THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
978) The Kinks — “Got My Feet on the Ground”
Off the Kinks’ (see #100, 381, 417, 450, 508, 529, 606, 623, 753, 865) second album, Kinda Kinks, Dave Davies sings and co-writes with his brother Ray this infectious and “boisterous” song (https://jhendrix110.tripod.com/Kinks.html), “a fun piece of boogie rock” (John McFerrin, https://www.johnmcferrinmusicreviews.org/kinks.htm) that “blends standard rock rhythms with a dash of twangy country riffs”. (Beverly Paterson, https://somethingelsereviews.com/2020/03/05/kinks-kinda-kinks/)
As to Kinda Kinks, Bruce Eder tells us that:
The Kinks’ second album, Kinda Kinks, was rush-recorded on either side (and in the midst) of a world tour that took them all the way to Australia in the course of bridging the 1964-1965 New Year. Under those circumstances, the fact that every cut but one was an original was no small tribute to the songwriting ability of Ray Davies, even if most of the songs were less than first-rate — because what was first-rate was also highly memorable, and what wasn’t also wasn’t bad. In the space of two frantic late-December and mid-January sessions, and a brutal week in February of 1965, the group cut 11 songs to fill out a long-player that was already destined to contain “Tired of Waiting for You” (a product of the previous summer’s work, held back by producer Shel Talmy for a single). . . . So the resulting record was uneven but filled with promise, and . . . showcased a much more sophisticated sound, Dave Davies’ guitar turned down (and even switched to acoustic in a couple of spots) as Ray Davies began exploring aspects of emotions and storytelling that transcended anything in the group’s prior output — “Nothin’ in This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl” . . . put them right in the front of the British Invasion pack for seriousness and complexity, out in front of where the Beatles or almost any of the competition were in early 1965 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/album/kinda-kinks-mw0000196154
JHendrix110 is less enthusiastic:
There’s a divide between the Kinks’ singles and their albums early on, with the albums cut with filler while the singles had the real action. The band was playing R&B dance music of the era with some slower acoustic ballads rounding things out [on Kinda Kinks], although nothing has the bite of “You Really Got Me.” There’s only two real surprises on the album. First, it’s a bit surprising to hear Dave have a large vocal presence, singing four songs: the best is . . . “Got My Feet on the Ground” . . . . Second, is that the Davies wrote almost all the songs, rather than recording just covers. However, home-grown does not mean good, as the only bona fide classic on Kinda Kinks is “Tired of Waiting For You” – a gentler riff-based song than their big hit.
https://jhendrix110.tripod.com/Kinks.html
But Beverly Paterson enthuses that:
Ray Davies has often named Kinda Kinks as his least favorite album, but don’t let that put you off. There’s no contest: it’s not the band’s greatest recording . . . yet it paints a pleasant picture of the Kinks moving forward. In fact, progressing what was made the band so artistically viable while many of their peers either kept punching the rerun channel, leading to dated tactics, or simply dropped out of sight because they couldn’t adapt to the rapidly changing musical landscape. The Kinks were remarkably brilliant, and this album examines them revolving and evolving in a subtle but sure-footed manner.
https://somethingelsereviews.com/2020/03/05/kinks-kinda-kinks/
Here is The Larry Page Orchestra’s version, released a few months later. It has “some pretty swinging go-go organ and horns”! (Richie Unterberger, https://www.allmusic.com/album/kinky-music-mw0000855549):
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