The Kinks Album: “Lost & Found (1986-89)”

This is kind of a silly compilation, as it draws from only two albums of original material (along with a live album) in the first place, and if you're interested enough in the Kinks' MCA output to track this down, you may as well pick up the albums themselves. Still, though "The Road" is a great record worth tracking down in its entirety, "Think Visual" and "UK Jive" are uneven, filler-stuffed affairs and the compilation treatment could have been an opportunity to put a better face on a patchy era.

"Lost & Found," however, is far from a good compilation. The arbitrary track selection actually makes the Kinks' MCA years seem even patchier than they really were. A lot of great material, from "Think Visual" in particular, was left off in favor of subpar songs (including some of the very worst from this period like "The Video Shop" and "Now and Then") and redundant live versions.

Here's my suggested tracklist for a good LP-length summary of the Kinks' MCA era:

1. Lost and Found

2. Rock 'n' Roll Cities

3. How are You?

4. How Do I Get Close

5. Repetition

6. Bright Lights

7. Killing Time

8. Dear Margaret

9. The Road

10. Cliches of the World (B Movie) (live)

11. Think Visual (live)

12. When You were a Child

This album collects tracks from the Kinks' three albums on MCA (Think Visual, UK Jive, and Live: The Road), all of which are quite enjoyable and have other great tracks which are not included here. If you're at all interested in these songs, skip this compilation and go for the albums they originally appeared on.

Having grown up with The Kinks music in The British Invasion days I always used their greatest hits album to help me learn how to play the drums. I did not really care much for their music in the late sixties and beyond but I heard On The Road on the radio and it blew me away. This is not only a great song but also a great history of the era of The Kinks and their contemporaries. I bought this expecting to like that one song and just tolerate the rest. I was wrong. I really like this collection of songs. If you liked The Kinks early music I predict you will like this c.d. What a great deal too. In closing let me say I have no regrets on this one and I am glad I bought it for one song because I really enjoy all of them.