The Kinks are back with the third and reportedly final installment of The Journey, a 60th-anniversary series of two-CD sets that mine the group’s vaults and showcase material selected by its members. While Parts 1 and 2 predominantly feature previously released singles, B-sides and album tracks from the ’60s and early ’70s, Part 3 delivers remasters of a dozen numbers initially issued between 1977 and 1984, plus a previously unheard 16-song concert. Like the two earlier compendiums, it comes with a booklet that contains new commentary about the music from the band’s members.
The studio material in this latest set includes a handful of clunkers. To these ears, for example, the title track from 1977’s Sleepwalker is forgettable, as are such tracks as “Living on a Thin Line,” from 1984’s Word of Mouth; the clamorous “Destroyer,” from 1981’s Give the People What They Want; and “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman,” from 1979’s Low Budget, which was Kinks leader Ray Davies’ attempt to jump on a disco bandwagon.
Other studio numbers here suggest that the Kinks were experiencing laudable artistic growth in the years covered by this set, however. “A Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy,” from 1978’s Misfits, is a melodic midtempo song about a guy who “lives for rock.” Also excellent is the bittersweet title track from the same album, which addresses “losers” and “sad-eyed failures” and advises, “Don’t throw it away/You can have your day…Why don’t you join the crowd and come inside?”
Even better is the sweetly nostalgic “Come Dancing,” from 1983’s State of Confusion, which produced one of the band’s most commercially successful late-period singles. An atmospheric, horns-spiced number, it conveys vivid memories of Ray and Dave Davies’ sister, Reenie, who died of a heart attack while at a dance hall.
The set’s nearly hour-long concert disc is noteworthy, as well. Recorded in 1993 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, it includes enthusiastically delivered versions of some of the Kinks’ biggest hits, such as “Til the End of the Day,” “Apeman,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” “Sunny Afternoon” and “You Really Got Me.” Also here are such key early album tracks as “Celluloid Heroes,” “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” and “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” plus four songs from Phobia, the group’s final studio album, which came out only a few months before the concert.
If you’re a serious Kinks fan, you’ll probably want to supplement the Journey series with some of the group’s original studio albums. You might also want to pick up one of its many other hits collections, since none of these latest anthologies includes such notable singles as “Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy,” “Something Better Beginning,” “Set Me Free” and “Don’t Forget to Dance.” Either that or keep your fingers crossed that the Kinks change their minds about ending the Journey series with Part 3.
The Journey – Part 1 and The Journey – Part 2 are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. The Journey – Part 3, which arrived on July 11, 2025, is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. All three titles are available in Canada here.
Related: Our Album Rewind of The Great Lost Kinks Album
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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