Jon Savage actually wrote an 'official' biography of the band for Faber back in the 1980s; maybe that's now too long ago? The Davies' brothers own published memoirs are a wee bit irritating to be honest.

I read this one a few years ago and thought it was as much as anyone would need to know about the Kinks. I'd recommend it from memory

first time round I thought it was a bit confusing, overwritten even. Then, a few years later when I knew more about The Kinks I reread it and thought it was brilliant. You should get it.

having been lead astray by the NME in the 70s assuring me they had taken the Yankee dollar and surrendered to vile arena rock of the worst order. Nonsense of course, but what did the 15 year old me know?

'Muswell Hillbillies' and 'Lola v Powerman ...' now on constant repeat.

I've just finished Nick Hasted's 'The Story of the Kinks' which was a great overview, dealt with the breakdowns and the breakups, and finished up in 2011. I'd recommend it.

Now starting to re-read 'X-Ray' which as Mr Fade observes is much better second time around.

I think I will give "X-Ray" another go, I tried reading it when it first came out but gave up as it was just too weird.

Seems like there's a bit of a gap in the market for a decent updated biography though.

I read this when it came out, its good and tells you a lot about the music. But for me the best thing was the fantastic array of photographs, which have that innocent '60's star enjoys their fan mail and a cigar' feel which always makes me feel cosy. The design of the book was by Neville Brody, at about the time he was uber-cool for designing the Face magazine....

'Ray Davies, Not Like Everybody Else' or Nick Hasted's new biography of The Kinks?