Rock Bottom: Live at the Bottom Line

AMG Review of Rock Bottom: Live at the Bottom Line

Denise Sullivan
All Music Guide

With the Kinks no longer touring, Dave Davies barnstorms the U.S. as a solo act. On these nights at New York's Bottom Line in 1997, he and his young band were on absolute fire, cooking up hard rocking renditions of Kinks classics, some penned by brother Ray, with an equal measure of Dave's own work thrown in. Demonstrating how real rock & roll is played, the band starts out jumping with "I Need You," follows with the kick of "She's Got Everything," and only gets better. "Wicked Annabella," "Picture Book," and "Death of a Clown" are more than nostalgic mid-set showings. After 24 songs, they unbelievably blaze through two rock-kid anthems, "David Watts" and "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," and they even manage to suck another life out of the heavier than heavy monster riff of "You Really Got Me." One half of a brother act shouldn't be allowed to be this good.