The Kinks at the BBC Universal*****

Long before Liam and Noel there was Ray and Dave Davies, the brilliant, bickering brothers who formed the nucleus of The Kinks, one of Britain’s best and most influential pop groups. The BBC needed live sessions to satisfy the powerful Musician’s Union, and The Kinks were happy to provide alternate versions of their hits, along with album tracks, cover versions and a few unpolished gems. This five-CD set features recordings from as early as 1964, when The Kinks were smashing the charts with You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night. Along with radio sessions for such programmes as Saturday Club and Top Gear, the collection features concerts recorded at the Hippodrome and the Rainbow, plus a DVD that fast- forwards through their TV career. Once you get past the “groovy” DJ intros, the sessions have a fresh-from-the-mixing- desk immediacy, and the interviews give an insight into the band’s development as they move away from being a hitmaking machine to making deeper commentaries about British life.