Raymond Douglas Davies is a metaphorical continent, removed from the archetypal macho-monster breathing blood and venom upon his audience as he carves a violent passage through their collective consciousness. Rather, he has the breezy bravado of a comic turn in an end-of-the-pier revue….

Raymond Douglas Davies is unique….

The Kinks' third single … was an event of some significance: the raw power and indefatigable exuberance of "You Really Got Me" … virtually introduced the genre of heavy metal in one devastating three-minute explosion of rabid sexual energy.

Ray Davies followed "You Really Got Me" with a further seven singles cast principally in the same basic fashion. These singles, as pertinently as any by the Beatles, provided an evocative soundtrack for mid-Sixties adolescents, tentatively exploiting their independence and investigating preliminary sexual activities….

Ray Davies was, and this perhaps was the most immediate impression, no more extraordinary than any other confused and...