Kinks- Low Budget 45th Anniversary- Sir Ray Davies

Generally regarded as classic rock godfathers shoulder-to-shoulder with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Who, my guest In the Studio Ray Davies explains here why the Kinks were almost a decade behind their British Invasion peers in America when The Kinks released the trifecta of Sleepwalker, Misfits, and their biggest seller, Low Budget, back-to-back in 1977-79. With the forty-fifth anniversary of Low Budget, the Kinks’ July 1979 biggest seller in their long storied career, it becomes apparent that The Kinks were the ultimate slacker band. Led by the Poet Laureate of Rock, Sir Ray Davies, it certainly wasn’t for lack of creative brilliance, but for a dearth of ambition.

The Kinks were probably a lock for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction for their British Invasion Sixties output alone, but the  1970s were tough going for them until reclaiming their rock bona fides with a trifecta of revitalized rock on 1977’s Sleepwalker,  1978’s Misfits,  and their biggest seller ever, Low Budget   in July 1979. The Kinks’ leader and poet laureate of rock, Sir Ray Davies, joins me In the Studio for the stories behind “Juke Box Music”,”Sleepwalker”,”Live Life”, the best Ray ballad since “Celluloid Heroes” with “Rock and Roll Fantasy”, Low Budget‘s “Gallon of Gas”,”(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman”,”Catch Me Now I’m Falling”, and the title song.- Redbeard