The Kinks’ chaotic ascent mapped out day-by-day is ‘a nirvana for any fan’

A gorgeous and lavish new publication tells the story of the Kinks in the ‘60s via the key events in their unsteady trajectory plus concert bills, letters and ephemera assembled by Andrew Sandoval, the kind of non-digital research that’s filled his archive with yellowing back numbers of Disc & Music Echo. It’s “nirvana for any fan”, the title hinting at the level of detail – ‘The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night, the Day By Day Story Part 1: 1940 – 1971’. He joins us here from Los Angeles to talk frock coats, deathless tunes and own-foot-shooting setbacks, and what he learnt about the band from compiling it. Which involves …

… their magical run of 16 hits from 1964–68 (by a sole songwriter)

… the five people who ran and managed the band and what they had to put up with

… the last chance saloon backstory of You Really Got Me and the Jimmy Page rumours

… the Kinks’ alleged black-listing on the American tour circuit

… Ray’s “unauthorised autobiography” and perpetual self-sabotage

… Granada TV’s record of Alan Bennett and John Betjeman as possible co-writers for Arthur

... the 12,000 miles required to re-record three seconds of “Lola”

… the ways Reprise, Pye and Marble Arch sold the Kinks catalogue  

… and Ray and Dave’s live debut as “the Kelly Brothers”.

Order copies of ‘The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night’ here: https://beatlandbooks.myshopify.com/

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