Track Listing

1. Life On The Road
2. Mr. Big Man
3. Sleepwalker
4. Brother
5. Juke Box Music
6. Sleepless Night
7. Stormy Sky
8. Full Moon
9. Life Goes On
10. Artificial Light
11. Prince Of The Punks
12. The Poseur
13. On The Outside (1977 Mix)
14. On The Outside (1994 Mix)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54282 in Music
• Brand: Dig
• Released on: 2005-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

Customer Reviews

The Kinks Komeback --- Again!
The Kinks continually reinvented themselves. After the international success of "Lola" in 1970 (their first komeback) the Kinks promptly went underground again, producing a series of quirky koncept albums, some excellent, some less so; these went virtually unheard in the United States.

In 1977, the Kinks once again became a straight rock band. Dave Davies got a chance to be a guitar hero. And, improbably, the band engineered another comeback, becoming arena rockers. Sleepwalker was a minor hit, but it propelled the band back into the limelight.

The follow-up, "Misfits", produced a huge hit (Rock and Roll Fantasy) and sold better, but "Sleepwalker" is the best LP of the Kinks' Arista years. There's not a false note on the nine tracks (although "Brother" is just a trifle slow for my taste). The rollicking self-satire of "Life on the Road" leads into the heart-breaking, beautifully written "Mr. Big Man", then to the lush and bizarre title cut. Every track sparkles with Ray Davies's brilliant lyrics and wry, knowing wit. Having dispensed with the elaborate horn arrangements of their koncept period, the band brings the attention back to the core of rock music: good songs.

These are songs you can dance to, sing along with, hum, and dream to. Great guitar playing by Dave, too! Very highly recommended.

A Milestone in Kinks History!
Sleepwalker was the Kinks' first album for the Arista label. When released in 1977 it was also the first Kinks album for several years that did not have a strict concept. This was quite refreshing and probsably also a bit of a relief for the band.

At any rate it's a very inspired album and along with "State of Confusion" the strongest and most consistent Arista album. Davies' songwriting is varied and at his very best. Dave Davies? guitar-playing is terrific and it gives edge to the music. It's hard to bring out any specific tracks, because all are great. Personal favourites were always the classic Kinks-type of songs like "Full Moon" and "Stormy Sky", but Dave great guitar on "Mr Big Man" makes the song another favourite. A little Steve Miller inspiration on the title track??

Moreover the added bonus-tracks are also fine. Two decent B-sides "Artificial Light" ( sounds like a "Misfits" song ) and "Prince of the Punks" are fine for fans/completists, but the two outtakes are really great additions. "The Poseur" was originally thought to be the title-track, but it was eventually dropped with the change of the album title. Even more strange is it that they decided to leave out the outstanding "On the Outside", which would have been another highlight on the original album. Now it finally gets it's deserved release - classical Kinks!!

A milestone in Kinks History!

a strong start to the Kinks' Arista Records years
Originally released in February of 1977, "Sleepwalker" was the first album the Kinks did for the Arista Records label which was founded, and at the time headed, by the notorious record industry mogul Clive Davis. This switch from RCA to Arista coincided with Ray Davies backing down from the seemingly endless string of Broadway-flavored, horn-laden concept albums he'd been writing in favor of a more-or-less straightahead rock 'n' roll approach.

You've probably read about how Arista Records wasn't going to accept any "Preservation"/ "Soap Opera"-style concept albums from the Kinks. However, in characteristic Ray Davies fashion, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too, so he devised "Sleepwalker" as a loosely thematic album about sleeplessness/ restlessness, a theme which can be detected just by glancing at some of the song titles such as the title track, "Sleepless Night", and "Full Moon".

And this is a really solid, satisfying album. Although these years on Arista Records also tend to be referred to as the Kinks' "arena rock" years, "arena rock" really is not an accurate description for the music on this album. Granted, the group does rock out pretty hard on many of the songs here, but the group demonstrated that they hadn't entirely forgotten the concept of rocking out on the previous album "Schoolboys In Disgrace", and "Sleepwalker" is hardly a move toward Kiss-style territory.

As usual, Ray has sole writing credit for all the tracks on the album. And there are a bunch of great ones. "Mr. Big Man" is a raging rocker about a person who acheives fame and then proceeds to blow off the people who helped him get there. "Juke Box Music" has really curious lyrics about not taking music too seriously and how it's "only there to dance to", but regardless, it's an absolutely infectious rocker with a simple-but-irresistible riff, catchy melody, great Dave Davies lead guitar work, well-placed synthesized strings, and neat interplay between Ray and Dave's vocals. The bluesy "Sleepless Night" has some silly, seemingly unfinished lyrics, and Dave's lead vocals are a little shaky, but it's irresistible anyway, thanks to more great Dave Davies guitarwork, cool organ, and the sheer catchiness. "Full Moon" is a soaring, emotional song that builds up arrestingly, with Ray's vocals starting off gentle and working their way up to a wonderfully from-the-gut delivery.

There are more quality tunes as well. The album-opening story-song "Life On The Road" starts off mellow before transforming into an uptempo rocker with with some clever and funny lyrics. The title track is also fun and catchy, although somewhat underdeveloped. The album-closer "Life Goes On" is quite amusing with its sardonic lyrics about how we must carry on no matter how bad life gets, and yet the simple and memorable "life goes on and on and on" hook of the chorus is uncannily uplifting, which is seemingly what Ray was going for with the song.

Only a couple songs are considerably dull. One is "Stormy Sky"--the song does have atmosphere, but it's underdeveloped in terms of the songwriting and feels like filler. Even worse is the strained, 5+ minute ballad "Brother" which aims for a directly spiritual quality, and is loaded up with painfully predictable lyrics.

Another comment I can't help but make is that many of the songs here are strikingly similar to earlier songs. "Mr. Big Man" is extremely reminsicent of 10cc's "The Wall Street Shuffle", and some of Dave's lead guitar bits make the song very reminiscent of "Layla" as well. The title track sounds a lot like the Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run" (even if "Sleepwalker" is the better song), and it also has a somewhat annoying "Dear Prudence"-style ending. The ending of "Full Moon" references the Kinks' own "Johnny Thunder". In other words, the album kinda doubles as a virtual name-that-tune fest.

Velvel Records reissued "Sleepwalker" in 1998 with great sound quality, superb liner notes, and bonus tracks. Velvel have reissued it again in 2005 in hybrid SACD format, and thankfully, the bonus tracks remain intact, because they add additional interest to the proceedings--"Artificial Light" is forgettable, and "Price of the Punks" is pretty amusing, but a bit ham-fisted and overdone; however, the moody "The Poseur" is arresting, as is the engaging ballad "On The Outside" (present in 2 slightly different versions). (Velvel have subsequently reissued "Sleepwalker" again in 2005 in hybrid SACD format with the bonus tracks intact.)

Overall, a highly satisfying disc that ranks as a must for any Kinks fan.