Talk:The Kinks Greatest Hits!

AllMusic review

It's unclear how Eder came up with "In its time – and it was in print for about 20 years – this ten-song compilation was the way that most listeners discovered the Kinks for the first time". At the time of its release, the Kinks had a string of Top 40 hits and several charting albums in the U.S., which continued into the 70s and beyond. Maybe they picked up some later listeners looking for a good album to start with, but it seems unlikely that most listeners discovered them through GH. Rogen (also cited) doesn't make a similar point; Eder's comment may be considered a minority or even fringe view and inappropriate in the first paragraph of the article. —Ojorojo (talk) 15:14, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Thanks Ojorojo. Fair enough. Like you said, I'm assuming he meant it was the way most later listeners picked up the band, but as he doesn't explicitly say that it makes sense to cut. Tkbrett (✉) 14:22, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps Eder is thinking of those who knew them by their Lola, Muswell Hillbillies, Celluloid Heroes-era style and discovered their earlier, more garage/Brit R&B sound through GH. One author writes:

The Kinks had two distinct periods, both great. They were the great British Invasion Classic Rockers in the Sixties – ... If you want to hear one sensational record that runs a pre-Ramones-style 25 minutes long encompassing ten all-great tracks, try The Kinks Greatest Hits [for the first period].

He goes on to date the second period from The Village Green and including Muswell (which probably deserves GA treatment). Unfortunately, it's self-published,[1] but may give some ideas if you think it's important. —Ojorojo (talk) 13:57, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Steve Alleman also divides the Kinks' discography into distinct periods in an essay he contributed to the 2002 book Living on a Thin Line. That may be where this self-published author got the idea. When Alleman discusses each period though, he picks individual songs as representative examples rather than LPs like this one. He mentions the compilation and how its individual tracks show the Kinks' earliest songwriting developments, and I've included that point on the page, but he doesn't say anything else. Unfortunately I haven't found many other worthwhile RS to use in this article. Tkbrett (✉) 15:41, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:The Kinks Greatest Hits!/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Steelkamp (talk · contribs) 10:10, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

Hi there. I'll finish this review promptly. Steelkamp (talk) 10:10, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

I have nothing against short articles being good articles. Some of my own good articles are quite short. The sourcing is good and the prose is well written. The problem I have is that there is no prose other than in the lead. The lead is mean to summarise the body. I recommend shortening the lead and incorporating all the information there into the article's body. I suggest creating a section on critical reception and another section on commercial performance. The only other issue I noticed is that it says it was the band's first greatest hits album in either the US or UK. This left me wondering whether the band released a greatest hits album anywhere else. If these things are addressed, then I think this can become a good article. Steelkamp (talk) 13:11, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the review Steelkamp. I tried the Commercial performance and Critical reception sectioning, but found that it left the latter too short. Instead, I've gone with a Release and Commercial performance and reception sections. I was able to take some of the info out of the notes that didn't fit that well in the lead. How does that look?

Regarding the first status, I've simplified the sentence to clarify it was their first greatest hits album overall. Tkbrett (✉) 13:45, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

Yep, that layout works well. I'll pass the review now. Steelkamp (talk) 14:05, 28 August 2022 (UTC)