Disco de The Kinks: “Word of Mouth [Japan Bonus Tracks]”

Seriously. This is one of the least attractive album covers I've ever seen. Why would anyone pick this up unless they were a Kinks fan already? Major misstep by the Brothers Davies.

The record itself is good, if not great. It boasts Dave Davie's second best song, "Living on a Thin Line," a paen to the middle class and poor stuck in an economy that increasingly favors the rich, and "Good Day," a bit of Ray Davies whimsy that is clever fun until the biting bridge ("So have a good day today, because it may be your last, make it last..."). Not to mention a bunch of good-but-typical Ray Davies social observations ("Too Hot," "Do It Again," "Sold Me Out," et al).

Musically, it's early '80's Kinks. Smooth, textured, with the most passion coming through in the vocals rather than the music. It's a bit keyboard heavy, but that's ok. I personally prefer a rawer sound, but that's me.

It's definitely worth your time if you're a budding fan, still worthy if you like good songwriting, but ultimately expendable if you're looking for something that will jump-start your psyche.

To be fair, I think that Ray Davies was trying to get on the radio, the bland medium that we all listen to too often (and I was a DJ for 7 years, so I know whereof I speak).

If you look past the slickness and the worst album cover in my collection, you'll find a nice bunch of songs. A couple are special, one or two are expendable, but this is mostly a nice little collection by a band pushing its way through middle age.

All that said, I still like it and it's a fun little rocker of an album...good pop sometimes, a couple of bits of should-have-been-rawer nastiness, but still pretty damn groovy. A worthy effort.

Of all their 70's and 80's work Word Of Mouth and State Of Confusion both stand up well to their classic work. Do It Again opens with the same crashing guitar chord as The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, but ventures into a completely different direction. There are witty musical references to The Beatles throughout the album both lyrically and melodically.

That said, this album would be great without the Beatles references. The songwriting is consistent and strong. Dave turns in two of his best songs for the album. Living On A Thin Line was originally written for Ray to sing, but Dave, in excellent voice (and singing in a lower register) does a terrific job. Kudos guys! Thanks for making this available again!

"Word of Mouth" is a great album (the last great Kinks album, in fact) that for some reason is consistently overlooked in favor of the Kinks' other Arista efforts. Sure, there are a couple of throwaways here ("Too Hot," "Massive Reductions"), but the highlights more than make up for them. "Do It Again," "Good Day," and "Summer's Gone" are some of Ray's very best '80s compositions, and "Living on a Thin Line" is, in this Kinks fanatic's opinion, the best song Dave Davies ever wrote.

The album gels together wonderfully, and it has an upbeat, summery mood in stark contrast to the hyper-bleakness of "State of Confusion" and "Give the People What They Want." If you are new to the Kinks' '80s output and have been scared away from "Word of Mouth" by bad word of mouth, I'd urge you to give it a chance. It's one of the most underrated albums in the Kinks kanon.

A year or so into my Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine revitalization of my long neglected lp collection , I rediscovered this gem. It really is one of the most overlooked lps in the Kinks Kataloge. I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't listened to this in forever and a day. Call meself a Kinks fan.....It really is one of the last great Kinks lps. $$$ well spent then and now.

I have been waiting forever for this CD to come out (I've nearly worn out the LP!!) Includes great classics like "Do it Again" and "Living on a Thin Line". Though "Sold Me Out" is my favorite, a great rockin' track, this album contains some awesome softer moments, such as "Missing Persons". FANTASTIC!!!