After seeing Darjeeling Limited a few weeks ago I was launched full force back into my Kinks obsession. So I’m posting a couple tracks from my favorite album of theirs, Arthur. Ray Davies took many a stab at the concept album in his day, but never was he more successful than with Arthur. All the Davies themes are present here: boredom, growing old and a longing to go back to simpler times. Most importantly though, throughout the story of a man named Arthur moving from England to Australia, Davies never forgets to rock. So many concept albums get so caught up in telling their story that the music suffers at the hands of clunky exposition, but Davies knew better.
To illustrate my point I’m posting Victoria one of the hardest rocking late-Kinks songs ever and Nothing To Say which is just one of those perfectly cynical Ray Davies gems that would have been at home on whatever album it decided to hang it’s hat.
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