This Really Got Me

Village greens, London pubs, Waterloo sunsets and more; any band can sing about getting up in some guts but Davies' songs are uniquely deep in their characters, narratives and general British-y 60/70s nostalgia of austerity, loss and warmth. One could argue that his songs should be in the great human being time capsule before The Beatles'. - XMASTIME

There's a lot of articles flying around right now to talk about The Kinks' latest career retrospective box set  including this one, which mentions the Davies' brothers temperaments which led to a lot of fighting but surely was the catalyst for incredible creativity:

The dynamic between the two very different brothers is the fuel for it all. Ray looks worried even when he is promising to love you all day (and all of the night). Dave looks like he’s won the pools even when he’s singing about an alcoholic clown expiring alone.

The Davies' fighting never seemed to be about the music itself, and The Kinks lasted an insane 33 years together so I can only care so much for their family drama. But more importantly, this guy really seems to know & love & understand the band, in particular their own unique Britishness (it's a word, don't bother looking it up):

Listening to these songs again, I’m struck by how vital and varied they are, and how, unlike most pop music (which rightly lives only for its moment), The Kinks transcended their time to capture the British character more completely than almost anything and anybody else.

It must be very irritating for Ray Davies to reflect on how, if The Beatles hadn’t come along, he’d be regarded as the greatest songwriter of his age. [BREAKING XMASTIME NOTE: does this make Ray the Patrick Ewing of rock & roll?] To some listeners, an album such as The Village Green Preservation Society might seem positively fogeyish and nimbyish – but we must remember that Ray was only 23 years old when he wrote it.

Hopefully my personal favourite, Sweet Lady Genevieve, will be included; how it wasn’t a number one hit (it didn’t even chart) I’ll never fathom. Maybe the lyrics – this is a love song which confesses ‘I told you never ending lies’ in its first line – are just too painful and emotionally complex for a singalong. The first half of The Journey is focused on emotions and relationships; I presume the second half will contain the social comment.

I agree! With pretty much everything the guy writes in the article! And I have no clue why Sweet Lady Genevieve, an Xmastime superslice of superslices didn't made it on this box set but fuck it, you people can enjoy it here YOU'RE WELCOME!!