The Kinks - Kinks (1964)

As I mentioned previously, The Missing Links took many of their artistic cues from The Rolling Stones. Oddly enough, they never actually recorded a Stones cover. I suppose they could never muster up a unique take on original Stones material (which there was not much of at the time), but they did skillfully tackle a few of Bo Diddley's songs, Bob Dylan's "On the Road Again", and Sam the Sham's "Wooly Bully" among others. In particular, they covered Shel Talmy's "Bald Headed Woman" for their only album, a song that was written for and first performed by The Kinks.

The Kinks begins and ends with brothers Ray (guitar, lead vocals, harmonica) and Dave Davies (guitar, vocals). They formed the band in the suburb of Muswell Hill around 1961 as the Ray Davies Quartet. The Quartet naturally needed two other members to be filled by schoolmate Peter Quaife (bass, vocals) and an inconstant fourth (who was at one time Rod Stewart). The group lasted not much more than a year or two as the Quartet lost its band leader to Hornsey College of Art. Luckily though likely to the chagrin of his parents, college didn't suit the elder Davies boy and he got the band back together, but this time under a new name that was as unreliable as the band's fourth member. Nevertheless, the quartet found success on the pub circuit. They recruited an army of (three) managers by 1963 and a doting producer in the young Shel Talmy (who was not much older than Ray). Talmy was able to get the group a deal with Pye records by which time they had settled on a fourth member, Mick Avory (drums), and a kinky name.

The Kinks's first two singles, a cover of "Long Tall Sally" and the Ray Davies original "You Still Want Me" both failed to chart, and Pye Records gave a hit single ultimatum or else they'd be dropped. On cue, the third single was the chart-topping "You Really Got Me". This success was more than enough for the band to begin recording their debut album Kinks. A fourth single that rose to #2 "All Day and All of the Night" and the Kinksize Session EP were released to round out 1964.

The album is mainly made up of covers done in the Beat style made internationally popular by The Beatles. Beat music, or the Mersey Sound, is a simple style of rock and roll that features two guitars, bass, and drums. Just as iconic as the lineup is the Sound's strong backbeat and doo wop-inspired vocal harmonies. Most of the album, however, is not much more than a few solid cover songs. Most important is "You Really Got Me", a song that broke vein with whatever The Kinks had done previously. The song needed only two power chords, distortion, and simple lyrics to deliver one of the most iconic moments of pure rock and roll. The song has a distinct garage rock feel to it and musicologists see it as the "blueprint for hard rock and heavy metal". Continuing off that success, the fourth single "All Day and All of the Night" is written on the same pattern: same power chords (plus one), same lyrical construction, same distortion, and nearly the exact same solo (no kidding). With these two singles, The Kinks broke into the American market on their way to becoming one of the definitive bands of the British Invasion.

Here is the discography surrounding The Kinks's debut album:

Long Tall Sally (1964 single)
You Still Want Me (1964 single)
You Really Got Me (1964 single)
Kinks
All Day and All of the Night (1964 single)
Kinksize Session (1964 EP)





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