Something Else by The Kinks

I am not a big fan of the Kinks. I listened to their previous records and found atleast 3 of them to be devoid of anything except the hit single. Even Village Green Preservation Society had it's ups and downs for me. So, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this LP. I think I found my first likeable Kinks record; Something Else. I like the way it starts with David Watts before getting into what I think is the best song of the album, Death of a Clown. I also liked songs like Two Sisters, Harry Rag (which apparently is a throwaway term for cigarettes in then England) and Situation Vacant. There is always the iconic closer Waterloo Sunset, but it's now my third favorite song from the album after the opening two salvo. I like that they involved some instruments beyond traditional rock ones and most importantly, Ray Davies' songwriting really has matured and it shows on most of the songs.

It's not that the album is perfect or it has no bad songs (atleast in my opinion). I did find a couple of throwaways/fillers in the middle but was glad that they were overshadowed by good songs mostly.