You Really Got Me” got them REALLY noticed and it went all to #1 on the UK singles chart. This track is really ground zero for highly distorted music which all stemmed from Ray Davies’ frustration from his amp. The track was actually written on the piano believe it or not but somehow it evolved into a raucous rocker that put emphasis on power chords and distortion which Ray created by slicing the speaker cone of his amp with a razor blade. This impromptu act reverberated into gargantuan and unforeseen ways into the wonderful world of extremely distorted guitar music that we all love and can’t get enough of today.

Unfortunately this is not an album of tracks like “You Really Got Me.” This sounds more like a record company milking a band’s talents to pump out radio friendly songs to put out on as many markets as possible. While some of these covers are a bit underwhelming, THE KINKS do throw in some excellent originals like “Revenge,” “I Took My Baby Home,” “I Just Can’t Go To Sleep” and “Stop Your Sobbing.” Despite this eclectic array of hits and misses, THE KINKS debut album is a testament to the origins of distorted amplified music that was the much needed spark to fuel the massive inferno of creativity that followed. Probably not essential since “You Really Got Me” can be found on every compilation THE KINKS have every released but certainly not a bad album in its own right despite sounding a bit wonky at times.

The album was released as KINKS in the UK and in the US it was released as “You Really Got Me” which omitted three tracks from the UK version. These days it has been remastered and appears in its UK form with bonus tracks.

more than 2 years ago
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Bosh66 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

"I am not likely to listen to it more than once every ten years." - while I do have it on an iPod somewhere but agree with the comments and the review. This is a mixed bag to be sure. There's moments of genius here, alongside a greater amount of bland MOR dross. It's not the lack of much metal-quotient which bothers me, just how insipid much of this album is.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Oh, yes. Kitty Litter tonight! Bring the house down. Tear the roof off. Open a door; it freaking stinks in here! The Litter were a garage band but their last album of the 60's was pretty intense. I'll get a review or two up this week.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

A weird time in music this was when they were forced to release an album under different titles in different countries with different track listings. I think they would have made a more interesting album if they were allowed to be in control of their own creativity, but this was the 60s of course. Interesting album just for the historical experience. That's worth it for me. Never heard of The Litter's. Hope they didn't tour with Kitty. That would've made a crappy concert experience

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I was just noticing the other day that I haven't put this album into my iTunes library yet and it's probably because there is an expanded version available which I want to get but also because I am not likely to listen to it more than once every ten years. After reading your review I am curious to hear those original songs again, but mostly I remember the album for its covers which I felt were done better by other British bands of the sixties. By coincidence, I am mentally preparing my review of The Litter's debut and I feel as you did about the Kinks' debut that their covers are not really convincing and that their original songs sound much better.