This is a good time to be a Kinks fan. Last year Ray Davies put out a solo album, then "A Well-Respected Man" and "This Time Tomorrow" popped up this year in movies like Juno and The Darjeeling Limited. And now a Kinks Retrospective box set is scheduled for release in 2008, and NME has announced that a reunion tour for the seminal 60s, fighting-brothers band The Kinks is supposed to take place this year. (For the love of God, please come to L.A.) Dave Davies is reportedly recovered from his stroke in 2004 but bassist Pete Quaiffe has supposedly also been suffering from kidney problems. According to Ray, however, everyone is on board.

Or not. The Davies brothers being notorious for hating each other and accusing each other of claiming credit for songs, I wasn't surprised to read on an Australian site that Dave Davies insists any reunion that may or may not happen would be purely for the fans, and not for any delight he would have in working with Ray again. Ouch. And Rolling Stone and other sites have reported that Dave is against the whole idea altogether. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If you know nothing of The Kinks, this is the band who wrote "You Really Got Me" (not Val Halen), "Tired of Waiting For You" (not Green Day), and "All Day and All of the Night" (The Doors supposedly owe a portion of royalties to The Kinks for this one, due to the similar melody in "Hello I Love You"). And you probably also know "Lola". I recommend checking out the album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which is a good test for whether or not you'll like anything else. Granted, their style changed quite a bit over their career, which spanned from the mid 60s into the 80s (remember "Come Dancing"?), and even the early 90s, but Village Green is the quintessential album for the Kinks sound, in my opinion.

As a kid I thought my dad wrote "Phenomenal Cat", was scared of "Wicked Annabella" (both on Village Green), and got put back to bed to "Good Day" (Word of Mouth), after waking up from a nightmare, hence the soft spot for these guys. Here's hoping the reunion will actually happen. I'll keep you posted.

Photo courtesy of Allmusic.com