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Ray Davies On World Cafe, Part 2

XPN
Published February 4, 2015 at 11:33 AM CST
Ray Davies.
Paul Bergen
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Courtesy of the artist
Ray Davies.

The top British invasion bands — The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks — were able to quickly evolve beyond singles and embrace the album. In Part 2 of World Cafe's conversation with Ray Davies, The Kinks' singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter, he discusses how family and history inspired his writing as the band recorded albums like Face To Face, Village Green Preservation Society, and Lola Versus Powerman And Moneygoround, Part One. The Kinks just celebrated the band's 50th anniversary with the five-disc Kinks Anthology, which covers the fertile period from 1964 to 1971.

The two also talk about the importance of "Waterloo Sunset" to Davies, and examine how a certain soft drink almost kept "Lola" off the BBC. Davies also explains why The Kinks didn't tour the U.S. for so many years. Catch up with Part 1 of World Cafe's conversation if you missed it here.

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