X-RAY: THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Ray Davies (Overlook Press, June 1996) Trade paperback, 432 pages.
Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . .
This subversively brilliant, one-of-a-kind rock autobiography ingeniously styled as a biography, is written to capture the essence of Ray Davies, lead singer and songwriter of the Kinks and one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time.
Part autobiography, part social history, part psychological thriller, this elusive and daring book exposes rock stardom as the heaven, hell and purgatory it is.
I need to share upfront that THE KINKS are my all-time favorite rock band, and RAY DAVIES is my favorite songwriter. His wry observations on English society and human nature caught my attention back in the 1960's and Kinks songs has been a big part of my background music as I moved through life. That may help explain why I give this a five-star rating compared to some other reviews on Goodreads.
Yes, this is not a tell-all. It also only covers a short period of time (ending in 1973) and doesn't spend enough detail on the reasons the Kinks were so popular - their music and the clever songs. Naturally, being a big fan I've read about that elsewhere so I'm not disturbed by the absence of more details about that in X-RAY. However, it's not as if nothing is written about that here. It's just that Ray's troubles with royalties, family, depression, a failing marriage, self-doubt, etc. dominate this "unauthorized autobiography". Perhaps Mr. Davies wanted to indicate that the life of a rock star is not all it's cracked up to be.
In any case, this is not your typical rock musician auto-biography. Just like "The Hard Way", one of the classic Kinks songs, Raymond Douglas Davies never takes the easy route. Instead, he chose to write this as a piece of fiction, taking place in an unspecified future where the "gray men" (a recurring theme from PRESERVATION) control the corporate world and/or the government. It's a corporation who assigns a young intern the assignment of interviewing an aged and grumpy old musician about his past life.
For what purpose? The intern is the narrator of the book and as he learns from the book of Davies he begins to assimilate and then emulate the attributes of his subject, including his paranoia and mistrust of authority. And, why not? After all, the narrator is Ray through and through.
What I learned from reading this for the second time (25 years later, first read in November 1997) is that not only can Ray Davies compose memorable rock songs - - he's just an inventive and good writer. Now X-RAY goes back on my shelf. I may not wait as long to read it again. Maybe target 2027, the 30th anniversary?
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