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I still listen to the Beatles
sometimes... But now they often seem superficial and incomplete to
me. The Kinks, thanks largely the near-genius songwriting abilities
of Ray Davies, encompass everything that the Beatles did, and a whole
world more! Nowhere have I ever found, in any art form, not just rock
music, such wit and sincerity, such humanity and energy, such a willingness
to change and grow, such a humanness, as I have found in The
Kinks.
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in the sixties |
in the seventies |
Discussions
of the Kinks have invariably centered around
Ray Davies
- not surprisingly, since he sings lead. writes most of the group's
material, and lately produces them. But in the beginning it was the
Kinks as a
BAND
that knocked people out. And, strangely enough, they made their initial
reputation as avant-gardists.
But there really is no rock avant-garde anymore and the style of amphetamine
raving pioneered on the early singles is by now totally absorbed into
the mainstream. But avant-gardist they were, a totally heavy electric
rock n' roll band that produced a cataclysmic wall of sound unlike
anything that had ever been heard in rock before.
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In the seventies |
Mick Avory |
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The drummer, Mick
Avory,
played with the ferocity of a demolition derby-driver; Pete
Quaife
was among the first to use the electric bass a a truly metallic voice
and Dave
Davies
-well, no one except Pete Townshend has ever chorded quite so majestically,
and certainly not at the age of 17, when Dave was producing some of
the most exciting solos ever recorded! The
Kinks were a heavy and tough R&B band, listen to Too Much Monkey
Business on their 1st album, a much covered Chuck Berry song. The
Kinks version wins, cutting even Chuck's rendition, and that's no mean
feat.
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click next to go to the
Kinks Story part II
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R&B band THE
KINKS Links at The Art of TA!
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