Mario Cruz
Musician, composer & producer, Age 24
The Kinks album is a perfect example of what the original 60`s rock is. From the way the album is produced you can really feel the recording session’s energy and the very basic resources in the mixing like basic panning of the harmonica.
Definitely a good source if you want to know how the original 60’s rock sounded like, especially if you want to go farther than just The Beatles.
England has a lot of 60’s rock and the Knks are a must.
My favourite thing of this album was the lyrics and the performance of every musician.
Tim Harrison
Journalist, Aged 66
I adore the era when LPs were filled with punchy two-minute tracks. I bought my secondhand copy of the Kinks’ debut album for 20p at a jumble sale at St Paul’s church hall, Kingston, in about 1970… crackles, scratches and all.
You Really Got Me remains the stand-out track, at the end of the first half – ferocious raw stop/start energy and raucous backing vocals.
But it’s Just Can’t Go To Sleep and Stop Your Sobbing that continue to spin in my head; Ray Davies at his song-writing finest.
Stop Your Sobbing, supposedly about Davies breaking up with a girlfriend, was covered 15 years later by Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders, leading to Davies and Hynde pairing up, and having a daughter together.
Also on the album, a frantic version of the 1958 Chuck Berry single Beautiful Delilah, often billed as embryonic punk rock, 10 years before punk’s golden age. Again, it’s pretty much two minutes long.
It’s one of two Berry compositions on the album. The other is Too Much Monkey Business, an early stage favourite of The Beatles, Elvis, The Hollies and The Yardbirds. Remarkably, all 14 tracks total 33 minutes playing time!
I love the simplicity of the album cover; the single word ‘Kinks’ covering both the LP title and the band.
Drummer Mick Avory was a local lad, growing up in East Molesey. He didn’t travel far. He’s now in Kew.
Kingston link:
The Kinks played Kingston’s ABC Cinema on 27/11/1964, a month after the release of this record.
