Kinks Weeks – Two Sisters …albumreviews.blog

Graham was one of the first bloggers I followed in 2018. His site has a wealth of album reviews from the 1960s to now. I was thrilled when he agreed to this. You will find his site Aphorisitc Album Reviews here at https://albumreviews.blog/. I learn about new pop albums and some less-known names from the past from him as well. Plus, he is a fellow Big Star fan. 

The Kinks maintained a long career because they were able to change with the times. They first enjoyed success with raw garage rockers like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’. Bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys brought more diverse instrumentation and styles to rock albums in the mid-1960s. The Kinks were able to follow the trend, dialing back the intensity for their 1967 album Something Else.

Something Else features ‘Waterloo Sunset’, perhaps Ray Davies’ most acclaimed song. It’s also notable for three songs written by Dave Davies. ‘Death of a Clown’ and the rocker ‘Love Me Til The Sun Shines’ stand proudly among his brother’s best songs here. There’s an embarrassment of riches. The Kinks explore psychedelia on ‘Lazy Old Sun’ while ‘Harry Rag’ dips into English music hall.  ‘David Watts’ later became a hit for The Jam.

Among all these strong tracks, one of my favourites on Something Else is ‘Two Sisters’. Musically it’s driven by harpsichord played by Stones sideman Nicky Hopkins. The simple, light string arrangement that arrives later in the song is a clever touch.

Lyrically ‘Two Sisters’ is a thinly veiled commentary of Ray Davies’ relationship with his brother. Ray Davies was a married introvert. Dave Davies was a party animal, expelled from school at 15 after getting caught having sex on London’s Hampstead Heath.

The scene is set by an evocative opening line:

Sybilla looked into her mirror
Priscilla looked into the washing machine

There’s a feeling of reconciliation by the conclusion. As Ray Davies told biographer Nick Hasted:

“Dave made up for both of us, he was the youthful, fun-loving one. ‘Two Sisters’ is quite accurate, in the sense that one had all the freedoms – one brother stays in, and the other goes out and has fun. And one resents the other for the ability to do it. But in the end, look what I’ve got…”

Ray Davies was married to Rasa between 1964 and 1973. She’s sometimes an overlooked part of The Kinks’ 1960s era. She provided backing vocals and occasionally helped with songwriting.

The Kinks have a lot of great songs, and it’s easy for gems to get lost. ‘Two Sisters’ is a highlight from one of their best records.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

37 thoughts on “Kinks Weeks – Two Sisters …albumreviews.blog”

  1. That harpsichord sound is really cool! I like that a lot. The song itself…doesn’t quite grab me, but for an obscure album track it’s not half bad.

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    1. Thanks for listening. They were adept at changing with the times, I think. Although their next album, Village Green Preservation Society, kind of goes against the grain of the psychedelic sounds of the time.

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    2. It’s my favourite Kinks album, although Village Green Preservation Society runs it close. And like every 1960s British band, there’s a lot of great stuff that didn’t make it onto the studio albums but snuck out on non-album singles.

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  7. The Kinks were a lot of things to me and one of the “things” was they were an album band. The record this song was taken from was full of hidden gems in the music world. I’m sure that people came for a certain song and were hooked by the others. Folks are still discovering them. Very cool pick and more Kinks music that has made me a lifelong fan.

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    1. Something Else is my favourite Kinks album – lots of great songs. Waterloo Sunset is probably the most-loved track, but the album’s strong enough they can afford to put it right at the end. David Watts then Love Me Til the Sun Shines then Two Sisters is an amazingly strong start.

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  9. Graham, that almost sounds like a kazoo at the very end?? I wonder if that negates that conclusion, as a kazoo is purportedly a musical instrument, but instead an object that makes silly sounds? Sorry if my brain just went off on a wild tangent.

    Thanks for including the Spotify playlist of the album. Will be listening and adding it. Two Sisters is a wonderful song and glad you chose another Dave song. I’m learning so much during this series about the group. Question, did the bass player or drummer ever write any songs? That Nicky Hopkins gets around!

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    1. I always assumed that the bit at the end is just someone humming with a weird voice.

      Two Sisters is Ray btw – it just seemed appropriate to talk about Dave because he:
      a) has 3 songs on that album

      b) Two Sisters is about the brothers’ relationship.

      I’m not the biggest Kinkologist, but I don’t recall the rhythm section writing songs.

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  11. Another fine example of the many sounds of the Kinks. This is a first listen for me. The song got me to thinking about the harpsichord and just how often it was used in the 60’s. Different Drum, Walk Away Renee, Love Is Blue, The Happening, For Your Love, Both Sides Now, Bang Bang, and Windy were all songs I could pull off the top of my head. It may not have been as prominent in some of them, but it is there. The Kinks had no issue making it the main drive of this song. Interesting pick.

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    1. The top of your head is a pretty full place! I had to think a minute but the realized “For Your Love” by the Yardbirds has harpsichord. (I checked and it’s Brian Auger playing it.) To get a little more obscure, “Mountains of the Moon” by the Grateful Dead. I presume it’s Tom Constanten playing (on Aoxomoxoa).

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    2. The harpsichord is a nice instrument – there’s so little sustain there’s room for lots of other instruments. I was listening to a song from a couple of years ago yesterday (Porter Robinson’s Look at the Sky) and there’s a very harpsichord-sounding instrument in the introduction. Could be a synth, of course.

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  12. Yep, others have picked up on the harpsichord- it was very much a sound of the time, albeit for a short while. The melody of this one worms away in the brain. Kind of a slow burner for me, but the more I hear it the more I appreciate it. Dave is one helluva lyricist- but that’s all too obvious isn’t it?

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