Disco de The Kinks: “To the Bone”

That in all the annals of the development of this "rock" music we love

and that we saw evolve during the second half of the 20th century,

never elsewhere has rock been played with greater subtlety of wit,

sensitivity of emotion, empathy of heart, cleverness of craft,

and virtuosity of touch than that has been played by the Kinks.

Here is another example of ensemble playing.

Every note is "on" and every note is played with great sensitivity.

The band is a well-oiled machine

in the way that only a few rock bands were ever able to achieve

through that blessed combination of virtuousity and longevity.

But since the beginning

the Kinks were famous for their "hooks" propelled by tight,

powerful rhythm guitar licks.

In the passing years the band accrued melodic inventiveness and excellence,

and retained unfailing wit.

The remarkable thing about this album is that it is recorded live.

The live versions are rich, resonant, and recorded with perfection.

In all instances they are on a par with the studio versions,

and even if they can't replace the original versions as your favorites

they are all the more remarkable dead-on note-for-note or better

because the Kinks were able to generate all this perfection and emotion in real time.

The album is a living testament to one of the greatest rock bands ever to mount a stage.

Conventional wisdom - as well as common sense - tells us that the four heavy hitters from 60s England were the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and this band. Unfortunately for Ray Davies, (pronounced "Davis," by the way) the creative force of the group, that which expressed his genius and made him great was a quality which didn't appeal to the masses as did the genius of Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards and Pete Townsend. This by no means implies that Ray was a lesser talent. The fact is, Mr. Davies was and still is at his best as a storyteller. His wit is unparalleled in rock ("Just when I wanted no one to be there, All of my friends were there, Not just my friends, but there best friends, too...") and his portraits and observations are biting without being self-servingly bitter, wry, yet very accessible and above all, brimming with empathy and pathos. He has consistently carried the torch for the unsung common man and has often displayed a sensibility more akin to a novelist than a pop songsmith. The fact that brother Dave was THE originater of the power chord - born fully formed in "You Really Got Me" - from which came all heavy metal and all forms of hard rock make him a legend, too. His distorted tone, chronicled so charmingly well on Ray's 1998 solo CD, The Storyteller, has remained a staple and defining element in the Kinks sound. I have always thought, however, that Ray Davies's best material was the smaller stuff - the material on Village Green Preservation Society, for example, which is represented by a wonderful three song set on the second disc. I'm talking about songs like "Days" - a gorgeous version of which appears with heartfelt Rickenbacker 12-string at the end of disc 2 - and even the much later "Don't Forget to Dance, which show the depth of his empathy, only reachable in midlife. I was, therefore, a bit diappointed at the string of power-rock anthems in the middle of the second disc. They work but they aren't what sets the Kinks apart. At least half of the tunes are full-blown electric band stuff. But the quieter ones are, for the most part, the best ones - my favorites, anyway. Other standouts for me are "See My Friends" and the early Dave Davies classic, "Death of a Clown" from Something Else, which follows it. One might question the inclusion of a few of the tunes because they've been released in so many other forms already - i.e., we might have done all right without new versions of "You Really Got Me" and Lola?" A few more of the esoteric songs would have been nice - "Who Will Be the Next in Line" and "Dream" come to mind immediately. All this having been said, Ray is in very fine voice, the band is tight and versatile and I'm always grateful for another opportunity to listen to the Kinks. If you are at all into their music, you'll be glad you own To the Bone. Oh - and by the way, the last two tunes, "Animal" and the title track were written, I believe, around the time of the recording of the CD. Both amply show that as of the early 90s, Ray still very much had the magic.

Except for drummer Bob Henrit, who came on board in 1984, this version of the Kinks has been in place since 1979. What you get on this two-CD set is a career-spanning collection of mostly acoustic interpretations of songs from the Kinks vast catalog. Most of these songs were recorded in the Konk Studio before "a handful of fans and friends...to give the recording an intimate live feel" according to the liner notes.

Although it's not credited in the liner notes, it sounds to these ears like Ian Gibbons is playing an accordian during much of the proceedings. At any rate, the accordian (keyboard?) offers a new sound to such classics as "Apeman" and "Muswell Hillbillies."

The performance of "Celluloid Heroes" (from Everybody's in Showbiz)is gorgeous--although Ray leaves out a verse.

The Kinks' classic Village Green is the only album represented by more than one or two songs. Three tracks (Disc-2, 2-4) are here, including a wonderful "Village Green Preservation Society."

"Lola" becomes something of a sing-along. (I still can't get used to Ray singing "cherry" cola.)

"A Gallon of Gas" (from Low Budget) gets a nice bluesy interpretation. "Do It Again" makes an appearance twice--once as an acoustic number, followed by an electric version. [It also is the most recent song here (except for the two new recordings), having come from 1984's Word of Mouth.]

The two new songs, if nothing else, show that Ray still has Kinks blood flowing through is veins. "Animal" and "To the Bone" are the only new songs the Kinks have recorded since 1993's Phobia.

This is not the place to start for the newcomer. [Get Rhino's Greatest Hits if you're a novice Kinks' fan.] If you have all of the other Kinks' albums, you'll enjoy this one. RECOMMENDED

In 8th grade we used to sing LOLA on the bus to basketball games. Yeah, I know so what. The Kinks though, Ray and Dave are the Gods of Alternative rock, the forefathers to all routes of rock and roll outside the mainstream.

I'm not like anyone else...sums up the whole band, the whole Kinks experience.

This is their best collection I own and I believe I own them all.

To the bone is as great a song as they have ever done and must be owned by music lovers. It rocks out like no other.

Hope Dave comes back. This band is the greatest of all time.

When I saw this in the blurb -- the group's updating of their early punk anthem "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" carries new levels of resonance that the band could scarcely have dreamed of in 1964 -- I had to add my reaction. I loved the Kinks in the 60s. Now in the 21st Century, one can play the old and new versions of their theme song one after the other -- Loud. This combo makes the CD worth far more than its price, worthy of all the stars. Truly, the Kinks are not like everybody else.