{"id":490852,"date":"2019-10-03T10:51:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T16:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=892969"},"modified":"2019-10-03T10:51:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T16:51:55","slug":"ray-davies-talks-arthur-reissue-project-kinks-reunion-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/ray-davies-talks-arthur-reissue-project-kinks-reunion-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray Davies Talks \u2018Arthur\u2019 Reissue, \u2018Project Kinks\u2019 Reunion Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Kinks<\/a> were on the verge of collapse when they began 1969\u2019s Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)<\/em>. They\u2019d just parted ways with original bassist Pete Quaife and their previous album, 1968\u2019s The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society<\/em>, failed even to chart in their native England despite excellent reviews. Making matters worse, an ongoing feud with the American Federation of Musicians made it impossible for them to tour in the States, a devastating blow at a time when groups like Led Zeppelin and the Who were rapidly building huge audiences in America thanks to relentless gigging. The very real possibility that they\u2019d go down in history as an also-ran British Invasion band that burned out in the late-1960s lingered in the air.<\/p>\n

The obvious move would have been to write some poppy singles like \u201cYou Really Got Me\u201d and \u201cTired of Waiting for You\u201d to get back on the charts, but Ray Davies<\/a> had no interest in that. \u201cI had become bored with the singles format,\u201d he says on the phone from London. \u201cI was tired of doing three or four singles a year and your whole body of work is judged by what those singles are like.\u201d<\/p>\n

He teamed up with English playwright Julian Mitchell to write a television play about a British man (inspired by Davies\u2019 real-life brother-in-law) that grows weary of life in his home country and moves to Australia with his family. The play never happened, but it did inspire Davies to write 12 songs that told the story across two sides of a record. \u201cI called it a documentary album,\u201d says Davies about Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire).<\/em> \u201cIt\u2019s about the generation that won World War Two, but somehow lost the peace. It\u2019s a neat package that tells the story of the decline of the British empire.\u201d<\/p>\n