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Dave Davies

Living on a Thin Line Hardcover – 7 July 2022

by Dave Davies (Author)

356 ratings

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The all new, must-read memoir by legendary Kinks guitarist Dave Davies

'BOOK OF THE DAY' - Guardian

'This powerful tell-all from the Kinks guitarist puts the spotlight on his own bad behaviour, dalliances with the occult and his recovery from a stroke.' - Observer

'Heartfelt, hilarious, revealing, insightful and astonishingly candid. Boy, you really got me Dave. I can't wait to read it again.' - Mark Hamill

Dave Davies is the co-founder and lead guitarist of epoch-defining band the Kinks, a group with fifty million record sales to their name. In his autobiography, Davies revisits the glory days of the band that spawned so much extraordinary music, and which had such a profound influence on bands from The Clash and Van Halen to Oasis and Blur.

Full of tales of the tumultuous times and the ups-and-downs of his relationship with his brother Ray, along with encounters with the likes of John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix, this will be a glorious read for Kinks fans and anyone who wants to read about the heyday of rock 'n' roll.

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Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Headline Book Publishing
Publication date

7 July 2022
Dimensions

17.15 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
ISBN-10

1472289773
ISBN-13

978-1472289773

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Ray Davies: A Complicated Life
Johnny Rogan

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Kink: An Autobiography
Dave Davies

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Book Description

The autobiography of Dave Davies, legendary guitarist of The Kinks

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Headline Book Publishing
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 7 July 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1472289773
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1472289773
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 kg
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.15 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 726,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 273 in Rock & Pop Musician Biographies
- 286 in Rock Music
- 3,715 in Actors & Entertainers Biographies
Customer reviews:
356 ratings

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356 global ratings

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Customers find the book well worth reading and appreciate its pacing, with one review highlighting its brilliant personal details and another noting how it provides new perspectives on the Kinks.

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Readability Pacing

11 customers mention ‘Readability’9 positive2 negative

Customers find the book well worth reading, with one mentioning it's a great read from the Kinks axeman.

"Great read." Read more

"Brilliant book...." Read more

"...Anyway, it was still well worth reading for the background on several points, and I chuckled in quite a few places, thanks to his often amusing turn..." Read more

"Quite interesting but not much which was not already out there" Read more

4 customers mention ‘Pacing’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with individual reviews highlighting its brilliant personal details, new anecdotes, and fresh perspective on the Kinks.

"...many years ago. Thankfully there is much greater detail and new anecdotes in this one, though it still becomes a rush job, timewise, at the end...." Read more

"Absolutely choca-block full of brilliantly interesting personal details about Dave`s life - before and after The Kinks, but the book needs to be..." Read more

"...I am and can honestly say it’s one of the best accounts I’ve read...." Read more

"A new perspective on the Kinks and well worth a read..." Read more

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Goshawk79
A new perspective on the Kinks and well worth a read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 December 2024
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Great to get the view from Dave's perspective, as with many bands the alpha personality front person usually gets all the feed, whereas so often it is other band members who wrote a lot of the stuff and did a lot more than ever were credited for, and without whom none of it would have happened...

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Amazon Customer
Great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Great read.

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Zoe B
Brilliant book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Bought this for my dad (we're both massive Kinks fans). He is loving this book.

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The Gospel
Certainly living on a line of "something"!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2022
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I bought this even though I had read his previous biography ("Konk"?) many years ago. Thankfully there is much greater detail and new anecdotes in this one, though it still becomes a rush job, timewise, at the end. It seems to be the norm these days to spend 80% of a book on the band's first few years and albums, only to cram a dozen latter albums into one chapter, but hey ho!

For starters, he divulges much more than I was expecting about his wide and varied sex life. It makes no odds to me about which gender was favoured at which time, but more the fact that he treated both sexes appallingly!

Likewise, his explanation of assorted fisticuffs with band members and others over the years, and the trashing of hotel rooms etc. made me think more than once "not a very nice man". Did he think "That's what rock stars do, and I'm a rock star so it's justified"? There is no reason for taking out bad moods on other people's property. NOT EVER. I mean, his brother Ray didn't resort to that, did he?

It's not enough that he (now) says "I'm not proud of (whichever incident)". It doesn't exonerate him! I still can't see what his complaint in life was/is. I have about 99% of all Kinks recordings (incl. solo releases), and I sum up Dave Davies as follows : has written some excellent songs (besides some terrible corkers), and is an excellent singer (except when he stops half way through a line and turns to either talking or shouting). As for his guitar prowess, I don't really have an opinion either way on that.

The point is, however talented he might be, it pales in comparison to the genius that is Ray Davies. Ray was and is the Kinks. If Dave could have matched him in quantity, quality and sheer variety of songs, not to mention concepts, themes and ideas, then why didn't he?!

However, my main beef of the book is how many times he preaches to the reader! He allegedly has all these mystical and spiritual experiences. I do actually have an open mind to that side of things, but the way he describes his own events (or tries to), makes me honestly think drinks and/or drugs were the biggest culprits is his case!

Whether they were true of not, is irrelevant to me. It's the fact that he feels he can lecture Joe Public on the failings of humanity, telling us how we should be feeling and how we should react to things. In other words, making us feel "shallow". Yet his own acts and opinions belie that! For example, going on about how people look "cool" by what they are wearing, and so on. What is more shallow than clothes, shoes, jewellry and so on? For crying out loud!

I just think he hasn't looked at himself in the mirror as closely as he should have. I also feel that he missed the purpose of his stroke, but to debate that would be touching on really heavy issues, which have no place in a simple review.

Anyway, it was still well worth reading for the background on several points, and I chuckled in quite a few places, thanks to his often amusing turn of phrase!

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King
Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2025
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
A Interesting Book on Dave and the Kinks History in general
Enjoyed it very much

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P. D.
Basically an update of Kink
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2022
Format: Hardcover
As a lifelong Kinks fan, I enjoyed this book as I did the previous one from 1997, Kink of which this is mainly an update.
Dave has certainly lead a full and interesting life although you have to pity his wives and girlfriends who are regularly traded in for newer models in the way most people treat their cars!
If you haven't read Kink then this is recommended, if you have then you need to decide if a quick run through the intervening 20 years is worth the outlay. For me, it was.

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Aston
Answers many questions
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
You probably have to be a Kinks fan to understand most of the book. I am and can honestly say it’s one of the best accounts I’ve read.
It answers a lot of niggling questions such as why did Andy Pyle leave and what actually happened to get the Kinks banned in the States.
It’s a lightning journey through Dave’s life story, well written and easy to read..
Nice one Dave and thank you.

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Pontybodkin Pete
Dave Davies` Living on a Thin Line.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 February 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Absolutely choca-block full of brilliantly interesting personal details about Dave`s life - before and after The Kinks, but the book needs to be bigger so that the print is readable without a magnifying glass. I`ll have to get stronger reading glasses !!

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Denis Kolchin
Dave's spiritual life
Reviewed in Italy on 24 August 2022
Verified Purchase

From the very first pages Dave goes spiritual and once he used the word magick.. I thought: "Oh no, here we go, I have to read about occult crowley crap, yoga, Kabalah and other esoteric nonsense..." and exactly what it was! He mentioned all of it, of course it takes not a big part of the book, but I wish he kept it for himself. For the rest, love most of the Kinks stuff and some of the details were interesting to know.

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David B.
Revealing "Bio" Will satisfy Kinks' Fans
Reviewed in Canada on 19 March 2024
Verified Purchase
Growing up in England the Kinks' were one of my favorite bands. Hits like You Really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset and many, more resonate to this day. So I really enjoyed this autobiography by Dave Davies the group's lead guitarist and brother of Ray Davies their main songwriter. Dave Davies certainly lived the rock 'n roll lifestyle to the Max and he tells all. He also talks about the not so well known facts of his musical contributions to the Kinks' music in the studio where compositions (written by Ray) are transformed into hit songs. His interest is Spirituality and Mysticism as well as a foray into film making may surprise the reader. I enjoyed this book-it is not overly long-it zips along at a good pace and revealed all kinds of stuff I never knew about one of my favorite bands. Recommended.

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Steve Goldstein
Definitive Dave
Reviewed in the United States on 15 August 2025
Verified Purchase
Loved every page. A great document not
only of the insider history of the Kinks, but the inside of Dave's head, his thoughts and feelings and psychology. It is extremely intimate and revealing. As a life long fan and devotee, I found it to be indispensable. Dave Davies is a treasure.

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Kevin Doyle
He lays it on the line....
Reviewed in Canada on 11 January 2024
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The good the bad and the ugly - it's all here.

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BOB
Navigating kinks on a tightrope
Reviewed in the United States on 24 October 2023
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I read Dave Davies’ first autobiography, ‘Kink’, about seventeen years ago and was quite impressed because there was so much previously unknown insight about Dave who, although he was the lead guitarist and backup singer of the Kinks, was always in the shadow of his older brother, Ray, the front man, singer, leader, and songwriting genius who wrote such classics as “Waterloo Sunset,” “Days,” “Lola,” “Celluloid Heroes,” and the iconic power chord rave-ups “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night.” That raunchy guitar sound was courtesy of three years younger brother Dave and those riffs are an essential part of the DNA of almost all riff-driven rock music that has followed, now going on almost 60 years.

I wasn’t terribly surprised to learn that Dave was a rowdy hell-raiser who led the rocker’s life to the fullest in those heady years of the 60’s, going through drink, drugs, and relationships and one or two-night stands with lovers of both sexes. I was a bit surprised to learn that he was heavily into mysticism and eastern spirituality and of his account of channeling positive energy into a previously listless crowd at a Kinks concert which, within a matter of minutes, became a roaring, cheering crowd. Brother Ray didn’t know how to react to Dave’s silent power but told him the next night, “Whatever you did last night, do it again.”

‘Living on a Thin Line,’ published in 2022, covers much of the same ground but from the perspective of a much older man who had a stroke in 2004, losing much of the use of the right side of his body. With meditation he focused his energy toward learning mobility again, including relearning how to play the guitar. He did have the advantage of all those years of playing which had built up reflexes and muscles that he could call back into action. He did physiotherapy, repetitive motion, stretching, and painting. Within two years he could play guitar again.
After he was released from the hospital he still needed help from loved ones, which led him to stay with brother Ray for two weeks:
‘My brother is very talented and gifted, and I don’t want to be mean so soon, but I sometimes feel he’s like a vampire the way he draws so much energy from people. True enough, that’s helped him become a great songwriter and he knows how to channel his ability to use people in a creative way. I’m glad he has always been part of my life, but you need to be strong around him. The way he was absorbing my energy during those two weeks, eventually I thought…Ray, I love you, but really I don’t have much to give at the moment.’

This is recounted in the first chapter and brings us back to one of the perennial themes running through Dave and Ray Davies’ lives and, in turn, through the career of The Kinks.

It has been a few years since I read ‘Kink’ so I didn’t mind reading about the large Davies family, growing up in the post-war years, the six older sisters, one older brother, and extended family of cousins and aunts and how music was always in the family, the early musical attempts by the brothers to form a band with friend Pete Quaife, the heartbreaking story of Dave’s teenage affair with his first great love Sue, how their parents kept them apart, which he could see in retrospect allowed young Dave to stay focused on a music career although it formed an emotional gap over subsequent years to pursue indiscriminate sex and drugs to fill that void, later learning that Sue had given birth to Dave’s child. The ‘schoolboy in disgrace’ portion of that story formed the basis for the Kinks’ album, ‘Schoolboys in Disgrace, which included several great songs, including Dave’s favorite, “Headmaster.”

I don’t recall Dave going into as much detail with his same-sex encounters, which he viewed as less serious than his heterosexual relationships, oblivious in his breakup with one who was truly heartbroken, when Dave minimized the emotional component of the relationship, viewing their sexual activity as a frivolous bit of fun.

In this book, Dave finally provides a partial explanation for why the Kinks, in the middle of their first whirlwind tour of the U.S. were banned by the musicians’ union from playing in the country for over three years. For one thing, their managers were not as dedicated to staying with them and ensuring they went through the proper paces, often leaving them to fend for themselves.
‘Only years later did we realise that each time we cancelled a concert, or pulled one of our stunts, like playing a twenty-minute set, or driving everyone nuts with forty minutes of “You Really Got Me,’ complaints were made to the union. Each time we had an altercation with a promoter or musicians’ union representative, it was held in evidence against us. We were innocents abroad who had no idea about the power of these union people. The expectation was that US tours by British bands would tick along flawlessly. The Beatles had managed perfectly well before us, but they had Brian Epstein on their side: all they needed to do was show up and play. We had no such luck. Robert and Grenville stayed home, Larry didn’t last the distance, we failed to keep our mouths shut when things didn’t work out. In short, everyone connected with The Kinks, band and management, went wrong.’

The Kinks were virtually shut out of a U.S. market during the years of greatest experimentation and growth, missing out on even the possibility of playing at high profile festivals like Monterrey and Woodstock. The advantage of this omission was that it forced them into mining their own British culture. If The Kinks had been performing in America alongside the Rolling Stones and The Who, they probably would not have made classic albums such as ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ and ‘Arthur (or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire),’ at least not in the same way.

Dave is very perceptive about his shortcomings, but one fact he never quite comes to terms with is, despite his insistence that his children are the center of his life, why he would leave one wife with young children once he found another young beauty with whom he is smitten. He changes partners with the casualness of trading in a car for a newer model. I lost track of how many children he fathered and how many women he had either married or lived with for an extended period.

I can understand why The Kinks will probably never reunite and the main reason stems from the distance Dave needs to keep from Ray to maintain his own psychological equilibrium. The blood relation has probably kept them involved in each other’s lives more than they would have been if they had just been friends who formed a great and enduring band together. I have never heard any of Dave’s solo albums, only basing my assessment of his songwriting ability on what he contributed to the Kinks’ output: Dave will probably never be the songwriter that Ray Davies is/was. Like it or not, he will always be the younger brother/sidekick to the Kinks’ musical visionary, no matter how much evidence he produces to set the record straight. It may not be fair, but that’s the way it is. Each of them has written two excellent autobiographies, each bearing the unique stamp of their author. For the more complete picture of most of the same events, one has only to read the account of the other brother.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Dave's spiritual life

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing "Bio" Will satisfy Kinks' Fans

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Dave

5.0 out of 5 stars He lays it on the line....

4.0 out of 5 stars Navigating kinks on a tightrope

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Dave's spiritual life

Revealing "Bio" Will satisfy Kinks' Fans

Definitive Dave

He lays it on the line....

Navigating kinks on a tightrope