Voiceprint, in conjunction with MVD, have just unleashed this charming, yet seemingly hastily put together 90 minute look at the career of one of rock's greatest and most influential bands, the The Kinks. I say charming because, let's face it, The Kinks were the ultimate 'British' band, and much of their music over the years had a certain 'charm' to it that very few others could compare to. Taking a look at the beginnings of the band in the early 60's, all the way up to the early 2000's when the group has basically been on extended hiatus due to the bickering and solo careers of Ray & Dave Davies, the documentary is spliced in with vintage live clips and interview segments. Sadly, there seems to be no rhyme of reason at times for why certain songs are played at certain time. For instance, if they were going for a chronological format, then why is footage of the band playing "Celluloid Heroes" and "Superman", two of their great songs of the mid-70's, shown in the first 20 minutes of the film while they are talking about the early part of their career? If you've ever seen the Kinks concert film from the early 80's (the companion piece to their popular One For the Road live album), quite a bit of that film is spliced in here, but again, it's more haphazardly thrown in than the songs strategically placed it the perfect spots. Also, a lot of the live footage is of grainy quality, and you don't always get full songs, and no info is given on where the footage was taken from. However, for Kinks fans, there's a good chance you've either not seen some of this footage in a while or never had the chance to view it, so having some of this classic material in one DVD is a good thing. It would have been nice to have had more time spent on the band's early 70's 'concept album' period, but seeing as the interview segments with the band seem to indicate that they don't have fond memories of that period, perhaps that's the reason why. Also, the narrator's didn't seem to do their homework in spots, specifically when at one point during a look at the 80's, they mention that One For the Road was released in 1986 as the band's popularity was starting to dwindle-fact is folks that the live album came out in 1980 when The Kinks were arguably at the height of their 'arena rock' period.
Negatives aside, there's plenty to like about You Really Got Me-The Story of The Kinks. Clips of "Till the End of the Day", "All Day and All of the Night", "Superman", "Well Respected Man", "Ordinary People", "Low Budget", "Sleepwalker", "Catch Me Now I'm Falling", "Do It Again", and many others, as well as some rare stuff like ""Death of a Clown", "I'm a Love Not a Fighter", and "Village Green Preservation Society" make for an fun viewing. Oh yeah, and there's a very early performance of "You Really Got Me" as well. Can't very well forget that can you...it's only one of the most influential hard rock songs of all time.
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