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Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Kitts
Publisher: Routledge
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $16.11
You Save: $7.84 (33%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 162873
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 302
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 041597769X
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42166092
EAN: 9780415977692
ASIN: 041597769X
Publication Date: November 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
In Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else, Tom Kitts presents a critical biography of Davies, his music and his times. Based on interviews with his closest associates as well as thorough study of the recordings themselves, Kitts creates the most thorough picture of Davies' work to date. He places the work in the context of the British Invasion and growth of the rock in the '60s and'70s, affirming Davies' role as a key innovator whose groundbreaking techniques often predated more famous examples by years. Throughout, Kitts balances a fan's appreciation with a critical eye to place Davies and his work in proper perspective. For fans of rock music and the music of the Kinks, Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else will be a must purchase. It will finally place this legendary innovator in the pantheon of the great rock artists of the past half-century.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Admirable job of expounding on the Kinks/Ray Davies!! August 16, 2008
I absolutely recommend this book to Kinks/Ray Davies fans. Prof. Kitts does a creditable job of putting together a superb book of a difficult subject. This is the most detailed, up-to-date book on the Kinks that I've seen and I felt right at home having Prof. Kitts expound on the many details behind the scenes. There are still gaps to this history, and probably will always be, but that's irrelevant. The bottom line is that it parched my deep curiosity about the brilliant Davies and the Kinks.
Time for Class! March 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
OK boys and girls. Settle down. It's time for class to begin...here comes professor Kitts.
Yeah, it's a little like that. This is a very scholarly parsing of Ray's tunes/lyrics, and I was a bit put off by the scholarly tone at first, but any true fan (you know who you are) will warm to such a thorough account. Nothing salacious here, but a lot's of good back story to the thinking behind the creation of songs by the greatest rock poet of our times.
4 stars for just being able to put it in one book! January 8, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
When a big DOG gets up and dances: people applaud...not because the dog dances well, but because he can get up and dance at all!
Like the "dancing dog", I'm not applauding the book because it was so well written, (it's better than fair)I applaud it because someone was able to do it at all!
At the moment it's the only book of it's kind. So, until something better comes along shedding light on the way Ray writes songs; and shares the specifics of Ray's private life (warts and all), NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE is the only game in town. I give the author much credit for the extensive research. Writting this book must have been a daunting, frustrating task for many reasons, including the mecurial behavior, egotistical whims and attitudes of Ray. This book does contain lots of good, little known, stories-insights into every Ray Davies project: records, musicals, films, etc.. This, for me, made the best reading: ESPECIALLY insights into Ray's musical composition/lyric writing techniques, satirical or otherwise.
There is an analysis, and quotes from R. Davies, of how the original inspiration for "Village Green" LP came from "Under Milk Wood" (the Dylan Thomas radio play). It even contains a sort of "draft" of the proposed song/scene line-up, and which different character(s) would have sung each song, if "ARTHUR" had been made into the musical cartoon. Bravo! That is the stuff I love to read about. Mr. Kitts did an intelligent job analzing each record, film ("Return To Waterloo) and "rock musical"(e.g Soap Opera)
It wasn't the most exciting read, but the fact that it has finally been done is AWESOME!
Thank you and Congrats Mr. Kitts. You have gone where few people dare to go.
Long-Needed Perspective of a Difficult Genius December 24, 2007
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Kitt does a wonderful job of evaluating Davies' fascinating life and brilliant career, which is not an easy task. As Kitt illustrates in the book, Davies has for decades been a notoriously maddening and mercurial figure to the world and to himself, with his ongoing personal quest for self-understanding being the engine fueling his amazing musical legacy. Although his body of work has always stood for itself, Kitt's synthesis of Davies' personal life and a smart analysis of his songs transcends many of the limitations found in previous works, and finally provides a satisfying and comprehensive (to 2007) perspective of this amazing career. Highly recommended for fans of Davies and the Kinks.
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