The Kinks "State Of Confusion"
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#159 in the Series) is the Kinks, State of Confusion.
We’re running with the Kinks today. I wonder what they’re running away from on that cover anyway. I guess it was the graffiti, again! They also used a graffiti themed cover on the previous release, Give the People What They Want.
State of Confusion was more later day Kinks. This release was an album that I really liked. They were still putting out good music until the end. Ray Davies continues to get it done to this day. His album from a few years ago, Working Man’s Café, is brilliant.
But I digress. State of Confusion actually had the highest charting single in Kinks history. Yes, that is correct. “Come Dancing” peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart. It tied, “Tired of Waiting” at that spot. I would have lost a boatload of money if you asked me that one. I would have guessed “Lola,” ” All Day and All of the Night” or “You Really Got Me.”
Back during this era, 1983, I used to see many Chicago Blackhawk games at the old barn, aka Chicago Stadium. Then captain, Denis Savard was known for his creative skating. Evertime he would do his Spino-o-rama, the organist would quickly play out Come Dancing. I caught it. I don’t know who else did. But that wasn’t as obscure as when this player named Craig Ludwig came to town. I saw him get beat up once on the ice and then our creative minded organist played Todd Rundgren’s Bang On the Drum All Day. Ludwig, get it?
Once again I digress… So back to State of
Confusion. Amongst the other great tracks..we have the title cut, “Definte Maybe,” “Don’t Forget to Dance” and “Heart of Gold.”
The kinks at this time were Ray and his brother Dave Davies on guitars, Mick Avory on drums, Jim Rodford, bass and Ian Gibbons, keys.
Ray Davies wrote and produced the complete effort.
The Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts.
–– Larry Carta 
Track listing
All songs by Ray Davies
- “State of Confusion” – 3:41
- “Definite Maybe” – 4:27
- “Labour of Love” – 3:54
- “Come Dancing” – 3:54
- “Property” – 4:19
- “Don’t Forget to Dance” – 4:34
- “Young Conservatives” – 3:58
- “Heart of Gold” – 4:02
- “Clichés of the World (B Movie)” – 4:51
- “Bernadette” – 3:41
Personnel
- Ray Davies : lead vocals, rhythm guitar, synthesizer, piano
- Dave Davies : lead guitar, vocals (lead on “Bernadette”)
- Mick Avory : drums
- Jim Rodford : bass guitar
- Ian Gibbons : keyboards
Links
- See write ups on other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members
- See more from 1983
- Great Kinks Website by Dave Emien
- See our write up of Ray Davies, Working Man’s Cafe
Back to ‘Cool Album of the Day’ Home Page
Here are some albums to check out from other Hall of Famers.
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This is actually my favorite Kinks album. Well, okay, I could say VGPS, but that’s so obvious! The previous album, Give the People What They Want, leaned very heavy (no pun intended) on the Kinks’ harder side. SOC has a nice balance between the hard rockers and their softer side. Young Conservatives seems to me so appropriate in today’s political climate. I love the Dave-sung album closer, Bernadette, too (although if you bought the cassette back in ’83, you got a couple extra songs, Noise and Long Distance, which are now part of the cd).
[…] See our write up on the Kinks, State of Confusion […]
Great site! I just put State of Confusion on and decided to see what the net had to say about this later Kinks gem, which is how I got to you. I would have lost that “Highest charting Kinks single” bet as well. ‘Come Dancing’ is a boss tune, but I’d never in a million years picked it as their 1st equal chart placer.
Thanks for the nice post Brendon. Thanks also for joining the facebook family. That’s actually were much of the daily discussion happens. Feel free to browse around. You can browse by genre, decade or year. Have fun. We spray to all fields here. Some were big hitters, some, well…. you’ll see, not so much! Thanks again, Larry …. Oh and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!!