The Kinks!
I brought in a few of my favorites and listening to them roughly Chronologically. First was Greatest Hits, which is entirely recordings from the first 3 or 4 years otheir career. I should have brought in the EP collection I have, which is essentially the same thing, but with less interesting liner notes (which I don't have time to read right now anyway) and a slightly more comprehensive song collection.
Now I'm on Something Else By The Kinks. (Oh how I wish I could be like David Watts) which has a lot of classic Kinksness including "Death of a Clown" (yay Dave!) and Waterloo Sunset. Again, I was tempted to bring in something else that would be more comprehensive (namely Kronikles), but I like this album by itself without getting wrapped up in whether some songs on Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround were worth including. (Yeah, I know none of you have any idea what I'm talking about, but take them as recommendations).
I also brought Arthur, Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire. Following on the tradition of The Who and even Pink Floyd in doing a "concept" or story album, this one was also actually taped and televised at production time (it worked for them too, they later did Percy and Preservation, both of which were produced on screen or stage). It starts to show Ray's absorbtion in his nationalism yet existential ennui, which he seems to believe extends to his whole nation. The title character ends up moving to Australia.
Finally, I brought Muswell Hillbillies, in which we see the Kinks trying to LOOK like Credence Clearwater Revival, but sound like... well... not anything else. More ennui, but in a more humorous way and it's pre-Chrissy Hynde marriage/break up, from which, as far as I can tell, he never recovered from. Includes the notable Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues, 20th Century Man, (together which must have had SOME influence on King Crimson's song) and the title track, which must have influenced Eddie Vedder's angst at being famous.
What's cool about the Kinks is partially how much they anticipate later alternative trends: the absorbtion in wondering what tech will do to us without being SF anticipates a lot of punk and alternative, not the least of which includes Bad Religion and Orgy, and grunge as a whole. They also, esp. going into the 80s, have a lot of archetypal melodies and rhythms that feel familiar the first time you hear them without actually being stolen from anywhere.
Yes, I'm a fan. How did you tell?
