The Kinks own one of the most staggering catalogs in all rock history. Over a period of 30 years, the British rock legends delivered a series of albums and singles that combined brilliant songwriting with music that could vary from pummeling to pretty.
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With a musical legacy so vast, it’s no surprise that some great songs might be overlooked by casual fans. You can start with these four brilliant, unheralded tracks to go a bit deeper into The Kinks’ songbook.
“God’s Children”
The Kinks often served as their own worst enemies when it came to sustaining commercial momentum in their career. Fresh off the worldwide success of the “Lola” single in 1970, the band signed on to do the soundtrack to a film called Percy. Even though the film was a hit in Great Britain, the band was hamstrung a bit by having to tailor the songs to the plot. Nonetheless, “God’s Children” emerged as a gem of a track, even though it failed as a single. Featuring lovely orchestration to pad the acoustic instrumentation, the song contains lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies’ thoughts on technology’s intrusion into humanity. The relevance of the song never wanes, nor does the stirring nature of the refrain.
“Oklahoma USA”
Muswell Hillbillies found Ray Davies getting back into his conceptual wheelhouse. The album is about a lot of things, including the marginalization of small towns in Great Britain, the habits and peculiarities of the people in those towns, and a general reluctance to accept the sweeping changes of modernity. “Oklahoma U.S.A.” strips all that back to reveal a sweet, sad character sketch. The girl at the heart of the narrative is living a dreary existence in England. She escapes via the movie musicals that depict an imaginary, Technicolor existence in America. Davies works one of his finest couplets into the ballad: “All life we work but work is a bore/If life’s for livin’ what’s livin’ for.”
“Heart Of Gold”
The Kinks’ comeback in the early 80s stands out as one of the more surprising in the decade. They did it the old-fashioned way, with a brilliant song. “Come Dancing” smashed all over the world, and it put the spotlight on the 1983 album State Of Confusion. Or, it might be more accurate to say, it kind of overwhelmed it. There are several standouts on that record, largely undervalued because of the focus on the hit. That includes “Heart Of Gold”. Ray Davies focuses on telling the story of a girl who grew up somewhat misunderstood and unloved. The country-rock lilt of the song suggests a certain sweetness. Maybe that’s why Davies gave this put-upon character a happy ending.
“Living On A Thin Line”
Dave Davies stayed mostly content throughout his career by delivering the guitar touches that brought his brother Ray’s songs into vivid musical context. But Dave occasionally stepped out on his own to write and sing lead on songs now and then. Many of them, including “Death Of A Clown” and “Strangers”, turned into beloved Kinks’ classics. It feels like Dave’s “Living On A Thin Line” could have given the band another hit in 1984 had it been chosen as a single from the Word Of Mouth album. Nonetheless, the tough, downbeat music managed to garner attention, along with Dave’s unsparing views of his home country. “All the stories have been told,” he muses. “About kings and queens of old/But there’s no England now.”
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