Clown" to the bossa nova of "No Return". With the exception of the garage rock-style "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" the album was a departure from the hard-edged rock and roll of the group's earlier material, instead featuring mellower, acoustic baroque pop ballads, English music hall, and "tempered" R&B. Ray Davies's lyrics on the album deal with English-inspired subject matter, particularly the harpsichord-laden "Two Sisters", the lazy shuffle "End of the Season", and the sardonic "David Watts". The album includes three songs composed by Dave Davies, including the hit single "Death of a Clown". Reception The album sold poorly in the UK, in part because it competed with budget-priced compilation albums of early Kinks hits from 1964 to 1966; also, Pye Records had released "Waterloo Sunset", "Death of a Clown" and other songs before the album appeared. Something Else also sold poorly in the US upon release there in January 1968, where the group was still the subject of a US ban on live and television performances. James Pomeroy, in a March 1968 review in Rolling Stone, felt it was the best album the Kinks had made to that point, praising the "humor, cynicism, perception and irony" where he felt the band are at their best. He picked out "David Watts" and "Waterloo Sunset" as the best tracks, and also praised the three contributions of Dave Davies. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that the work was characterised by "nostalgic and sentimental" songwriting, and that part of "the album's power lies in its calm music, since it provides an elegant support for Davies' character portraits and vignettes". In 2003, Something Else was ranked No. 288 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, No. 289 in a 2012 revised list, and later at No. 478 in the 2020 revised list. Track listing All tracks are written by Ray Davies, except where noted. Track lengths per AllMusic. Side one "David Watts" 2:40 "Death of a Clown" (R. Davies, Dave Davies) 3:15 "Two Sisters" 2:03 "No Return" 2:03 "Harry Rag" 2:19 "Tin Soldier Man" 2:53 "Situation Vacant" 2:43 Side two "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" (D. Davies) 3:23 "Lazy Old Sun" 2:49 "Afternoon Tea" 3:25 "Funny Face" (D. Davies) 2:29 "End of the Season" 3:00 "Waterloo Sunset" 3:16 Personnel According to band researcher Doug Hinman, except where noted: The Kinks Ray Davies