The Kinks’ chaotic ascent mapped out day-by-day is ‘a nirvana for any fan’

The Kinks’ chaotic ascent mapped out day-by-day is ‘a nirvana for any fan’

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold March 8, 2026 Duration: 41:29

A gorgeous and lavish new publication tells the story of the Kinks in the ‘60s via the key events in their unsteady trajectory plus concert bills, letters and ephemera assembled by Andrew Sandoval, the kind of non-digital research that’s filled his archive with yellowing back numbers of Disc & Music Echo. It’s “nirvana for any fan”, the title hinting at the level of detail – ‘The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night, the Day By Day Story Part 1: 1940 – 1971’. He joins us here from Los Angeles to talk frock coats, deathless tunes and own-foot-shooting setbacks, and what he learnt about the band from compiling it. Which involves …

 

… their magical run of 16 hits from 1964–68 (by a sole songwriter)

 

… the five people who ran and managed the band and what they had to put up with

 

… the last chance saloon backstory of You Really Got Me and the Jimmy Page rumours

 

… the Kinks’ alleged black-listing on the American tour circuit

 

… Ray’s “unauthorised autobiography” and perpetual self-sabotage

 

… Granada TV’s record of Alan Bennett and John Betjeman as possible co-writers for Arthur

 

... the 12,000 miles required to re-record three seconds of “Lola”

 

… the ways Reprise, Pye and Marble Arch sold the Kinks catalogue  

 

… and Ray and Dave’s live debut as “the Kelly Brothers”.

 

Order copies of ‘The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night’ here: https://beatlandbooks.myshopify.com/


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
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