July 27–August 3, 2000

disc quicks|rock/pop

Dave Davies

Rock Bottom: Live at the Bottom Line

(Koch Records)

Anyone who’s seen Ray Davies’ solo "Storyteller" shows knows that they’re delightful and loaded with great songs from the Kinks leader. But they’re also missing that gutsy, go-for-broke attitude that lent the band’s perfect pop its edge, without which they might as well have been the Hollies or the Left Banke (or the Apples in Stereo). That’s where the band’s lead guitarist, Ray’s younger brother Dave, comes in. Throughout the Kinks’ 30-plus-year history, his ballsy guitar tone and strangled falsetto vocals were as necessary to the band as Ray’s brooding class consciousness and unassailable melodies. Opening with the one-two punch of "I Need You" and "She’s Got Everything," Rock Bottom makes a case for Dave as a proto-punk. Further evidence includes the gleeful snarl of "Love Me Till The Sun Shines" and the bratty reading of "David Watts" (Davies’ pre-teen-like wail is perfect for the schoolboy revenge fantasy), though the version of "You Really Got Me" is curiously flaccid. There are also fine quieter moments, including "Tired of Waiting" (dedicated to Ray) and "Too Much on My Mind." Like his older brother, Davies has a tendency toward cheesy hard-rock-isms (see the silly sci-fi of "Psycho Lounge") and self-indulgence (there is no need for 27 tracks on this album). And like Ray’s solo work, Rock Bottom feels like merely half of the Kinks equation, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless.

—Michael Pelusi