Till the End of the Day...

  

There are a number of releases out today, not least significant of which is Gorillaz' new CD The Fall, recorded by the band with er... uh... assistance by Damon Albarn, mostly on an iPad during their tour in support of "Plastic Beach". The result being largely atmospheric, with little in the way of big pop songs, but still Gorillaz-riffic. A necessity for fans but not likely to set the airwaves ablaze, though there is one track featuring Bobby Womack, and well, to paraphrase Mos Def, BOBBY FREAKIN' WOMACK!

For me, this week's releases are all about reissues. Specifically, the twice delayed and much anticipated arrival on American shores and in American stores of the "Deluxe" editions of the first three Kinks albums, The Kinks, Kinda Kinks, and the utterly magnificent The Kink Kontroversy. As it is late and I must go soon, I have no time to properly address all three records (or even any one of them) in a manner that properly addresses their true enormity. But I will say that The Kink Kontroversy has long been my favorite Kinks rekkid. I know I'm in the minority on that, as most fans cite one of the more fleshed-out, "produced" albums that followed it. Nonetheless, I find Kontroversy to be one of the most perfect of all British invasion rock rekkids. From the opening stomp of "Milk Cow Blues", through the jittery deliciousness of "Gotta Get the First Plane Home", the klassik kinks rock of "Till the End of the Day", the Davies philosophical musings of "The World Keeps Going 'Round", the cheeky "I'm on an Island", the imperious shuffle of "It's Too Late", to the fatalistic, mod-tastic closer "You Can't Win" (I know I missed important tracks, but what can I do?) this rekkid has a bit of everything that defined the Kinks through their first recordings, and presages the more expansive sound to come. I see The Kink Kontroversy as a "bridge" in much the same way that the Beatles' Rubber Soul serves as a bridge between their more teen-friendly early output and the more adult and experimental music that followed. Though in the case of this album, I find that the bridge has as much to offer as the destinations on either side of it. It is presented here peoperly remastered in glorious mono with all the bonus tracks a true fetishist could need. You know you need it.