X-ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography

by RayDavies (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $5.86

  Ingeniously styled as a biography, this subversively brilliant rock memoir is the work of a nameless, faceless writer hired by an Orwellian entity called 'the Corporation' to capture the essence of Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of The Kinks and one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers of all time. Tales of London and the swinging Sixties rock scene evolve as Davies reveals his life and times to the writer, often passing his stories directly into the writer's consciousness. Carnaby Street, Top of the Pops, the Cavern Club, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and other fixtures of the period fade in and out of this compelling narrative. Part memoir, part social history, part psychological thriller, this elusive and daring book exposes rock stardom as the heaven, hell, and purgatory that it is.

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $5.39

  This is an examination of the life of Ray Davies, leader of The Kinks. From 1964 he has been one of the brightest, sharpest, wittiest and most popular of British musicians. Instead of a conventional narrative, Davies has set the book in the future as a confrontation between his aged self and a young journalist who is researching his life. The result is a caustic, witty and ultimately moving self-portrait of one of the most influential British rock musicians, a figure whose work with The Kinks has made him admired, copied and in some quarters, revered. It is also a picture of England from the fifties to the present day - and after.