Something Else By The Kinks - A Review

Something Else By The Kinks (often referred to as just "Something Else") is frequently cited as one of The Kinks' very best offerings. It was their fifth album, released in September 1967, and has strong English-themes running through the songs. It is notable as the last album produced by Shel Talmy and the last Kinks album to chart in the UK, reaching number 35.

Opener, David Watts, is an upbeat, syncopated song of jealousy of the most popular guy in school. Famously covered by The Jam, it is actually named after an eccentric member of the landed gentry, who befriended the group, threw wild parties for them and foolishly gave Dave Davies a sword to play with! Apparently he was a little besotted with Dave to boot!

Death Of A Clown is co-written by the Davies brothers and was released as a solo Dave Davies single, despite blatantly being a Kinks record. An absolute classic, it reached UK#3.

Two Sisters is a beautiful allegory of the lives of the two Davies brothers at the time. Dave being the young, free, wild party animal, and Ray now married with kids and working all hours under pressure to write the next record.

No Return is a chilled out jazz number and Harry Rag sounds as though it could have been belted out in the pubs and gin palaces a hundred years earlier! Tin Soldier Man and Situations Vacant are wonderful examples of 60's pop to round off side 1.

Side 2 kicks off with a rocker from Dave Davies, Love Me Till The Sun Shines. You can actually hear an even more rip-roaring guitar part on the BBC Sessions album version, but I do like the keyboard part on this version that doesn't feature on the BBC take, so I'd love them to splice the best bits of the two versions together one day!

Lazy Old Sun is a tremendously interesting piece, which fluctuates from key to key and invokes a lethargy upon the listener consistent with the title. Afternoon Tea is a lovely vignette around that most English of traditions, before the third offering from Dave - the rhythmic, Funny Face.

End Of The Season is another one that sounds as though it's from another era entirely, before the album is completed by that 60's classic, that needs no introduction, the beautiful, Waterloo Sunset.

There is not a weak song on this mesmerising album. It is laid back Britpop at its finest, with the songwriting of Ray Davies hitting a mature and refined feel. It's no surprise that it ranks in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time (#288).

If you've never heard Something Else By The Kinks, then you are missing out on something very special. I would recommend in your garden, on a sunlounger on a sunny afternoon, and let The Kinks transport you to another world.