The Essential Kinks

Quite simply, the Kinks have released many compilations throughout the years, but often those single disc, or even double-disc collections failed to deliver a well-balanced sampling of the Kinks in each stage of their long career. Fortunately 'The Essential Kinks' does just that. You won't find many of the bands best missing from this two-disc set. Only hardcore Kinks fans would find any fault here - tracks that should've been included, but then any hardcore fan would no doubt have the bulk of the bands discography already. This set takes aim at those who are well versed on the bands catalog, but perhaps on a budget, having neither the time, or money to chase down every hit. If you're a burgeoning fan of this super group - 'The Essential' is the perfect place to start. Paul L. Lucjak April, 2022

A superb collection, particularly Disc One. (In Disc Two, in the 70s, the Kinks became a highly competent but predictable rock band, something like the Bob Seeger band--well, not that bad. But rather boring.) In the sixties, no one was writing more inventive, witty, and charming songs, with the possible exception of the Beatles. The production of the Kinks' records was seldom up to George Martin standards, sadly, but Ray Davies gives Lennon-McCartney a run for their money, and the sheer originality of their songs is unmatched. They're hardly unknown, and yet, in my view, remain underrated. They are more original than the Stones or the Who, and deserve to be in that league at least.

A Excellent collection all in one place of almost all The Kinks best recordings. The one very small issue I have and it's extremely minor is the exclusion of the studio version of "Lola" and the "Live" version in it's place (other tracks as well). Maybe it was a rights issue because you get basically all the versions of "Lola" on the "Powerman" reissue. Anyway, anyone wanting to have a complete collection of their work then this is the one to get. As I said, everything is here except "Lola" in studio form but every other import track is issued here. Paul's review gives the track listing so not to repeat what you get on this 2 CD set. So I recommend it. If you really want one collection, this is the one.Drop by my website sometime @ "JudeMac Forever", something there for about everyone.

These were raw, basic, rock&roll songs that we didn't appreciate enough at the time. Maybe it was their exclusion from the US that kept their fame from being as up-front as it should have been. These are original, creative, unforgettable tunes that'll stay with you all day. It's good to have them back in my boombox.

GREAT, TYVM

A great collection of the under appreciated band from the British Invasion. A great collection of over 40 tracks and 2 CD's. It spans their whole career of 30 years as a band but is mostly centered on the pre Arista years ( 1974). There are more expensive box sets but I would rather pay under $15. Ray Davies was such a prolific writer that most of his songs have been covered by the elite of "Rock and Roll" like David Bowie "Waterloo Sunset", Joan Jett "Celluloid Heroes", the Romantics "Who a Will Be Next in Line", Van Halen "You Really Got Me", the Pretenders, and on and on!

The Kinks started making music when I was just 6 years old. A little later I heard their music on the radio,but I didn't pay much attention because my ear had already been captured by the Beatles and the Stones. But as time went on I continued to hear their music and really got into them in the late 70's and early 80's. This 2 cd collection is packed with some of the best classic rock you'll likely ever hear and would stand strong with any 2 disc hits package from the Beatles,the Stones or the Who. Also, the sound quality is awesome!

The Essential CD series often substitutes live recordings for their original studio versions. So why Lola? You'll have to ask Ray Davies, who allegedly selected these songs (I saw nothing in the liner notes to confirm this). In any event, the songs that are here have probably never sounded better; the hard to please audiophiles at Steve Hoffman Music Forum like this compilation and its mastering engineer Vic Anesini. Jam packed with nearly160 minutes of music. The 1964-66 recordings are in mono, which was the primary mix in those years.

Even though I have pretty well all of The Kinks' greatest hits on vinyl,I always wanted to have them all on a single CD or 2CD set so I could listen to them while driving.The Essential Kinks is by far the best and most complete compilation of their hits,plus it was an excellent bargain.The sound quality on a couple of the songs wasn't what you could call hi-fidelity,I suspect that these tracks were sourced directly from the original studio tapes and not remastered-at least I couldn't see any mention of it.Considering the amount of original music on these 2 discs and the fact that they are just as they sounded when we Baby Boomers were listening to them on our little record players or transistor radios back in the day,this set makes up a great nostalgic trip back to a time when musicians didn't need a bank of electronic processors to make it sound like they could actually sing and play on key.This is a must for Kinks' diehards and it will refresh your memory with songs that you had all but forgotten.

Best Kinks Greatest compilation. The tracks from the RCA and Arista periods are as excellent as the Pye tracks.

Die Kinks sind einmalig und unerreicht, keine andere Band kann einen solchen Backkatalog mit sovielen grandiosen Songs vorweisen.Frage : Beatles oder Rolling Stones - wer war die bessere Band ? Antwort : Eindeutig die Kinks.

En aquella epoca dorada de la musica, tras Beatles y Rolling, estaban ellos. ES esencial en tu discoteca, la grabación se conserva muy bien

So many great songs ! I must admit I didn't know the full scope of all the songs the Kinks had done over the years. Enjoyed listening to them all.