X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography

Here is a book that turned out to be every bit as good as I hoped it would be. This is the story of one fascinating and complex man, Raymond Douglas Davies: rebel, oddball, head case, and perhaps a pop music genius as well. He begins by introducing a technique that is simultaneously distancing and revealing - the story is not being told by Davies, but by a young writer hired by "The Corporation" to do a biography of him. Davies gets to play with the idea of himself viewing himself, of Ray Davies the pop star, who is, in fact, a memory, a creation. He then tells his story thru a series of mock interviews, in which he by turns intimidates, toys with, and bares his heart to the imaginary biographer. The focus here is on the 1960s and The Kinks's rise to stardom. The story flows pretty much chronologically. Davies grew up in a large, working class family in Muswell Hill, North London. One of the many interesting ironies about R.D. is the fact that he, one of the more cosmopolitan and cynical songwriters of his time, was very closely tied to his old neighborhood and his clan for much of his life. As a kid, he was both a competitive athlete and a creative type. At first The Kinks were mostly unknown, but things began to change for them when Davies began to discover his songwriting talent. The book is full of marvelous anecdotes of life on the road and encounters with other pop musicians, but it did take a toll on the author. He frankly describes having some sort of depressive breakdown in the middle of their most popular and musically successful period. R.D. is a remarkably complex guy. He married young and fathered a child, but the marriage did not last. He probably was/is bisexual, yet he dances around the issue. He seems to view himself as a morose, solitary artistic type. Surprisingly, he says very little about his playing and singing and writing. Whatever you can say about him, I think he was, and still is, a wonderful writer of songs, and now, of autobiographical prose. He succeeds in portraying himself sincerely as a dramatic character, primarily the star of some cynical comedy, but with touches of tragedy and insight into the human condition. Bravo!

That was hands down the best autobiography I've read. So, what can I say about the book, well, going in I thought it would be fun and weird thanks to the off-beat style that it was chosen to be written in, then I realized pretty quickly, and was completely reaffirmed by the end, that the weird Citizen Kane meets 1984 3rd person thing was actually a fabulously well realized writing tool that enabled Mr. Davies to actually succeed at what all autobiographies attempt, but ultimately fail at. The way I figure it an autobiography, when done for the right reasons, is generally a way for someone to bare their soul and at the same time set the record straight about any misconceptions that the public may have had about them. For someone who wears their heart on their sleeve as much as Ray does, he doesn't seem to care too much about the latter, but instead has opted for a literary trick that allows him to express his introspection and the parts of his past and thoughts that wouldn't normally be able to be expressed fully outside of one's own mind and abandons the more straight memoirs approach that most autobiographers take. He goes as far as to keep the reader guessing at whether or not he's even telling the truth in his own autobiography. The interviewer calls him a liar in dialog and Ray gives alternate accounts of some situations and repeatedly reminds us that it's all about perception. I've gotten ahead of myself though. the basic premise of the book is that a giant media conglomerate known only as 'The Corporation' has pretty much taken over everything in the not so distant future. The government basically tries to keep the masses sedated and content, but they don't get too into this aside from Ray pointing out how things had been going toward this final destination since the sixties and that the whole rebellion thing of the time was an allowable annoyance; as while the kids preached free love and peace, the governments waged wars and carried on the same old crap they always had. Anyway, the Corporation sends one of their orphans who's been raised as a child of the Corporation to interview Davies in order to give them a full report on the Kinks lead singer, apparently with less than benevolent intentions. This 1984 backdrop is then thrown into a kind of Citizen Kane thing, accept the only interviewee is Ray Davies, rather than as in Citizen Kane, his acquaintances. Then again, Davies changes his persona repeatedly with the subject matter, even talking through a diary of his ex-wife's for awhile which then somehow becomes his own. The octogenarian Davies of the fiction world is written as an old somewhat unlikeable codger who's purposefully unrealistic at times, oddly magical, and an admitted liar. Not until the end of the novel/autobiography does he seem completely real and finally blend with his non-fiction counterpart. The most interesting moments occur when R.D. (as he likes to call him self in the fiction world) interacts in a personal

X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography by Ray Davies is exactly what you would expect from the leader of the 60s band The Kinks. One only has to listen to a few of the songs he has authored - "Dandy," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Muswell Hillbillies" to name three - to know that Ray Davies wears his heart on his sleeve. Whether expressing jealousy at those more attractive than he (the first two listed songs - probably about brother David) or fear and scorn at those "nameless men in gray" (the third song about government-managed social experimentation), Davies has already been ready to address issues that are not often addressed in rock `n' roll, and to do so in the most convoluted manner possible. In writing his autobiography through roughly the end of the 70s, Davies could have simply told the story. But, you have to know that this is way too easy and conventional. Instead, X-ray is a story within a story. An unnamed minor clerk in a more-or-less unnamed department of the British government that maintains records about entertainment and entertainers is charged with "updating the file" on a certain Raymond Douglas Davies. In his effort to fulfill this objective, he meets with a reclusive, eccentric, almost Faginesque character who weaves a rambling story about himself, the band and the English music scene in general. Amidst the mass of narrative, the story of The Kinks unfolds with some remarkable clarity and candor about the band and its interaction with its management and record companies. It is in these stretches of story-telling that the book nears conventionality. We learn of the early management team, Robert, Grenville and Larry, who got the band the contracts that made them successes but also virtually robbed them of the ownership of intellectual property; David was 16 when he signed. We learn of Ray's first wife: the result of "doing the right thing" upon learning of her pregnancy. This conventional approach to autobiography is, however, pushed into the background by Davies' desire for political rhetoric. This is not the first time this has appeared in his work. One only has to think of the "Lola versus Powerman and the Money-go-round" for evidence of his distaste for the business side of things and his loathing thereof. Like many Brits, Ray Davies has an internalized conflict between the desire for a quasi-socialist solution to major socio-economic issues and the distaste for the inevitable bureaucracy that must accompany it. This is the stage and background on which our hero - not Davies - is sent on a voyage of discovery through his relationship with Ray Davies. The end of the book is certainly not supposed to be the end of the story, although the last few pages see the apparent death of Davies and a notional redemption of the hero. If you are interested in Ray Davies - not because of the Kinks, per se - because of a deep love and respect for who he is and his remarkable ability to be the most human of any major rock `n' rol

Perhaps you had to be there, but in a certain state of mind it becomes easy to track the underneath parts of this Sorcerer Kink's little ditty, and it's not so much about what it appears to be about, me thinks.What, is it a Welsh thing? Davies nearly outdoes Geoffrey of Monmouth, and who knows, maybe he's talking about the same thing.I read Davies' book on a trip to Mexico, accidentally, starting right after I spent a few minutes staring at the night ocean wondering how much effort it would take to conjure a red dragon.The day I arrived home, I serendipitously saw Davies was in town for a concert that night, got a ticket, arrived late and as the theater attendant with a flashlight was seating me, Ray looked up from the stage and waved. Yikes.Read this one with your senses open, your antennae up and a fresh drink nearby... the ice will definitely melt.

I saw the stage show that was excerpted from this book and, conseqently had to read it. A great recollection of what it was like to be part of the British Invasion - and not be named John, Paul, George or Ringo. Davies employs an interesting vehicle for telling the story which at times seems a little awkward, but the story itself overcomes the method of the storytelling. Makes you want to dig out all those old Kinks records and warm up the 'ol turntable.