What is the best album by The Kinks?

Ray Davies gave us pastoral English social satire, swaggering hard rock, and music-hall eccentricity — sometimes on the same album. Which Kinks record do you keep coming back to?

1

The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks' 1968 pastoral concept album, a bittersweet love letter to a vanishing England now regarded as one of rock's greatest.

2

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

A 1969 rock opera tracing one family's story against the backdrop of Britain's fading imperial glory, often cited as their most ambitious work.

3

Something Else by the Kinks

A 1967 album blending sharp social observation with pop craft, featuring the transcendent 'Waterloo Sunset'.

4

Muswell Hillbillies

The Kinks' 1971 cult classic, a sad and funny portrait of ordinary London life filtered through country, music hall, and barroom folk.

5

Face to Face

A 1966 album marking Ray Davies' shift toward character-driven narrative songwriting that would define the band's golden era.

6

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One

A 1970 satirical album skewering the music industry featuring the iconic hits 'Lola' and 'Apeman'.

7

The Kink Kontroversy

A 1965 hard-rocking album that captured the band's early raw energy at its most powerful and aggressive.

8

Low Budget

The Kinks' 1979 comeback album blending hard rock with satirical commentary on economic hardship, their biggest US chart success.

9

Sleepwalker

A 1977 album marking The Kinks' American rock revival, showcasing a tighter and more commercial sound that reached the US top 30.

10

State of Confusion

A 1983 album featuring the top-20 hit 'Come Dancing', a nostalgic and melodic pop-rock success showcasing Davies' storytelling at its most accessible.

11

Kinda Kinks

The Kinks' urgent 1965 sophomore album capturing their raw, blues-infused British Invasion energy at its most unfiltered.