Of Books and Basketball

Between college basketball (I even went to an NIT game last night) and my second reading of the best music autobiography of all time, I haven't had many free moments to write about my latest musical obsessions. Sit tight (and rethink your brackets). I'm going to go all C86 on you next week... I promise.

In the meantime, if you have never read Ray Davies'
'X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography,' I urge you get yourself an education. As the title suggests, this is one of the more peculiar remembrances of a person's life. There are two tales here. It's an Orwellian world in the not-too-distant future where a dazed and confused file clerk from "the Corporation" is assigned to update the file on Davies. Davies is a bitter old curmudgeon that may or may not be telling the truth as he recounts his youth. It is, of course, an autobiography, thus, all Davies. If I have a beef, it's that Davies doesn't tell the entire story of his life. There is no Chrissie Hynde or "Come Dancing," but he covers the real meat and potatoes of the Kinks' years.

The first time I read 'X-Ray' was about 10 years ago, and I seem to remember Davies' story within a story literary device a bit grating. I don't know if it's maturity or the fact that I'm much more into the Kinks or what, but now I find Davies' writings that of a mad genius. I'm happy I found it at my local used book store the other day. If you're a fan, it's a must read. Here's one from 1965:

The Kinks - I Go to Sleep (Demo) (mp3)