Kinks: Misfits Review

The Kinks are an interesting band in history, everyone has heard their singles, but yet they never reached the massive commercial success of others at the time. The Kinks released a large amount of sensational records, yet you would be hard pressed to find people being able to name just one. Things become even more obscure when you look at the latter period of their career when they weren’t dishing out singles like "You Really Got Me Now" and "Lola". Somehow The Kinks, with an abundance of hit songs, had gone under the radar when it comes to their full length albums, especially when it comes to the later section of their career. Misfits falls into that later section. The album would be the second of their career released under Arista, who touted the reincarnated band as playing arena rock. Misfits sounds just as the title describes, an album released by misfits, who never quite felt understood.

The album teeters on the edge of depression, but yet maintains some form of optimism by throwing in quirky songs and the occasional bright lyric. For instance on the title track, about you guessed it, being a misfit, The Kinks throw in the one hopeful line, "Every dog has his day". Oddball songs like "Hayfever" and "Out of the Wardrobe" fight off the depression, but still maintain the overriding theme of being a misfit. "Out of the Wardrobe", like their hit single "Lola", focuses on being a transvestite, odd, topic isn’t it? "Black Messiah", with all of its social commentary, is delivered like a straight up reggae tune with horns thrown in, once again delivering a bright moment.

With the optimism thrown to the side, the gloom that is felt on this album is delivered with sincerity, and is a far cry from their early days. The songs don’t have the typical hooks you would come to expect from The Kinks, but the emotion runs deeper, and for that reason, Misfits is fantastic. The emotional tension is felt both in the lyrics and music--at times relaying the same feeling, but at others times trudging in different directions, and through it all, works flawlessly. Is this The Kinks best record? I’m sure few would go out on a limb to say that, but if it’s not at the top, it’s certainly close.

Grade: A