One at a Time: "Something Else By The Kinks" (1972) by The Kinks

What is One at a Time? Check out the introduction here.

#288 "Something Else By The Kinks" (1972) by The Kinks

Well, my old computer broke, and I lost most of what I had written, but I'm finally starting to catch up.

When I left off, I had slowly chugged through 23 of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan as my number one, and The Slim Shady LP as my number twenty-three. Because I'm so far behind, I'm gonna start with a couple of albums that I know well enough to write about without listening to them for a week straight.

Something Else can get a little silly at times, but the lyrics are always a little bit more than that. For instance, the opening track finds the singer pining after another boy at school, the titular "David Watts," in a less-than-subtle homoerotic ode to him. Elsewhere, there's similarly catchy tunes, like "Harry Rag", "Tin Soldier Man", and "Love Me 'Til The Sun Shines." The guitar is crisp, clean, and striking throughout, creating perfect pop music with at-times creepy stories sung on top.

The track listing is great at times, but what really elevates Something Else is the song that may just be the best album closer of all-time: "Waterloo Sunset." For me, this song is probably a top ten track, if not then definitely top 15. That's a different list, though. For now, it just caps off a standard good-to-great Kinks album, which lands in the top ten so far:


1. "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963) by Bob Dylan
2. "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" (1973) by Bruce Springsteen 
3. "All Things Must Pass" (1970) by George Harrison
4. "Tapestry" (1971) by Carole King
5. "Document" (1987) by REM
6. "Tea for the Tillerman" (1970) by Cat Stevens 
7. "Car Wheels On a Gravel Road" (1998) by Lucinda Williams 
8. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" (1974) by Richard and Linda Thompson
9. "Number One Record" (1972) by Big Star
10. "Something Else By The Kinks" (1972) by The Kinks
10. "Bookends" (1968) by Simon and Garfunkel
11. "Elton John" (1970) by Elton John
12. "The Bends" (1995) by Radiohead
13. "Armed Forces" (1979) by Elvis Costello and The Attractions
14. "Stop Making Sense" (1984) by The Talking Heads
15. "Honky Chateau" (1972) by Elton John 
16. "Tunnel of Love" (1987) by Bruce Springsteen
17. "Green River" (1969) by Creedance Clearwater Revival
18. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) by The Beatles
19. "Burnin'" (1973) by The Wailers 
20. "The Rolling Stones Now!" (1965) by The Rolling Stones
21. "Born Under A Bad Sign" (1967) by Albert King
22. "Heaven Up Here" (1981) by Echo and the Bunnymen
23. "The Slim Shady LP" (1999) by Eminem