The Kinks

The band's biggest seller, this is the one that made even string-haired Molly Hatchet fans clutch the Kinks to their grease-splattered chests. The title track and "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" can still be heard blaring out of car radios the world over, but Davies' provided "A Little Bit of Emotion" for long time fans.

As Kinks records go, Low Budget wins the award for cheesiest packaging hands down,
greatest-hits sets included. The cover photo of the group's logo and the album's title
stenciled on a grimy sidewalk between a pair of high-heeled feet would do only a bargain
bin proud. No pictures of the band, no credits, no song titles -- and that shrink-wrap sticker
proclaiming three "new Kinks classics" is at best an exercise in the power of posi... More >

Ray Davies hasn't rocked so hard since his power-chord days in the mid-'60s, and often he shores up sloppy burlesques like the title cut just by trying harder. But I don't find his poor-mouthing crassness--the fusion of syndrum and macho-flash guitar on "Superman" or the schlock hooks from "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"--at all charming, and anyone who detects irony in "Catch Me Now I'm Falling," his threnody for "Captain America," is too worried about the ayatollah or the Russkies to think straight. With his ceaseless whining about strikes and shortages, the plight of millionaires and the cruelty of prostitutes, Davies has turned into the voice of the middle-class ressentiment he's always been a sucker for. No, Ray, you don't have to be a superman just to "survive." Especially if you've got a song catalogue. (Grade - B-)