The Kinks Greatest Hits! (also spelled The Kinks' Greatest Hits!) is a compilation album by the English rock band the Kinks. Released in the United States in August 1966 by Reprise Records, the album mostly consists of singles issued by the group between 1964 and 1966. The band's first greatest hits album, it remained on the Billboard Top LPs chart for over a year, peaking at number 9, making it the Kinks' highest charting album in the US. The album was in print for decades and was the Kinks' only gold record in America until 1980.

Release

Reprise Records released The Kinks Greatest Hits! in the US on 10 August 1966. The band's first greatest hits album, it mostly consists of singles issued by the group between 1964 and 1966, ranging from "You Really Got Me" to "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", recorded in mid-July1964 and February1966, respectively. All the tracks were recorded at Pye or IBC Studios in London and were produced by Shel Talmy. "Something Better Beginning" is the only non-single on the album, first issued on Kinda Kinks (1965). The album's liner notes include one of the earliest instances of Ray Davies, the Kinks' principal songwriter, being characterised as a genius. Author Thomas. M. Kitts suggests the description of Davies as "a brooding-faced, long-haired genius" was an attempt to connect him to the English poet Lord Byron. Eder writes that Ed Thrasher's cover art for the album, depicting the band in several concert photographs, further added to its collectibility.

Commercial performance and reception

Like subsequent British compilations collecting the Kinks' mid-1960s hits, the album's sales surpassed those of the band's late 1960s studio albums. It remained on the Billboard Top LPs chart for 64 weeks, peaking in November 1966 at number 9, making it the Kinks' highest charting album in the US. It additionally reached number 13 and 8 on Cash Box and Record World charts, respectively. RIAA certified it gold in November1968, indicating retail sales of US$1million (equivalent to US$ million in ). The album remained in print for around 20 years and was the Kinks' only American gold record until Low Budget (1979) certification in 1980. Crawdaddy magazine critic Sandy Pearlman contemporaneously described it as among the best greatest hits albums available. Authors Steve Alleman and Bruce Eder each retrospectively write that the album's joining of various styles served to indicate the Kinks' earliest musical developments, though Eder suggests the album's shortcoming is its omission of the band's later 1966 songs, like "Sunny Afternoon" and "Dandy". Critic Robert Christgau included the album in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in his book Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).

Track listing

All songs by Ray Davies. Side one Side two

Personnel

According to band researcher Doug Hinman, except where noted: The Kinks Additional musicians Production and additional personnel

Charts and certifications

Citations

Sources