Ray Davies is a great songwriter, but there is something peculiar (yet lovable) quaintly English about The Kinks as a band whereas the Liverpudlians became international very quickly both in their music and their mindset. The Beatles transcended borders from their first single - ok, their second, Love me Do didn't do much - onwards. Perhaps being thrown as teens into the Hamburg counter-culture had somemthing to do with it. Or coming from an English harbor town with vast cultural influences from everywhere in the world. The Kinks had neither a prolonged non-England stay in their formative years nor did they come from a harbor town.
And there is another thing: The Beatles blossomed from the songwriter partnership/contest/reciprocal inspiration of Lennon-McCartney, The Kinks were - as his brother Dave will ungladly testify to this day - mainly Ray's do. That said, no one has written as beautiful a song about a chance meeting with your former lover (in his case: Chrissie Hynde) as Ray did here ...