X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography: A Speculative Memoir of the Kinks and the Death of the Sixties

A work of high-concept genius--the most original rock memoir ever written.

Sir Ray Davies--the mastermind behind The Kinks and the poet laureate of British rock--doesn't do "traditional." In this subversively brilliant, one-of-a-kind memoir, the man who gave us "Waterloo Sunset" and "Lola" deconstructs the very idea of the rock autobiography.

X-Ray is not a standard autobiography. It is a psychological interrogation disguised as a rock-and-roll odyssey. Through the "X-Ray" lens of a narrator you can't quite trust, Davies deconstructs his own myth--from the jagged, distorted riffs of "You Really Got Me" to the pastoral melancholy of The Village Green Preservation Society.

This one-of-a-kind rock memoir captures the friction between Ray and his brother Dave, the crushing weight of the music industry "Moneygoround," and the melancholic genius of a man who was always Not Like Everybody Else. For fans of David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and literary rock history, X-Ray remains a gold standard of the genre.

In a chillingly familiar near-future, a global "Corporation" controls the narrative of history. Their latest assignment for a young, nameless investigator: extract the truth from R.D.D.--an aging, reclusive cultural icon known to the world as Ray Davies.

As the investigator probes deeper, the lines between the 1960s London "Swinging" scene and a sterile, controlled future begin to blur. This is a story of two brothers at war, a band banned from the very country they helped define, and a songwriter who predicted the corporate takeover of the human soul decades before it happened.

Why this is essential reading:

• The Original Rock Meta-Memoir: Experience the experimental narrative structure that predated the modern "post-truth" era.
• A Prophet of the Ordinary: Revisit Davies's uncanny social commentary on British identity, suburban isolation, and the "Moneygoround" of the music industry.
• Beyond the Music: A literary achievement that's ripe for rediscovery, proving that Ray Davies was always Not Like Everybody Else.

"In an age when everybody's in show business and writes a lousy book about it, Ray Davies is to be honored for not doing the usual thing." --Rolling Stone

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Published: 10/01/2007
ISBN: 9781585679393
Pages: 432
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 7.98h x 5.54w x 0.90d