Kink Kontroversy [LP], The Kinks, Vinyl

'The Kink Kontroversy' is the pivotal album in The Kinks' career, the bridge from filler-laden early efforts like 'Kinda Kinks' to the string of masterpieces starting with 1966's 'Face to Face'. The hit single 'Til the End of the Day' is the third and last of the trilogy of similar riff-rockers that started with 'You Really Got Me'. But elsewhere Ray Davies shows his peculiar development as a songwriter with downright morose tracks like 'Where Have all the Good Times Gone', 'Ring the Bells' and the pointedly sarcastic 'I'm on an Island'. Brother Dave continues his development as a songwriter with the swell 'I am Free' andas a singer with a stomping proto-metal cover of Kokomo Arnold's blues standard 'Milk Cow Blues'.