I’ve never really been a fan of The Kinks though I’ve come to love Waterloo Sunset and Sunny Afternoon because, well, who doesn’t? And Ray Davies once walked past me coming out of Costa in Highgate so we’re *almost* friends.

I grew up on a couple of their later hits – Apeman and Lola (blissfully unaware of what it’s about) – but both of them are almost novelty songs. They’re certainly nothing like this.

And it’s nothing like the songs – You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night – that first brought them to fame in 1964 with their hard-driving riffs and R&B rhythms.

With its pastoral folk-blues vibe – nothing but a fingerpicked guitar, acoustic bass and muted snare snaps plus Davies’ gentle vibrato – you can almost imagine Nick Drake singing it.

He might have given it a shorter title than Nothin’ In the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl though.

This came out in 1965 on their second album Kinda Kinks which contained far more original compositions than their debut which, like so many of their contemporaries (Beatles, Stones, Who) was mostly made up of R&B covers.

They worked hard and fast in those days and this album was recorded hurriedly between tours following their initial success – four hit singles in 1964 – as soon as they returned from Australia and the Far East at the end of that year.

The Kinks were formed in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and bassist Pete Quaife, adding Mick Avory as drummer a year or so later, after American record producer Shel Talmy helped them get a contract with Pye Records.

What I didn’t know until now is that in their early days the band tried out a series of lead vocalists including Rod Stewart before Ray, never exactly backward in coming forward, decided he could do the job better himself.