Customer Reviews

Kinda Kinks

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This is the second of a series of Essential Records/Castle Communications releases of the Kinks first ten albums in the U.K. As such it also includes 11 bonus tracks not listed by Amazon.com. Essentially this reissue is a combination of the U.S. versions of Kinda Kinks (plus "Tired of Waiting for You" and "Come on Now") and Kinks Kinkdom (minus "It's Alright" and "Louie, Louie," which were on the Castle reissue of the Kinks' debut).

Sound a little confusing? It is. It's just another example of how America's Pye Records counterparts butchered the Kinks' albums so UK and US releases didn't match up until 1967's Face to Face. [The same thing happened to the Beatles until the release of Sgt Pepper in 1967.]

Here's the bonus tracks: 13. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy (UK #17), 14. Who'll Be the Next in Line (US #34--a crime it didn't hit No. 1!), 15. Set Me Free (US #23), 16. I Need You, 17. See My Friends (UK #10), 18. Never Met a Girl Like You Before, 19. Wait Til the Summer Comes Along, 20. Such a Shame, 21. A Well Respected Man (US #13), 22. Don't You Fret, 23. I Go to Sleep (unreleased demo)

All 23 songs were recorded between December 1964 and August 1965, with nine of the first 12 tracks recorded during a 3-day recording session Feb. 15-17!

Just like the year before which saw the release of the Kinks debut album, the band was extremely productive. However, unlike their debut Ray Davies wrote all but two of the songs ("Dancing in the Street" and "Naggin' Woman"). In the liner notes Ray laments the lake of time the band was given in the studio for their second album: "It had better songs on it than the first album, but it wasn't executed in the right way. It was just far too rushed."

Despite the lack of adequate time, Ray and the band made some memorable music. "Tired of Waiting for You," the big hit here, is a far cry from the raucus "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" which fueled their debut. The song went to No. 1 in the UK and No. 6 in the US and showed that the band had staying power.

The biggest leap in songwriting for Ray was "A Well Respected Man," a song that would point the way for the kind of introspective, working class lyrics that would be reflected in much of his best work for the next quarter of a century.

While the Kinks would go on to make even better albums, there is essential listening on this disc. RECOMMENDED

In 2007, there were two Kinks catalog Japan mini-sleeve releases, one in July and another in September. The July release were JVC K2HD remastered discs. Chronologically, these started at "Muswell Hillbillies" and continued thru the end of the Kinks catalog.

However, the September release, and this is despite the text of at least one Japanese on-line retailer, are NOT JVC or K2/K2HD remastered discs. These were issued by BMG. The discs themselves have a "Made In Hong Kong" stamp on the inner ring.

The BMG titles are: The Kinks (1st album), Kinda Kinks, Kontroversy, Face To Face, Something Else, Live At Kelvin Hall, The Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire, Lola Vs. Powerman And The Money-Go-Round Part 1 and Percy.

After A/B comparison, these are the 1998 Castle/Essential remasters. These also contain the same same booklets as those releases. The Castle discs have the benefit of an absolute plethora of bonus tracks on each, which do not appear on the 2000 Japan K2 remasters.

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.

Indeed, this is a confusing release. Even the AMG All Music Guide didn't get it right (they list it in 1990 under the Rhino label, with no write-up for clarification).

Thanks, Steve. Your review certainly helped explain the strange tracking on this strange re-issue.

This disc will likely appeal to only die-hard Kinks fans...because we appreciate the simple lyrics & chords, catchy tunes and silly harmonies. These guys were so great...just never really appreciated or understood here in the states.

great song that one, nothin' in this world... heard it for the first time in the Rushmore soundtrack so I bought that kinks record