What the record is and where it came from
Something Else by the Kinks is the band’s fifth studio album, released 15 September 1967 by Pye Records. It was recorded between autumn 1966 and summer 1967, with one exception: ‘End of the Season’ was cut in April 1966. It marks Ray Davies’s full production control after Shel Talmy’s departure.
How it sounds, and how it was made
The album sounds like a room with harpsichord, bossa nova percussion, and tempered R&B arrangements. It was made between autumn 1966 and summer 1967, after Ray Davies took production control from Shel Talmy. ‘End of the Season’ was recorded earlier, in April 1966. ‘Death of a Clown’ uses chamber pop textures. ‘No Return’ uses bossa nova. ‘Two Sisters’ is harpsichord-laden. ‘Love Me Till the Sun Shines’ is garage rock-style. Most tracks are mellower, acoustic baroque pop ballads or English music hall.
What lands
‘Waterloo Sunset’ lands — three minutes seventeen seconds of distilled English melancholy and clarity. ‘Death of a Clown’ lands — chamber pop with narrative weight and UK chart success. ‘Two Sisters’ lands — harpsichord-laden, English-themed, used in multiple films. ‘End of the Season’ lands — a lazy shuffle, recorded earlier but placed to close Side One.
What does not
It does not sustain a single genre. It does not deliver commercial momentum — it underperformed on release. It does not include ‘Village Green’, though that song was recorded in November 1966 during these sessions. It does not feature Shel Talmy’s production across the board — his involvement is contested, and Davies assumed control.
The ideas inside it
English subject matter dominates: two sisters, a fading season, a sardonic schoolmaster figure. The lyrics anchor the music in specific, observed English life — not myth, not abstraction, but named people and moods. The ‘village green’ project begins here as stockpiled material, though none of those songs appear on the final LP.
Who should hear it, and who should not
Songwriters should hear it for its lyrical specificity and arrangement restraint. Fans of English baroque pop or music hall should hear it for its textures and tonal palette. People who confuse ‘Waterloo Sunset’ with nostalgia should not — this record is precise, not sentimental.
Is it worth your time
Yes — if you want to hear Ray Davies’s English songwriting pivot into arrangement-led storytelling, with Nicky Hopkins’s piano and Rasa Davies’s contributions shaping a distinct, uncluttered room sound. No — if you expect consistent energy, hard-edged rock, or unified concept cohesion.
