Soap Opera [Hybrid SACD, SACD, Import]

This is one of those Kinks records that just went sailing over people's heads. The idea of a rock star gradually becoming a mediocre nobody is the stuff of genius. It's about the oppressive sameness of the masses, and just think about it for a second. What does the expression "keep it real" mean? I can tell you. It means "don't think you're better than the 'hood. Stay undeducated and lame and watch TV and listen to weak rap numbers that denigrate women in a predictable style." Real real.

Ray Davies nailed it all those years ago: We're not a culture of individualists, by any means.. We're all about conformity. He just puts it out there, straight, no chaser. We should ask ourselves: How much have we "settled" over the years? How much has identifiable product overwhelmed the process of choice? To my knowledge, this is the only album that has ever addressed the question.

What Ray Davies does here is illustrate, from his own coast, how the weight of just "fitting in" can crush anyone, even a genius. The moral: Don't fit In! And Ray never did. Melodically as well, this has some of the greatest tunes ever generated. The actual CD closer (not the one on the extended version) has had me in tears.

This is a very, very brilliant album. I wouldn't use the word "silly" for any of it. Ironic, in high Shakespearean style, is more appropriate. It is, in its way, a fully fleshed out version of "I'm not like everybody else," which is hilariously used non-ironically in a commercial these days. Don't they get it? They are ALL like everybody else! That's what the song is about.

Irony 101 for all ad execs. Mandatory. (Oh yeah, and I know folks have noted that "Lust for Life" by Iggy is being used to promote family values. I have lived this long?)

Finally, if the above all sounds daunting....Soap Opera also great fun to listen to. Good singing, good playing, melodies and hooks galore, wit, intelligence, and Ray Davies's voice. And a spectacular foray into the mind of the 20th Century Ape-Man.

Any Kinks album is an investment of time. Unlike other groups who try to make instant hits upon first listening, The Kinks write albums as a single thematic unit. Their "concept album" era, of which Soap Opera belongs, is their most disliked period, but also their most misunderstood.

When I first heard this album, many years ago, I thought it trite, silly and rather shallow. However, I dug it out of my cassette collection recently and re-acquainted myself with it. Once again, I was unimpressed. For some reason I kept listening to it over and over, and found myself less invested with the music than the story. Essentially its about a trumped up rock star who exchanges placed with a middle-aged clerk in order to prove he could make him a "star". Silly concept.

Suddenly I recognized a parallel between the album's story and the wave of reality show on TV. I could easily imagine a show based off of this very premise. Now the story didn't seem silly, but prescient. This is where the magic of the Kinks exists. Ray Davies delves into the distubing trend of societal obsessions and juxtaposes them with the allure of the simple life.

Just visualise the theatre in this music. This album was a great escape for me when it came out. I can't wait to get it on CD. The original album was destroyed when my husband fell down the stairs carrying my albums in a box when we were moving. Oh well. When you listen to this, it's like having a little movie playing in your head. However, recommended for hardcore Kinks fans only. If you really just like their radio ditties, you might find the soap opera side of Ray & Dave kind of weird.