The album continued the Kinks' trend toward an eccentric baroque pop and music hall-influenced style defined by frontman Ray Davies' observational and introspective lyrics.

The album was preceded by the singles "Waterloo Sunset", one of the group's most acclaimed songs, and the Dave Davies solo record "Death of a Clown", both of which charted in the UK top 3.

Though it contained two major European hits and earned positive notices from the music press in both the UK and US, Something Else sold poorly and became the Kinks' lowest-charting album in both countries at the time.

[7] With the exception of the garage rock-style "Love Me Till the Sun Shines"[12] 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,[13] English music hall, and "tempered" R&B.

[2] 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".

[17] 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".