66. The Kinks — Face to Face (1966)

1. A thoroughly solid if unremarkable album from The Kinks, a band that’s been a general blind spot for me in my rock history. I gave the album a couple more listens than I might have otherwise to help fill in that blind spot, since I don’t really know how many Kinks albums will be on this list. It grew in my estimation with each listen, though remains a solid 4/5 album.
2. Wikipedia calls this arguably the first rock concept album, but I’m not seeing it. Apparently Ray Davies originally planned to use sound effects to tie the tunes together; the label made him lose most of them, but some remain on tracks like “Party Line,” “Rainy Day In June,” and elsewhere. I like the flourishes, and wish there were more of them.
3. There are some really great sounds on this album. “Party Line” kicks things off with some teeny-bopper fun. I love the vocals and guitar pairing on the chorus of “Rosie Won’t You Please Come Home.” The vocal-instrumental interplay on the chorus of “House In The Country” is great. Most of the tracks here are, at the least, very solid.
4. Here we also have our second british invasion band in as many years complaining about British taxation. Or at least, I think they’re complaining…”Sunny Afternoon,” the biggest song from the album, filters its commentary through the story of a fat, old money aristocrat. That makes the lyrics more interesting, but if the point is to complain about taxation, complaining that it’s difficult to sail on your yacht makes that commentary fall flat a bit.

One Essential Song:

Listen on Spotify: