The Kinks Release Preview For Arthur 50th Anniversary Reissue

Punk progenitors The Kinks are streaming a new sneak peek for the October 25 release of a string of 50th-anniversary reissues for their 1969 album, Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall Of the British Empire).

In the advent of the band’s seventh album, Ray Davies wanted to do a concept catalog this time, following the story of a family emigrating from the UK to follow up the critically-acclaimed The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society, which ranked well in the US charts.

Ray Davies said he “started Arthur before the end of Village Green. The albums piggyback one another because they are joined. I’d already written the song “Arthur”. I think I wrote “Australia” when I was still living at 87 Fortis Green so it was quite early on.” He continued, “I remember taking it over to Dave, he lived in Cockfosters at the time, and playing it to him. We were laughing at the irony in the line, ‘nobody’s got a chip on their shoulder'”.

The Arthur Super Deluxe Box set includes 4CDs containing a total of 81 tracks, with 5 of them unreleased, and 28 being previously-unreleased versions. It will also feature 2019 remasters, mono and stereo versions, rehearsal cuts, BBC mixes, and Dave Davies’ lost album alongside bonus material.