Nostalgia Kinky

My strangely unpredictable three decade long journey with The Kinks has meant a great deal to me throughout the entirety of my adult life. They were the last of The British Invasion bands I fell in love with. I discovered them properly at Lexington KY’s immortal Cut Corner Records. It was the mid nineties and their catalogue was hitting remastered CD, just in time for my early twenties. I was soon obsessing over masterpieces like FACE TO FACE, SOMETHING ELSE and THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY. I became so infatuated with these albums along with ARTHUR (THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE) and MUSWELL HILLBILLIES that it caused me to foolishly ignore the work that came after, save for a compilation or two. It was like I wanted them to remain frozen in that period I first fell in love with them.

That all changed a few years ago one particularly stoned night while researching my Sylvia Kristel book when I heard their devastating 1978 track “Rock n Roll Fantasy” for the first time. I was already emotional at the time due to my research on Sylvia, COVID, the country collapsing etc. but hearing Ray Davies haunting challenge to himself and his brother that he’d written upon hearing Elvis Presley had died profoundly effected me. I regretted not knowing the rest of The Kinks catalogue and I’ve been correcting that since.

My recent hyper-fixation is SOAP OPERA, the 1975 concept album often regarded as amongst The Kinks worst. Not surprisingly, I’ve become absolutely bewitched by the album and think it’s amongst Ray’s best works. Musically it absolutely influenced Lou Reed and Marc Bolan in this period. Lyrically, it tells the tale of an egotistical famous singer named ‘Starmaker’ who decides for the sake of his art to switch spots with a most ordinary man named Norman. It’s a bit like BUBBA-HO-TEP but very British. Famously the other Kinks, notable Dave Davies, hated the album but regardless SOAP OPERA is a very unique and special work. I absolutely adore it.

SOAP OPERA sprouted out of this wonderful 4th wall shattering Granada television special starring Ray and British actress June Ritchie as boring Norman’s wife. Filmed live by director Peter Plummer and I believe Michael Lindsay-Hogg on a revolving stage in front of a live audience with visible crew and cameras, STARMAKER (1974) has a wonderful DIY quality about it. It’s a very enduring and unique work.

STARMAKER tells the basic story of SOAP OPERA although it doesn’t feature all of the songs. The daffy “Ducks on the Wall” with its caustically hilarious line “My lady’s got the most deplorable taste” is missing as are a number of other key tracks but this short 37 minute telefilm gets Davies’ visionary story across. STARMAKER is wonderfully primitive, terrifically theatrically and Ray’s performance of “A Face In The Crowd” as The Kinks finally emerge behind him is one of his and the band’s great moments.

In the months before it aired Granada asked for Kinks fans to come to their studio for the July 25th, 1974 airing as they wanted “a happy atmosphere in the studio.” That comes across throughout STARMAKER and it was much needed for a still depressed Ray Davies. it was filmed just past a year after he attempted suicide onstage at The Great Western Express Festival in London’s White City. As the PA cut out a pilled-out Davies exclaimed:

“The Kinks are dead, I am dead.’ Well-meaning people helped R.D. away from the stage, but he wished that he had just died.”

Within a few hours Ray Davies’ stomach was being pumped at a local hospital. He survived as did The Kinks. Despite all its charms, STARMAKER and SOAP OPERA came from emotionally and spiritually shattered places. They are the work of a great artist looking for an escape, any escape.

STARMAKER received a lot of coverage in the mostly British press upon airing. I’ve collected a slew of these clippings below for any interested (attributes are available by saving photos). A couple of Dutch articles are included as well. STARMAKING is available on YT, as is an incredible audience shot capture of one of the complete SOAP OPERA concerts with Ritchie reprising her role. Both recordings would be ideal for a Super Deluxe Edition of SOAP OPERA!

-Jeremy Richey, August 2025-