The Kinks Essentials

Few bands from the '60s had such an enduring career across such a wide range of styles as these English mavericks. “All Day and All of the Night” captures the white heat and gnarly guitar attack of their early years as one of the loudest gangs around. Not content to stick with their heavy rock sound, frontman Ray Davies branched out by capturing Britain's life and times in sharp acoustic-based character sketches such as “Sunny Afternoon” and “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”, combining a short-story writer's eye for detail and an expert songwriter's ear for sticky tunes.