The Kinks

After twenty-odd albums, either you follow the Kinks or you don't. If you don't ("Gently
pity those you can't persuade," as Jonathan Swift put it), it's unlikely you'll acquire the
habit with Misfits, especially since none of the songs sounds like an immediate hit single.
But if you do, this LP can make you cry. Not because Misfits is a bad record -- on the
contrary, it's the Kinks' best since, at the very least, 1974's underrated Preservat... More >

Ray Davies hasn't put so many hummable melodies in one place since Everybody's in Showbiz (just to make sure, he's put a couple of them both places), and the lyrics evince renewed thought and craft. All of which makes his congenital parochialism and ressentiment seem surprisingly fresh and vivid. Dismaying: "Black Messiah"--Enoch Powell would be proud. (Grade: B)