Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One by The Kinks

Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One, the Kinks' eighth studio album, came out on Pye on 27 November 1970, and it's Ray Davies turning his sharpest satire on the music business itself. Davies produced it himself, and he made it a concept album that goes after the whole racket: the music publishers, the unions, the press, the accountants, the business managers and the slog of touring.

It also made the Kinks a five-piece. Keyboardist John Gosling came aboard, joining Ray on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Dave Davies on lead guitar, Mick Avory on drums and John Dalton, back in the fold after Pete Quaife's final exit. The music is all over the map in the best way, dipping into music hall, folk and country as the mood takes it, with Ray's wry, observant writing near the top of its game, even if the record wanders more than it marches.

For a band that had spent years banned from touring America, it was a real comeback. "Lola" went to the top 10 in both the US and the UK, "Apeman" reached number five in Britain, and the album made the American Top 40 and put the Kinks back in the public eye. Part Two never came. In 2020, Sanctuary marked the record's 50th anniversary with a 3-disc set stuffed with 36 extra tracks of outtakes, B-sides, alternate takes and fresh mixes.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.