Give the People What They Want

by

The Kinks

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What genre name should we use to describe "Give the People What They Want"? Heavy new-wave? It's one of those rare '80s artifacts: an album that sounds completely of its time but hasn't aged at all. "Give the People" marries the grittiest music of the Kinks' career to nimble, intelligent songs and some of Ray Davies' sharpest lyrics. Dave Davies' guitar cuts like a buzzsaw, synth sizzles menacingly underneath, and Mick Avory brings the most punishing drum attack of any Kinks album.

Ray's songwriting was on fire. From the surreal punk-hoedown title track to the bleary "Predictable" to the gleefully deviant "Art Lover," his songs are inventive and engaging. Each one is a snapshot of lost characters in bleak situations, a glimmer of hope not appearing until the bouyant closer "Better Things." But despite the gloomy material, the album's cumulative effect is invigorating, thanks to Ray's wit and the band's bracing performances.

"Give the People What They Want" endures as the Kinks' finest album of the 1980s and one of the best hard rock albums of that decade. Don't miss it!

This album is incredibly terrible. I got it at a flea market, it was buy 5 records, get 1 free. I had to choose between "Give the people what they want" and "Best of the doobies." I sincerely apologize to the Doobie Brothers for choosing the disgusting 1981 Kinks over them. There's not one song on here that I can bear to listen to straight-through. Worst album in the world. I am ashamed to own it. If I am ever without a home and it is winter and I am forced to burn my records to keep from freezing to death, "Give the people what they want" will be the first to go.