‘The Village Green Preservation Society‘ may the one that gets all the plaudits, but ‘Something Else’ can lay claim to being just as good in it’s own way, featuring some of the best of Ray Davies’ songwriting, which of course means it’s up there with the some of the best song writing ever.
Apart from “End of the Season”, the album was recorded between the autumn of 1966 and the summer of 1967, when the Kinks had cut back on touring and had begun recording and stockpiling songs for Davies’s as-yet poorly defined “Village Green” project. 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 did not appear on a Kinks LP until the next release, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.
Opening with public school satire ‘David Watts’ (later made famous by The Jam), ‘Something Else’ is a bit of a dry run for ‘Village Green‘, lacking the overarching concept, but still rating high on essential Englishness and also delving into such standard Davies topics as identikit suburbia (‘Tin Soldier’), idle affluence (‘End of the Season) and sibling rivalry (‘Two Sisters’, apparently a coded comment on the band’s brother problems). What does it sound like? Well, it sounds like The Kinks, that is to say that there’s plenty of sprightly sixties RnB based guitar pop, a bit of copycat psychedelia (Davies was never one to overlook to convenience of hijacking bandwagons), some Cockney knees-up pleasantries (Dave Davies’ ‘Death of a Clown’) and enough good humour and essential pathos for most bands to base their entire careers on.
‘Afternoon Tea’, with it’s understated, very British sense of romance and charming, Davies brothers vocal interplay, would be quite enough to carry the LP on it’s own, but alongside the infectious ‘Harry Rag’, ‘David Watts’, ‘Lazy Old Sun’ and the rest, ‘Something Else’ is easily capable of unveiling masterpieces one after another. There is a little filler – Dave Davies’ other compositions don’t quite come up to the mark and ‘Situations Vacant’ is distinctly Kinks by numbers, but all in all this is an essential album by a band too often dismissed as a ‘singles act’. Oh, and it’s got ‘Waterloo Sunset’ on it – what else could you possibly want from a Kinks album?
A classic from the archives, “Something Else” is the fifth studio album by The Kinks and gets a loving reissue on Sanctuary Records. On 140g vinyl with the original UK track-listing, it’s the last Kinks album to be produced by Shel Talmy and showcases one part of a mid-career high that’s still an influence today. Out on vinyl LP from Sanctuary Records.
Originally Released 15th September 1967
The Fat Angel Sings 