Schoolboys in Disgrace

The Kinks' concise, typically bittersweet 1975 reflection on the trials and tribulations of the English school system would foreshadow Pink Floyd's similarly themed, if gratuitously unfocused The Wall by half a decade. It would also close out the band's oft-misunderstood "concept" period. Following on the heels of Preservation, Acts 1 and 2, and Soap Opera, albums whose sprawling, Floydian narratives were pointedly deflated by Ray Davies' lovable, Vaudevillian loopiness. Schoolboys has long seemed the red-headed stepchild in that ancestry. But, it's precisely the album's scaled-back ambitions and breezy delivery (typified by the 50's vamping "Jack the Idiot Dunce") that have preserved its charm. Dave Davies' chunky guitar progressions gratifyingly return to the fore on "In Disgrace" and "The Hard Way," while brother Ray's sharp-eyed observations wax alternately cynical ("Education") and wistful ("The First Time We Fall in Love"). This remastered new SACD edition is compatible with regular CD players. --Jerry McCulley