Music Arcades: The Kinks: Something Else by The Kinks

Last month I asked 'How many albums do you know where the outtakes in the "bonus material" are worth listening to more than once?' My answer there has just been upped by 100%, to two. In this case the material isn't studio outtakes, but, as far as I can tell (mainly from Wikipedia), some single releases that followed the album — Autumn Almanac, Susannah's Still Alive and Lincoln County — and others of unknown origin. I like Polly a lot.

I got this the same day in 2001 that I got Kinks. They must have just been reissued (again) because there was a wall display of a whole bunch of Kinks albums in Record Collector, all for £5.99. I got these two on the strength of the hits I liked most: in the case of Something Else by The Kinks, those were David Watts and Waterloo Sunset.

The whole album is fine, even if I can't help feeling the singles overpower many of the other songs, Two Sisters apart. More experienced ears than mine argue the opposite, however: allmusic says, "From the martial stomp of David Watts to the lovely, shimmering Waterloo Sunset, there's not a weak song on the record, and several… are stunners."

Still, it sounds very roughly recorded in comparison with other albums of the time, like Smiley Smile, JWH or Forever Changes.