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

  tin the sixties

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-gardist.

  in the seventies

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.

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.