AMG Review of Come Dancing with the Kinks: The Best of the Kinks 1977-1986 [Koch 2004]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Although it closely resembles the 1986 Arista collection (and even boasts the same cover and title), the 2000 release of Come Dancing With the Kinks is not quite that album -- it's a reinterpretation of that collection, spearheaded by Ray Davies. It restores "Catch Me Now I'm Falling," "Misfits," and "Sleepwalker" (the three songs dropped from the CD version of Arista's Come Dancing) and eliminates the excellent "Long Distance" along with "Heart of Gold" and the masterpiece "Juke Box Music," while adding "A Gallon of Gas," "Full Moon," and "Good Day," and shuffling the track order. Do all these monkeyshines result in a better album? No. It's close, but the subtle differences do make a difference, and the original still does reign supreme, since the running order on the original was simply superior. This new incarnation is still enjoyable -- the substitutions are good, even if they don't match the originals -- and it even remains an accurate introduction to this era. But anyone who can find the Arista issue of Come Dancing will find a better compilation than this Koch/Konk reworking.