This album marks the end of the Kinks’ run of ‘theme’ albums. The cover certainly wasn’t going to win any awards, and to be honest, the material was sub-par for a band as consistently excellent as the Kinks were.

For a variety of reasons, most of them personal, this era (the mid-seventies) surely qualifies as the least productive in the band’s thirty-year tenure. “Schoolboys in Disgrace” ends the phase based on Ray Davies’ self-indulgent songwriting, dancing uncomfortably between maintaining a (vague) storyline, and simply rocking out.

The band was overdue for a change – “Schoolboys in Disgrace” works as a purge, ending a very confusing era while paving the way for another, more lucrative phase.

Featured tracks include;

School Days

Jack the Idiot Dunce

Education

The First Time We Fall in Love

I’m in Disgrace

Headmaster

The Hard Way

The Last Assembly

No More Looking Back

Finale

Ordinary People (live)

Hidden Quality