The Kinks

“It’s got to be original, it’s got to be sincere. That’s the first thing, ya know. And, umm, you got to have what the kids want, and what they want is our sound," says Ray Davies in a BBC interview during one of these early sessions. That simple, off-the-cuff response seems to reveal a lot about why a band such as the Kinks was not only big in the past, but continues to be widely influential today. Throughout their career, the Kinks wrote and performed songs that, at least to them, meant something and had integrity. They tried to be as honest about and as true to this approach as possible. And they had the sound to deliver. These recordings represent that spirit. While there are no real eye-openers or big surprises on this two-CD set, we do get a different spin—a stripped-down and fresh perspective that opens up the listener’s mind to the power of raw music.