Vinyl Record
The Kinks - Misfits
The Kinks - Misfits on LP vinyl. A 1978 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
LP ยท 1978
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 1978 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Misfits, released in 1978, catches The Kinks in a difficult but revealing transition. After the theatrical RCA concept-album years and the more direct reset of Sleepwalker in 1977, Ray Davies steers the band toward concise rock songs that still carry his old fascination with outsiders, performers, dreamers, and people trying to survive their own role in the world. A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy is the emotional center: part music-industry reflection, part fan letter, part confession about why bands and listeners keep needing each other. Misfits, Live Life, In a Foreign Land, Permanent Waves, Black Messiah, and Out of the Wardrobe widen the frame from personal unease to social observation. The album also marks a personnel threshold, with John Gosling and Andy Pyle associated with this phase before the band moved again toward the harder commercial attack of Low Budget. Its charm lies in that in-between status: vulnerable, melodic, occasionally awkward, and deeply human.
It matters because Misfits helps explain The Kinks' late-1970s American resurgence without reducing it to a commercial strategy. The record keeps Ray Davies' character-writing intact while placing it in a cleaner, rock-oriented setting suited to the post-punk and album-rock climate of 1978.
This is a rewarding Kinks LP for collectors who like transitional records. It is not the tidy peak of the 1960s albums or the harder push of Low Budget, but it contains one of the band's great late songs and a clear view of their move from theatrical sprawl toward renewed rock-band focus.
Melodic late-1970s rock with reflective lyrics, crisp guitars, piano color, character sketches, mid-tempo warmth, and a bittersweet mix of resilience and fatigue.
Recommended for: Kinks fans exploring beyond the 1960s canon; Listeners drawn to songs about outsiders and music itself; Collectors interested in the bridge between Sleepwalker and Low Budget.
What is the standout song on Misfits? A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy is the central track, combining band self-reflection with Ray Davies' gift for sympathetic character writing. How does Misfits fit into The Kinks' discography? It follows Sleepwalker and precedes Low Budget, making it a bridge between the theatrical 1970s records and the sharper Arista-era rock sound. Is Misfits a concept album? Not formally, but many songs circle outsiders, performance, survival, and identity, giving the album a strong thematic unity.