Customer Reviews

Arthur

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This recording was, and is still, the Kink's finest hour. Composed by Ray Davies as the score for a 1969 British TV series that never got off the ground, it, in it's own humble way ushered in a spate of lesser concept albums. It is neither a rock opera, nor a portentious retelling of the history of England. Rather, it's a collection of postcard perfect scenes of everyday life in the suburbs of post-war England. Yawn,right? Wait a minute, this thing rocks harder than the Kinks had in 5 years! As critic John Mendelsohn points out in the original liner notes, "...there's not a song in the lot, start they with harpsichords or slow military drums, that ends up anything less than great bopping rock." Ray Davies never quite matched this tiumph, though the Kinks' most successful years were still ahead of them. And what about the content? Well 'Victoria','Drivin', 'Australia', the brilliant 'Shangri-La' and the title tune all deserve to stand along Ray Davies' earlier masterpiece 'Waterloo Sunset'. That's quite an achievement and this CD would merit 10 stars if I could give 'em. I'm givin'them 5 stars. Times two. Cheers.

I've struggled long and hard to decide which Kinks album would qualify as my favorite. There are quite a few to choose from. There's the lovely quietude of 'Village Green' and 'Something Else' and there's the strangeness of 'Percy,' the transition of 'Face to Face' and the last good gasp of 'Lola'

But Arthur crushes them all in its giant maw...

From the first song, where you hear Dave whooping with joy in the background to the last defeated rave-up, this album is pure greatness and it should be requisite law that every house should have it.

What makes this album their best, other than it being a concept album (and we all know that concept albums make the best albums), is that it is a album of 20 songs, most of them songs within songs. It's rare for an album to cover so much terrain and still come in under an hour.

Besides which, this is the Kinks at their shining hour of greatness, all their successes and defeats behind them and nothing as good as this in their future. Ray's writing is more genius than its ever been before. The Kinks' playing has never been so tight and together.

Plus it has 'Shangri-La.' Which is possibly one of the 10 best songs ever written...

So share with the Kinks the joy of conquering the muscial frontier and weld your CD player shut as soon as you put "Arthur" in it....

If you like tuneful rock music with intelligent lyrics and a strong hint of British pub, then you're going to love Arthur.... Its biggest treat has got to be the tune "Shangri-La," arguably the finest rock song ever written. "Shangri-La" is rock and roll at its very best -- a tuneful, rockin' song that really has something to say. It's one of the few rock songs to actually pay attention to the lessons of sociology. Its insights into the human condition are astounding -- just ask anybody who carries a mortgage. Almost as good is the sprawling "Australia" where they "surf in the sun on Christmas day." These are rock anthems at their best! Yet much of the album offers tender, touching songs that will break your heart.

Now it can be safely said that the tunes may not appeal to everyone. There is a strong element of British pub music present -- and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea (sorry about the pun, Kinks devotees) the lyricism and tunefulness of this masterpiece simply cannot be denied. With this album, Ray Davies shows that he belongs up there among popular music's elite along with Bruce Springsteen, as the finest rock composers and lyricists of the rock genre.

Grab this album as soon as you can. While it may not be widely known, it illustrates all that rock and roll can be. Enjoy!

In 2007, there were two Kinks catalog Japan mini-sleeve releases, one in July and another in September. The July release were JVC K2HD remastered discs. Chronologically, these started at "Muswell Hillbillies" and continued thru the end of the Kinks catalog.

However, the September release, and this is despite the text of at least one Japanese on-line retailer, are NOT JVC or K2/K2HD remastered discs. These were issued by BMG. The discs themselves have a "Made In Hong Kong" stamp on the inner ring.

The BMG titles are: The Kinks (1st album), Kinda Kinks, Kontroversy, Face To Face, Something Else, Live At Kelvin Hall, The Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire, Lola Vs. Powerman And The Money-Go-Round Part 1 and Percy.

After A/B comparison, these are the 1998 Castle/Essential remasters. These also contain the same same booklets as those releases. The Castle discs have the benefit of an absolute plethora of bonus tracks on each, which do not appear on the 2000 Japan K2 remasters.

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.

It is ironic that "Arthur, or the Decline & Fall of the British Empire" may be the Kinks greatest album, and is also their last great one. The Kinks albums after this (beginning with "Lola") all have chestnuts, but they still represent the "decline & fall of the kinks". The music on "Arthur" was looser and "stoned". The songs were getting longer. Dave Davies guitar accompaniment to tunes like "Yes Sir, No Sir" & "Winston Churchill Says" are free-form noodles. However, sort through these less attractive elements, and you'll find the best songs Ray Davies ever wrote: "Shangri La", "Driving", "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina", and "Some Mother's Son". And despite the occassional forays into "typical late 60's music", this collection of songs demonstrates Ray Davies intelligence and independence. He may have been a "rock star" at this point (a roll he really embraced in the 70's to embarrassing effect), but he seemed to eschew the trappings of pop culture, fashion, & self-importance.

"Arthur" shows us (for the last time) Ray Davies as a sensitive and wise young man who cherished tradition and the collapsed world of the British Empire. These songs show him struggling to find meaning and direction in a world where idealism and innocence are lost (as he lamented on the "Village Green" album). It is sad to consider that the only solution which seemed to occur to him was escapism, as in "Driving". Of course, this is not a judgement on Ray Davies. In fact, just look how far we've drifted into isolation and complacence in the intervening years...

If you are viewing this item right now you probably already know about the significance of this album. I have owned the old domestic Reprise edition for years now and just recently picked up this pressing. The sound quality is superior and the booklet is handsome and much more informative. You will not regret buying this import in lieu of the older, more common Reprise pressing.

5 stars may seem excessive to some, but for my money, this is one of the best, if not THE best rock album I've ever heard... definitely on a par with The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, etc. In fact, in my opinon, The Kinks are better than all those bands.

Planned as the soundtrack to a television play that never came to pass, Arthur is a tale of broken promises and unfulfilled dreams, seen through the eyes of a middle-aged man who feels betrayed by the country he once loved. It sounds impenetrable, but Ray Davies uses universal themes and catchy melodies to make this material resonate with anyone who has a heart. There are no wasted notes, and no throwaway lyrics: everything is very economical and carefully crafted for maximum effect. The lyrics are intelligent without ever being ponderous or pretentious, and even though it's a "concept album" every single track stands on its own merit as well.

"Yes Sir, No Sir", a damning indictment of war and the British class system, is one of the finest songs the head Kink ever penned, featuring some of his most barbed lyrics: "Let them feel that they're important to the cause/ but let them know that they are fighting for their homes / just be sure that they're contributing their own. / Give the scum a gun and make the bugger fight / and be sure to have deserters shot on sight / If he dies, we'll send a medal to his wife."

That song is immediately followed up by the one-two punch of "Some Mother's Son", probably the most touching anti-war song in rock history, which features a gorgeous middle eight section and some of Ray Davies' most accomplished chord changes to date. Elsewhere, muted desperation gives way to 60's-soaked rock freak-outs like "Brainwashed" and "Australia". And that's just the A side!

Flip it over (track 7 on cd) and you'll find the album's centerpiece, "Shangri-la". Over mournful arpeggiations, Ray Davies practically sighs, rather than sings, heartbreaking lyrics that detail Arthur's plight: he is mired in bills that he can barely pay, trapped in a soul-destroying job, frightened that he'll lose everything, and too numbed to contemplate any of it. Then, just before the listener can slip into quiet resignation along with Arthur, the Kinks jolt us awake with a harrowing bridge section complete with Ray screaming "Life ain't so happy in your little Shangri-la!"

Humor is also one of the most effective weapons in the Kinks' arsenal, and there's plenty to be found on cuts like "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" (another study of class relations) and "Nothing to Say".

Arthur, the album, didn't do very well at the time of its release, and very much like Arthur, struggled to be heard. It is a testament to the breadth and depth of Ray Davies' vision that time has only amplified the power that lies between the grooves of this extraordinary album. It needs to be amplified, because the power in these songs is sometimes very quiet indeed. "Young and Innocent Days" sums it up best, as the Kinks long for "the way I used to look at life, soft white dreams with sugar-coated outside". In reality, sugar coated delights are hidden all over this album, but beneath the sugar is some real food for thought. Stand out tracks include: "Victoria", "Yes Sir, No Sir", "Brainwashed", "Shangri-la", and "Some Mother's Son".

Hoo boy! List the twenty albums that I have listened to more than any others in the last thirty or so years and this album will be there (along with several Beatles albums, Blonde on Blonde, Let it Bleed, etc.). This is the Kinks at their best. I bought this album on the basis of a positive review when it came out and, boy, am I glad that I did. Always more popular in the USA than in the UK, this album was embraced by yanks because of its highly melodic and tightly arranged songs about England in happier days. Few bands played this well. Few composers could turn out songs the way that Ray Davies did. Still brings a smile to my face when I hear one of these songs. Highly recommended.

Come on empty 68, show yourself! Who are you, what do you eat, how does your garden grow-and why is "Arthur" odd and bloated? Explain yourself! It contains, by any measure, rock's greatest outing in "Shangri-La" and several other songs which go beyond The Beatles and nearly everyone else.

Think about what Ray Davies was doing-it's essentially a musical, and all great musicals have emotional highs and interludes so that the audience can adjust their bums and whisper their approvals or otherwise. Some of these songs-"Yes Sir, No Sir" for example-are interludes between the great peaks.

It's a musical about war-not the Germans at war or the Americans at war, but an English working class man called Arthur and his whole generation, his countrymen. In England, we study the war poets, particularly Wilfred Owen. Owen's language has the directness of a bullet-it accuses point blank. Davies has borrowed this language for "Some Mother's Son" and written the only great anti-war pop song to come out of England. Listen to the last verse-the words are pure Owen: this is the companion piece to Bob Dylan's "Masters of War," and miles away from the hippy romanticism of John Lennon's "Imagine."

Now listen to "Drivin'"-the only example in English pop of a song trying to emulate the sound and gay abandon of people enjoying a new kind of transport-the car. Between the wars, people called this motoring-they used to pack their cars with picnics and drive for miles: it gave them a false sense of security against impending catastrophe-the Second World War-and allowed the time and privacy to forget. Listen to the guitars and the arrangement-it actually sounds like a family in an old banger driving out of London for the thrills and spills of the countryside.

Go back to where we came in-"Shangri-La." This starts with one of the most beautiful folksy tunes ever written-but crashes into the hard rock chorus. Folk-rock is often used as a category in rock criticism, but this is its perfect realistion in song. It starts off in sympathy with the working man and his lot, but-after a massive riff on the guitars-Davies attacks the sleeping masses in surburbia in a way that no English rock writer has done before or since. He admonishes their insecurities, their sameness, their gossip, their uniformity, their dullness. This viciousness was part of The Kinks' lifestyle, but here it burst out as never before. It's unattractive and gut-wrenching, but in context you realise what he's doing: he's an idealist, and longs for the working class-Arthur-to do better. By chiding them, he hopes to wake them from their historical slumber. There are two other things about "Shangri-La": it's the only rock song which becomes so overwhelming that the players actually try to slow it down-listen to the extraordinary drumming towards the end which sounds like a heavily-laden lorry breaking on a motorway. Then there's the demonic "Shangri-La" chant towards the end of the piece in which the band musically mocks the song-it's very reminiscent of parts of Vaughan Williams' "Job, a Masque for Dancing."

There isn't space to dwell on the other songs, but you have to realise that The Kinks represent the high point of English pop music-just as Dylan represents the high point of American music. The music is bound to our cities and countryside like the quintessential maps and guide-books which we use to find our way in this country. This is the only pop album we have in which a great song writer tries to come to terms with world wars which, even in the glory of victory, left the role of members of his English, working class family anonymous. Listen to "Arthur" carefully, and you'll cry.

Just as with many other Kinks albums that have somehow fallen through the cracks, this album is packed full of greats songs and this reissue reveals the details in an album that I'm sure has influenced a lot of musicians (and recording engineers!) over the years. Here's the correct track list for this remastered edition - lots of singles and bonus tracks make this version worth getting over the 12-track versions:

1. Victoria
2. Yes Sir No Sir
3. Some Mother's Son
4. Drivin'
5. Brainwashed
6. Australia
7. Shangri-la
8. Mr Churchill Says
9. She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
10. Young And Innocent Days
11. Nothing To Say
12. Arthur
13. Plastic Man
14. King Kong
15. Drivin'
16. Mindless Child Of Motherhood
17. This Man He Weeps Tonight
18. Plastic Man
19. Mindless Child Of Motherhood
20. This Man He Weeps Tonight
21. She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
22. Mr Shoemaker's Daughter