CD Album - The Kinks - Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire - Essential

CD Album

Artist:	The Kinks
Title:	Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire
Label:	Essential
Country:	UK
Date:	20 May 1998
Catalogue:	ESM CD 511. GSA 0000511ESM
Barcode:	5017615851120
Format:	CD Album
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
Community:	11 Own
Price Guide:	Valuation Page
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Track	Artist	Title	Composer	Rating
01	The Kinks	Victoria	R. Davies	Rate
02	The Kinks	Yes Sir, No Sir	R. Davies	Rate
03	The Kinks	Some Mother's Son	R. Davies	Rate
04	The Kinks	Drivin'	R. Davies	Rate
05	The Kinks	Brainwashed	R. Davies	Rate
06	The Kinks	Australia	R. Davies	Rate
07	The Kinks	Shangri-la	R. Davies	Rate
08	The Kinks	Mr. Churchill Says	R. Davies	Rate
09	The Kinks	She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina	R. Davies	Rate
10	The Kinks	Young And Innocent Days	R. Davies	Rate
11	The Kinks	Nothing To Say	R. Davies	Rate
12	The Kinks	Arthur	R. Davies	Rate
13	The Kinks	Plastic Man [Mono]	R. Davies	Rate
14	The Kinks	King Kong [Mono]	R. Davies	Rate
15	The Kinks	Drivin' [Mono]	R. Davies	Rate
16	The Kinks	Mindless Child Of Motherhood [Mono]	D. Davies	Rate
17	The Kinks	This Man He Weeps Tonight [Mono]	D. Davies	Rate
18	The Kinks	Plastic Man (Previously Unreleased Stereo Mix)	D. Davies	Rate
19	The Kinks	Mindless Child Of Motherhood (Previously Unreleased Stereo Mix)	D. Davies	Rate
20	The Kinks	This Man He Weeps Tonight (Previously Unreleased Stereo Mix)	D. Davies	Rate
21	The Kinks	She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina (Previously Unreleased Mono Take)	R. Davies	Rate
22	The Kinks	Mr. Shoemaker's Daughter (Previously Unreleased Stereo Track)	D. Davies	Rate

Notes

tracks 1-12 = the original pye records stereo lp nspl 18317 10/10/1969;
tracks 13-17 = pye records singles 7N17724 28/3/1969, 7N1777620/6/1969 and 7N17812 (b side) 12/9/1969
cd b. insert states all songs written by ray davies, which is incorrect. the f. insert/booklet gives track 13 as by r. davies, but track 18 as by d. davies; they are the one and the same song, plastic man, ttbomk written by ray davies.
all tracks produced by ray davies, possibly excluding tracks composed by and on which dave davies sings, at least one of which (22) was intended for dave davies' aborted first solo lp,
john dalton officially replaced pete quaife on bass, having depped for him for some time, from time to time; john dalton also sings backing vocals; keyboards by john gosling, mick avory on drums and the brothers ray & dave davies completed the band's line-up.
recorded at pye studios, and engineered by mike bobak.
digital remastering by simon heyworth at chop 'em out.

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Comments and Reviews


ppint. 16th Mar 2015		Review "arthur, or the decline and fall of the british empire" was one of the two best albums the kinks produced for pye records, originally released with a quirky, and very funny - but somewhat shoddily-manufactured - centre-loading, ah, three-quarter gatefold sleeve (the front half was single-thickness card, flimsy, and easily creased, and torn); but, apart from that, pye records didn't seem bothered by it, any more than they had by "the kinks are the village green preservation society". it seems that the kinks had been pigeon-holed by pye as a hit singles group, and that was all pye records wanted of them - or, perhaps, could handle. in "arthur", ray davies continues and expands the scope and depth of his song-writing depiction of a "great britain" slowly recovering from having bankrupted itself resisting the evils of nazi german and fascist italy, and - to a lesser extent, maybe - the militarist near-junta controlling japan, being in the process of losing its empire and, for the people of the uk-of-gb'n'ni°, for what? the semi-mythical land of australia is seen as both an el dorado, a land of unending sunshine and opportunity inhabited by warm-hearted, white english colonists(!), with fruit like pineapples, and bananas(!) just waiting for english immigrants to come and take advantage - and do a bit of work, naturally; but mostly, just relax on the beaches...° - but also, impossibly far off, a distant and effectively separate planet, to which one might maybe lose one's family - relatives, children, grandchildren - forever. meanwhile, "export - or die!" was the word, and, once the tories'd overthrown the atlee labour government for providing one of the longest and hardest winters this century, as well as committing the obscenity of setting up our national health service, and failing to lift the wartime rationing system fast enough, to allow tory-owned car - and sweets! - manufacturers to sell most easily & profitably to brits, rather than concentrate on much harder work of export sales in competition with merkin firms, to earn £,£££,£££,£££,£££ to pay off our debts to merkia°°, where was this wonderful new world we'd fought and sacrificed - and many of us, been wounded, crippled or killed - for? - a new hat or a new raincoat, a new hair-do or a motorcycle combination, and nights out at the dances would have to do. - and, for a while, it did. - ray davies' memories of the times - and of his close relatives' - are conjured up again by the two albums, wonderfully well. . ° - rude awakenings from these siren scenes in the imaginations and too many immigrant brits' reactions giving rise, at a guess, to the phenomenon of the "whinging pom" caricature °° - not finally cleared until during tony blair's first premiership! 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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