The Kinks - To The Bone (LP, Album) - Very Good Plus (VG+) / Good Plus (G+)

Notes

A Message From Ray & Dave Davies:
"I must have played YOU REALLY GOT ME a thousand times and yet at each performance there was something different about it." Most people think of the KINKS records and have a single memory. That becomes nostalgia. When you are actually playing the songs it feels different every time. Earlier this year, the band went into Konk studio and played the songs in front of a small audience. This record is a unique combination of these recordings and live concerts recorded during the Kinks tours the previous year. The record starts with ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT being performed in front of a wild crowd, then we make the transition into the intimate surroundings of Konk Studio where the band perform a calypso version of APEMAN. Spontaneous and unpredictable as ever, the KINKS then run through an impromptu set of their hits and cult classics. "It is still unclear to me what a pop song actually provideds for people apart from entertainment. In the end, when you strip the music bare, you are left with all these songs that on the surface don't add up to much. So much music is over produced and hyped up so that we don't believe the hype." TO THE BONE is a combination of KINKS songs played in two very different environments. This record is to the point. No strings attached. No obligation but to listen and join in with the audience as they sing SUNNY AFTERNOON and DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION accompanied only by Ray Davies and his acoustic guitar. Then it's back to those memorable power chords of Daves as the band take the stage and perform YOU REALLY GOT ME with that famous opening riff. It's gritty stuff. Unapologetic and uncompromising. Yet it still makes the audience want to be part of it.

On backl: "℗ 1994 Ray & Dave Davies © 1994 Ray and Dave Davies".