From Brendan
Hi Myles
Coming back from my 2 week holiday on the Baltic coast, I saw all these great compliments for the great Ray Davies.
I’ve been a Kinks fan since my mid-20s (almost 20 years ago!) once I realised that all the bands who were current at the time were harking back to, among others, the Kinks.
In fact, I think the Kinks have been one of the most influential of all British rock/pop bands.
Ray Davies was complete antidote to the Swinging Sixties, the sexual revolution and free-love’n’drugs.
In his early twenties, he was stuck indoors with a young family in North London, writing songs from afar, while the other great British bands of the era lived it up.
Ray became a little more socialised as the years went on, more part of the rock’n’roll world, but at heart, he was always an outsider. That’s his charm and the beauty of his songs.
This is a good example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joz7WkjhfMQ
Another thing I love about Ray is that he was really trying to say something serious.
“Shangri-La” is one of my favourite songs of all time, and I think what he says in it about British society is still valid.
That is also what separates him from The Stones and Beatles etc. Much of the music made by the bands who were swept up by the so-called Sixties revolution sounds very dated, lyrically in particular.
Many of the Kinks’ songs are as true today as they ever were.
Oh, and since we’re swapping “Ray sighting” stories.. in the mid-90s, on the way back from playing football in Highgate, I saw this tall, thin guy getting out of a car, black hair, shades.
A quite young looking blonde woman got out the other side – but I was focused on the chap – the distinctive curl of the lip gave it away.
I didn’t say anything, though – I looked a state and was probably still out of breath..
Hope it’s a good season.