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In 1968, The Kinks were three years into a four-year ban from performing in the United States. According to band leader Ray Davies, the group's manager did not pay their membership fees to the American Federation of Musicians.

As a result, the band was issued a devastating penalty by the federation - a four-year outright ban from performing concerts in the United States.

While many rock critics believe the ban prevented The Kinks from being as big at the time as The Beatles or Rolling Stone, the group created most of the best music they ever made, and some of the most memorable, and influential, songs in pop history.

In 1968, when psychedelic rock was the center of the rock universe worldwide, The Kinks released their sixth studio album titled Something Else.

The album has only in more recent decades received the recognition it deserved nearly 40 years ago, with the exception of the album's biggest hit, "Waterloo Sunset," which music mogul and founder of Geffen Records, David Geffen has said is one of the best pop songs ever written. If you are a Kinks fan, and even if you are not, chances have heard "Waterloo Sunset."

But the album itself can today safely be called one of the band's seminal classics. In addition to "Waterloo Sunset" the album also features the Euro-rock football anthem "David Watts", the fun, catchy genius of "Death of A Clown" (written and sung by guitarist Dave Davies), and the hazy, slow melancholy "No Return", later covered by Bebel Gilberto.

The recent reissue of the original Something Else includes unique bonus songs, including poppy songs like "Wonderboy", "Act Nice And Gentle" and "Autumn Almanac", as well as the surprising previously unreleased tracks, "Lincoln County" and "There's No Life Without Love".

If you are a Kinks fan, or admire great music, Something Else should be part of your music collection. In the past decade, The Kinks have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity. Many critics and fans have realized by the music world as one the greatest bands ever, and Ray Davies one of the best songwriters of his time (trivia fact: In New Orleans, in 2004, Davies was shot in the leg by a man he pursued after the thief snatched Davies' girlfriend's purse).

Aside from many of their early classics being featured in commercials, TV shows and movies during the past decade, many people don't know that The Kinks were one of the first rock groups to be inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

While the most radio played rock bands of 1968 were selling out shows across the world, The Kinks were making music that will continue to be discovered by music enthusiasts for years to come. Something Else is one of the band's 40-something albums that will stand out forever, and clearly one of the most under-rated releases of the year, if not the decade.



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  3:59 PM February 25, 2007    0 Comments     Vote Songs on Hypem    MP3 Policy   
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Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree In The Ear
Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
Fanfarlo - Reservior
Family of the Year - Songbook
The Middle East - The Recordings of the Middle East
Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Fountain
The Sun - Don't Let Your Baby Have All The Fun
Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence
Foreign Born - Person To Person
Real Estate - Real Estate
Elephantom - Swim. Towards The Sun
Wiretree - Luck
Them Crooked Vultures - s/t debut
Volcano Choir - Unmap
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night,Still Light
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
Ramona Falls - Intuit
Holiday Shores - Columbus'd The Whim
Why? - Eskimo Snow
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
The Dead Weather - Horehound
Portugal The Man - The Satantic Satanist
Port O'Brien - Threadbare
Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part
Headlights - Wildlife
Bango or Freakout - Upside Down EP
The Clean - Mister Pop
Sin Fang Bous - Clangour
Passion Pit - Manners
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues
Spring Tigers - Spring Tigers EP
Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Bodies Of Work - Flyers
The XX - XX
The Black Hollies - Softly Towards The Light
Sonic Youth - The Eternal Youth
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next
Generationals - Con Law
BLK JKS - After Robots
White Denim - Fits/Exposion
Rodrigo y Gabriella - 11:11
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Atlas Sound - Logos
The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Califone - All of My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Taken By Trees - East of Eden
Chet - Chelsea Silver, Please Come
Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
Washed Out - Life of Leisure
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day
The Clientele - Bonfires of Heath
Iron & Wine - Around The Well
Pete Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing
Conor Oberst & The Mustic Valley Band - Outer South
Paper Route - Absence
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Throw Me The Statue - Creaturesque
The Dodos - Time To Die
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
M. Ward - Hold Time
Deastro - Moondagger
The Decemberists - Hazards of Love
Matt & Kim - Grand
The Antlers - Hospice
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
The Brakes - Touchdown
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
Frightened Rabbit - Quietly Now
We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
The Times New Viking - Born Again Revisited
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Pet Lions - Soft Right
Paramore - Brand New Eyes
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware
Bishop Allen - Grrr
Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
Birds of Avalon - Uncanny Valley
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
The Acorn - Heron Act
The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
AC Newman - Get Guilty
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
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The Most Serene Republic - And The Ever Expanding Universe
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