Something Else by the Kinks (Deluxe Edition)

by

The Kinks

Edit

Something Else by The Kinks, often referred to as just Something Else, is an album by the English rock group The Kinks, released in September 1967. The album marks the final involvement of American producer Shel Talmy in The Kinks' 1960s studio recordings; henceforth Ray Davies would assume recording production. Many of the recordings feature the keyboard work of session player Nicky Hopkins, and the backing vocals of Ray Davies' wife, Rasa.

Songs on the album composed by Ray Davies followed his affinity for strongly English-inspired subject matter, including the harpsichord-laden "Two Sisters", the lazy shuffle of "End of the Season", and the sardonic "David Watts". The album includes the hit single "Waterloo Sunset".

With the departure of Shel Talmy, Something Else marks a change in the sound and production style of The Kinks. As mentioned earlier, Ray Davies would now assume control over production. At first, however, he felt unsure of himself and his skill in the mixing and recording of their records. He later commented:

Apart from "End of the Season", the album was recorded between the fall of 1966 and the summer of 1967, when The Kinks had cut back on touring and had begun recording and stockpiling songs for Davies' as-yet poorly defined "village green" project. In fact, the song "Village Green" was recorded in November 1966 during the sessions for the album but was released on a French EP in 1967 and would not appear on a Kinks LP until the next release, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.

The album includes three songs composed by Dave Davies, including the hit single "Death of a Clown". Based on the unexpected success of the song, the younger Davies began exploring a solo career but follow-up singles did not meet with the same success and, by mid-1969, his solo ambitions would be set aside for a decade.

The album sold poorly in the United Kingdom, in part because it competed with budget-priced compilation albums of early Kinks hits from 1964-1966. Singles-oriented Pye Records released "Waterloo Sunset", "Death of a Clown", and other songs before the album itself. The Kinks would score one more big UK hit single shortly after the release of Something Else with "Autumn Almanac", then would not have a big hit again until "Lola" in 1970.

Something Else also sold poorly in the United States upon release in January 1968, as did its predecessor, Face to Face. These albums had strong British themes; more importantly, the group was still the subject of a U.S. ban on live and television performances.

Critical opinions at the time of the album's release were very positive, especially those of the nascent underground rock press, such as the publication Crawdaddy. In 2003, the album was ranked number 288 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.