As this relates to THE KINKS, maybe thee most important band to ever sign w/ REPRISE RECORDS (right about the time some of us were born - surely that list must include myself), this is worthy of your time. Thx Tom Osborn! Love you for sending this my way. Watch and pray for the reformation to come...soon.

One day about 5 yrs ago my small son wandered into the room and sputtered the immortal words: "God Save The Kinks." Proud & misty, I was pretty sure we were on the right parental track (I later found out he'd read it off a button in my collection). If you were to suggest that Ray Davies might be the greatest English songwriter of all time, I wouldn't argue. A "proper" band between 1963 - 1996, most folks agree that their Reprise years were far and away their best without contest (but pls be kind to the first few records on Arista which are essential). All original band members are are still alive but who knows if the mostly-off again reunion will ever really work out due to hardening of the ego's. Pre-bow-tie-circa, ex-WB publicist Bob Merlis has a great story of showing up in Burbank for his first day of work in 1964 to be told to get to work on a tour by some Beat Combo called, The Kinks. They were already his favorite band so he was fairly sure he'd come to the right address. Light reading: Ray's book entitled "X-Ray" is strange fun (published '94) but guitarist brother Dave's "Kink" (1996) is a far more salacious bedtime story. Geeks like me need: "All Day And All Of The Night: Day-By-Day Concerts, Recordings, and Broadcasts 1961 - 1996," (Doug Hinman 2004) which will keep you off the streets for a while. Have a watch of "Lola" from Top Of The Pops 1970. Hey, that's Gordon Edwards from The Pretty Things on keyboards but that's another story... "God Save The Kinks," now more than ever.