The Kinks (#3) -Evan’s 111 Artists
I was SO JEALOUS that Er got to see this tour at Brendan Byrne Arena
Matt, a lifelong best friend moved to our town in 4th grade, that year, we started riding BMX bikes together and by 6th grade music became a big part of our friendship. We both had acoustic guitars and limped thru boring lessons, until one day at the Public Library we decided to watch a live performance video of the Kinks, called One For The Road (funny thing, this was on Arista Records, and was largely driven by Clive Davis whose Arista Records carried BMG until we began to diversify in the late 90’s).
This was before VHS, the library tech team set it all up for us with high quality headphones, a large screen, and bean bags on the floor. We were lost in it completely -- playing air guitar as the Kinks TOTALLY rocked a sold-out Arena.
We already knew and liked a lot of the songs thanks to rock radio, but man, Ray Davies (lead singer and guitar) command of the crowd, and overall rock god presence was intense.
It was time to play in a band, it just looked too cool—eventually we did a pretty decent job playing Lola.
Ray is the most under-celebrated songwriter of that era, by far. When he was only 18 he wrote I’m Not Like Everybody Else (this is how he introduced it at Hammerstein Ballroom in ‘08). ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE.
I truly noticed that song as a Camper Van Beethoven cover (on Vantiquities) in my early 20’s, and soon The Sopranos put the track on a much larger stage.
At BMG in the late 90’s we re-released a ton of the Kinks catalog on Velvel Records, these were peak CD listening days so I dove way back in and learned to appreciate their body of work in a whole new way.
In my ‘30’s Diane and I ducked out of a sold out Jingle Ball (a right-of-passage for parents and kids—it’s a iHeart pop radio-hits format show at MSG), ran across the street to see Ray solo with a crowd of a few thousand hanging on to every word of every song, I especially remember Waterloo Sunset, just Ray and his guitar, and it hit just as hard as seeing him on float with multiple marching bands and choirs backing him in a London Stadium opening ceremony for the Olympics.
Ray inspired many greats (Westerberg!), the brotherly tension is legendary, and the catalogue of timeless works of art runs so deep.
Until recently I held hope for a proper reunion show-- it should have been the Kinks headlining with Oasis as a strong support act, at stadiums.
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“Dad, you always say this song is a F*CKING MASTERPIECE… make a list.”
Some of The Kinks masterpieces are listed below, and even more on my 1k+ song Spotify Playlist — Evan’s 111 Artists (pt. #1: radio, records & tapes)
Celluloid Heroes, Lola, Apeman, I’m Not Like Everybody Else, Victoria, Waterloo Sunset, Sleepwalker, A Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy,
The Village Green Preservation Society, Better Things, Sunny Afternoon, Living On A Thin Line, Picture Book, Superman, Set Me Free
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