My first----The rolling stones

my 2 The KInks

Love the Kinks, but a bit further down the list...number 10 maybe on the list?

I'm a big Kinks fan as well. They're #6 on my list (Stones, Beatles, Zep, Hendrix, Who, Kinks...) I think the albums they cut from '67 to '70 are especially fantastic. What a great songwriter Ray Davies is.

I'm with you, Havo.

the bodies of work arent even on the same planet

yes the kinks much more consistent. writing and records. stones my toppermost because they're The Rolling Stones. but ray davies, without a lennon or mccartney or keith mick writing partner, has parted the mystic waters with refined casual brilliance from the getgo. for me the axis was (historically is) stones kinks who beatles...and van. amongst he second generation rockers....who had james brown covers on their first album and brilliant originals...kinks made so many quality coherent brilliantly melodic and wonderfully produced 'operas' of a sort, it's overwhemling. early kinks hits ALL kickass. and all pretty diverse except for u really got me and all day and all of the night singles...

village green preservation society
arthur the rise and fall....
lola vs. powerman and the moneygoround
everybody's in showbiz
muswell hillbillies
preservation acts one and two
soap opera
schoolboys in disgrace
into arista period with still some grand grand stuff...ONE HELL OF A GOLDEN PERIOD...

and early stuff; kinda kinks, something else, kink kontroversy, face to face ALL worthwhile too. i'm HERE not on a kinks board, but just sayin'...
this is genius nearly unmatched from that ENTIRE generation of original rock and rollers.... u could write a book about almost each of the above releases they are so filled with beauty and grace and smarts and great rhythm section pete quaife and mick avory...(early avory couldn't make the stones, Charlie's destiny)....
dave's guitar work is profoundly brilliant imo. ray the man upfront with the edge and the stories. apples and oranges. two brilliant and brilliantly diverse bands,what a gift are the Kinks. the mighty mighty Kinks.

I Love "Lola" & "Sunny Afternoon"

"Well my heavy throbbers itchin' just to lay a solid rhythm down"

I have to agree with Beelyboy. Arthur and Village Green are so great, and I always found Face to Face to be very underrated. You can write long academic papers about the Ray's lyrics.

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of 80s /early 90s era Kinks, which is actually pretty impressive: Destroyer, Living on a Thin Line, How do I get Close, Hatred are all GREAT songs from this era. And the album To the Bone features some of the most incredible guitar playing from Dave Davies (check out Gallon of Gas and Not Like Everybody Else)

sure, a lots of classic songs from Ray, but also some pretentios shit like pop-operas and stuff..Kinks is on my top 50 list altough..

The Rolling Stones on the other hand is on my top 1 list... I remember when I had just 5 LP-albums around 1965.. It was 2 Stones-albums, 2 swedish bands and then also 'Well Respected Kinks', a low-price album with all their hits, a superb album...

One thing for sure, when it comes to respectability, the Kinks are right up there. Ray Davies is the British Brian Wilson. I have never, ever seen even just one photograph of Ray with either Keith or Mick, or, any of the other Stones. That has always struck me as odd.

Have you seen Van Morrison with Mick or Keith then? or Neil Young? or Elvis Costello?

Quote
Carnaby
One thing for sure, when it comes to respectability, the Kinks are right up there. Ray Davies is the British Brian Wilson. I have never, ever seen even just one photograph of Ray with either Keith or Mick, or, any of the other Stones. That has always struck me as odd.

I don't think it's particulary odd, but just a case of the Kinks having different interests and mixing in different circles.