The Kinks started out by being raunchier than any group in history. "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night," "I Need You," and "Till The End Of The Day" were truly the Kingsmen unleashed, and for my money more thrillingly raucous records have never been recorded.

After such successful rock and roll albums as You Really Got Me, Kinda Kinks, and particularly The Kink Kontroversy, not to mention Well Respected Kinks, Ray Davies decided it was time to explore some different alleys. This is precisely what the Kinks' work since Kink Kontroversy has been—a probe down one alley of expression, and once the genre has been satisfactorily mined, a move on to something else….

Ray's effete, melodic side had been apparent all along, especially on … [Kinda Kinks]. So it is no surprise that the Kinks went into an extended introspective soft-rock period, recording...