Kinks [Import, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

The Kinks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 7, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered, Extra tracks
• Label: Essential Records (UK)
• ASIN: B000006B8B
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,422 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Beautiful Delilah

2. So Mystifying

3. Just Can't Go To Sleep

4. Long Tall Shorty

5. I Took My Baby Home

6. I'm A Lover Not A Fighter

7. You Really Got Me

8. Cadillac

9. Bald Headed Woman

10. Revenge

11. Too Much Monkey Business

12. I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain

13. Stop Your Sobbing

14. Got Love If You Want It

15. Long Tall Sally

16. You Still Want Me

17. You Do Something To Me

18. It's Alright

19. All Day And All Of The Night

20. I Gotta Move

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

UK digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1964 album from the British Rock band led by the ever-bickering Davies brothers, Ray and Dave. Contains the original album joined by a myriad of non-album tracks, rare mixes and more. 26 tracks. Sanctuary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Is Where It All Began, January 8, 2000

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kinks (Audio CD)

After a couple of failed singles in the U.K. (included as bonus tracks on this Castle reissue), the Kinks unleashed their trademark sound on the classic "You Really Got Me" and helped launch thousands of garage bands across the country in the mid-sixties. [Let's face it, there was nothing terribly complex about their music, but it rocked!]

With the success of "You Really Got Me," the Kinks were rushed into the studio to record this, their first full length album. As such, fewer than half of the songs are Ray Davies originals. But among those are the classic "Stop Your Sobbin'" (from the original album release) and from among the generous 12 bonus tracks on this reissue are "All Day and All of the Night" and the should-have-been-hits "I Gotta Go Now" and "Things Are Getting Better."

The covers are typical of other R&B-influenced groups of the period like the Rolling Stones. The Kinks work through respectable versions of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" and "Beautiful Delilah," as well as bluesman Slim Harpo's "Got Love If You Want It."

The Castle reissues of the Kinks' first ten albums illustrate that the Beatles weren't the only British group to have their U.K. releases doctored before they reached these shores. Essentially what this Castle reissue amounts to is the Kinks' first two U.S. albums [You Really Got Me and Kinks-Size (minus "Tired of Waiting for You" and "Come on Now"--both on the Castle reissue Kina Kinks)] plus five bonus tracks.

Bonus tracks include the first two singles: a Little Richard cover of "Long Tall Sally" and Ray's "You Still Want Me" and the B-side "You Do Something to Me." Both singles failed to chart. Also included are "It's Alright" (the B-side of "You Really Got Me"), the previously unreleased "I Don't Need You Any More," and "I Took My Baby Home" (the B-side of "Long Tall Sally," which was included as one of the tracks on the original Kinks debut album in the U.K., but not released stateside prior to this reissue).

All of these songs were recorded in 1964. As such they reflect the freshness and exuberance of a band that would go on to become one of the most important bands of the rock 'n' roll era. RECOMMENDED

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best deal on this album--most complete, June 11, 2002

By 

Stephen Espinola (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinks (Audio CD)

There are at least 3 versions of this album on Amazon. This is the one to get, because it has 12 bonus tracks. This is, in fact, the "UK Import". The one listed as the "UK Import" seems to be the US release which has only 2 bonus tracks. There's also a version available with no bonus tracks.

It is certainly not as essential as the later Kinks records ("Kontroversy", "Face to Face", "Something Else", "Village Green", and probably "Arthur" are musts)--but there's a lot of good stuff here. The 2 hits, plus "Louie Louie", "So Mystifying", "Revenge", "Stop Your Sobbing", and the unreleased version of "Monkey Business" come particularly to mind.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So mystifying..., August 24, 2006

By 

Mark H. "mrh" (Hanson, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinks (Audio CD)

In 1964, probably the key year of the British Invasion, dozens of English bands dropped product on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of it was revolutionary but like any major movement in music, the mediocre was swept in with the exemplary. In October of this landmark year, a North London fourpiece led by a pair of brothers, Ray and Dave Davies, released their debut lp. The Kinks were unique in several ways from many of their contemporarties in that they were led by brothers and that elder brother, Ray, would prove to be one of rock greatest tunesmiths. What was ordinary about the band at the time was their rehash of R&B that everyone was doing. The Kinks were not as good at this as the Stones or the Yardbirds, masters of the form, so their legacy would live or die with their originals. It wasn't until their 3rd single "You Really Got Me", a true revolutionary piece of music, that the band would be formally recognized as not just another run of the mill "beat group". On 'The Kinks', "You Really Got Me" stood alongside such strong originals as "So Mystifying", "Just Can't Go to Sleep" and the classic early ballad "Stop Your Sobbin'". Both brothers handle the lead vocals on this record, with 17 year old Dave, screeching his way through "Beautiful Delilah" and three others. Again the blues and R&B covers are not that good, case in point, the Kinks' first single "Long Tall Sally" (included on this extended version)is pointless and would later be demolished by the Beatles' runthrough. 'The Kinks' is an interesting grab bag with subtle hints of future greatness but not the greatest debut for a rock legend. Four star rating for the expanded Castle version which includes "All Day and All of the Night" (another alltime classic originally released as a non-lp single), the b-sides to both "Night" ("I Gotta Move")and "Got Me"("It's Alright") and the first Kinks ep. Otherwise you may be unsatisfied with debut on its own with only "You Really Got Me" and "Stop Your Sobbin'" as truly memorable. Better days lay ahead for the brothers from Muswell Hill.