The Kinks- Something Else (1967)

The Kinks are a much-loved but, in one important way, much-misunderstood band. Like Queen, with whom they share this perception problem, they have a string of big hits which leads to them being seen in popular perception as a singles band, largely experienced via Greatest Hits compilations.

And this gives a very skewed perception of a band which should be experienced, give or take the odd big standalone single, in album form: their albums are invariably strong and coherent collections of songs, and the deep cuts are compellingly interesting both musically and lyrically.

This is my favourite album of theirs. It isn't a concept album or anything clever, and it's hardly the only Kinks album to feature songs based on social observation. For a Kinks album, it's fairly bog standard in what it is. But the songs are wonderful from "Two Sisters" to "Situarion Vacant", concluding with "Waterloo Sunset". I don't even care that the rubbish but puzzlingly popular "Death of a Clown" is in here; this is quite simply a superb selection of songs.