66. The Kinks - Face to Face (1966)

1. Party Line
2. Rosie Won't You Please Come Home
3. Dandy
4. Too Much on My Mind
5. Session Man
6. Rainy Day in June
7. House in the Country
8. Holiday in Waikiki
9. Most Exclusive Residence for Sale
10. Fancy
11. Little Miss Queen of Darkness
12. You're Lookin' Fine
13. Sunny Afternoon
14. I'll Remember

The Kinks: one of the few bands that actually truly mattered during the British Invasion. Unfortunately, by the time they began turning into a truly great band, most Americans had already stopped caring. That suited the Kinks just fine, though, because if there's one thing I've noticed about this album, it's actually British. I know, half the damn list is British, but since rock music came from the States, most of their music was trying to emulate the American sound. The Kinks decide 'Sod that!' and went off to write what is called one of the earliest concept albums in rock music. It's a pretty simplistic concept (character sketches of ordinary British people), but it does the trick.


The Kinks certainly have changed quite a bit from their power-chord abusing beginnings. These songs, while they aren't quite the ultra-constructed music of Pet Sounds, have stuff like random sound effects and a surprisingly large amount of harpsichord. Which, by the way, is played by Nicky Hopkins, who appears on quite a lot of these albums, and he even gets a song written about him called 'Session Man', which has to be the first rock song on this list to satirize an aspect of the music industry.


There's a lot of good and witty material on here, as you would expect from a record with song titles like 'Most Exclusive Residence For Sale'. 'Sunny Afternoon', the big hit here, is a wonderful satirical barb at the upper crust of British society (they get brought up a lot on this album. I guess Ray Davies wasn't making as much money as he'd have liked) that totally turns Taxman on its head. 'Dandy' was rather interesting because for years I only knew the Herman's Hermits version, but here we have the original in all its rough-around-the-edges glory.


Basically, the Kinks invented Britpop. Years and years before it actually became popular. While the songs aren't quite as fully realized as they would be within a year or so, this album is a bold step in an exciting new direction. 8/10