''State of Confusion'' is the twentieth studio album by the English

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group

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

, released in 1983. The record features the single "

Come Dancing ''Come Dancing'' is a British ballroom dancing competition show made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which aired on BBC One at various intervals from 1950 to 1998. Unlike its subsequent follow-up show, ''Strictly Come Dancing'', ...

", which hit number 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was one of the band's biggest hit singles in the United States, equaling the 1965 peak of " Tired of Waiting for You". The album itself was a major success, peaking at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' albums chart. The album was certified gold in Canada by August 1983. It was the last Kinks album on which drummer

Mick Avory Michael Charles Avory (born 15 February 1944) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the English rock band the Kinks. He joined them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remained with them until 1984 ...

appeared as a full member of the band. While there have been at least 7 reissues of this album on CD in various countries (all with 4 bonus cuts), none of them have issued the extended "Come Dancing" 12-inch mix on CD (which contains an extended horn ending), which to this day is only available on vinyl. In addition, the extended 12-inch version of "Noise" has never been released on CD and is only available on vinyl. The UK 12-inch version of "Bernadette" has differences, including extra lyrics by Ray in the middle section.

Production

The album was recorded between September 1982 and March 1983 at Konk Studios, London, and was produced by

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...

. It was recorded during another period of turmoil for the band, as Ray recalled: "Long Distance" and "Noise" were only released on cassette versions of the album. In 1984, "Long Distance" was released as one of the two B-sides on the " Do It Again" single in Germany (the other being "Guilty"). The song then appeared on both the LP and CD editions of the 1986 compilation album '' Come Dancing with The Kinks'' as the 13th track on the LP version and the 11th track on the CD version. Since then, it has made an appearance on the compilation album ''

Picture Book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

'' and the box set, ''The Arista Years''.

Reception

''State of Confusion'' saw acclaim from American critics. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' commented, "Nobody but the Kinks could have made such a record in 1983, and no band deserves more to be at the very top, which is where this LP ought to place them". The track "Long Distance", which only appeared on the cassette version of the album, has generally received positive reviews from critics.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

retrospectively praised the track as "wistful pop", and went on to call it a "terrific obscurity". ''

'' critic Parke Puterbaugh hailed the song as "astonishingly Dylanesque", and went on to say that "there's no excuse for omitting Long Distance' from the LP version of ''State of Confusion''.

Track listing

;Cassette edition

Personnel

The Kinks *

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar, synthesizer, piano * Dave Davies – lead guitar, vocals (lead vocals on "Bernadette") *

– drums *

Jim Rodford James Walter Rodford (7 July 1941 – 20 January 2018) was an English musician, who played bass for several British rock bands. He was a founding member of Argent, which was led by his cousin Rod Argent, and performed with them from their forma ...

– bass guitar * Ian Gibbons – keyboards Technical *Written and Produced by Raymond Douglas Davies *John Rollo – engineer *Damian Korner – engineer *Howard Fritzson – album design *Robert Ellis – photography

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1983 albums The Kinks albums Arista Records albums Albums produced by Ray Davies