Arthur (or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

god i wish there were half stars. 2.5 is exactly what this is. 2 implies its bad and 3 implies its good. this just is.

Our fourth (and final) Kinks album on the 1001 list. I never really got into The Kinks, dunno why its good music, and this album is pretty decent, but if I was going to recommend a Kinks album, I'd go with "Something Else".

I’d never really listened to The Kinks before and had mixed expectations because they influenced a lot of bands I love but also a lot of bands I don’t care for. As it turns out I find this album delightful. It has an intellectual streak that sets it apart from other similar offerings of the time, similarly to Talking Heads vs the rest of the classic punk scene. The irreverent satire and social commentary is top notch.

Bright and jangly up-tempo songs that channels the Beatles and, with a tad harder edge, lays the ground for power pop to come. Great lightly crunchy guitar sound. There's a near constant backing vocal part that takes on the function an organ might have of giving some bedding/continuity alongside the more stochastic guitar/drums parts in addition to being a harmonic counterpoint. A few songs (Mr Churchill, Australia) get a lot looser, delving into a trancey psych jam that has an almost Can feel to it.

That's a good album, super iconic.

Victoria is a great track. The rest is uneven. A lot of it sounds like a Beatles cover band.

Is this consumer-obsessed society we've built on the blood of soldiers worth it? The fear at the center of all our frenzied consumption hangs like a pall over our white-washed suburban lives, and we stagnate in our gardens as the walls of our empire fall around our ears.

Calité de The Kinks. Review firmada por Alfredo Duro.

If my kink was catchy, not bad but fairly average albums, then this would be an easy 5.

I liked this. Old school rock and kinda punk-ish. 3.5/5

This album is anachronistic in all the worst ways. It's not only that it's from a long bygone era, it's that I can't even see the influence. When I listened to Motörhead, it's easy to hear the foundations of music that came after. The same goes for the Donovan album; not my cup of tea, but it's interesting, unique, and one can hear why it was popular in its time. This album is none of those things. It drags, it's boring, and I cannot understand why this band is heralded as influential.

This isn't my favorite Kinks album but they're always underrated.

Favourite songs: Victoria, "Yes Sir, No Sir", Some Mother's Son, Shangri-La, Mr. Churchill Says, Arthur

Least favourite songs: Australia

4/5

This album has been compared to The Who's Tommy (which came out earlier in the year). I hear it, but it definitely lacks something in comparison. Part of it could just be that there's an element of goofiness to the Kinks' music. The Who are hard hitting, the Kinks are goofy. That said, this is a fun album. The Kinks are a pre-cursor to punk and even though the album doesn't sound all that much like punk (it has a pretty dated 60s sound), it has the punk spirit (a good example is "Yes Sir, No Sir"). Overall, this is a fun album that I might revisit, but definitely not a 5, mainly because I think it lacks depth. Favorite tracks: Victoria (catchy), Australia (the lyrical section is tongue-in-cheek, but it's the instrumental second half that I think is great - awesome, funky, rocking section), Mr. Churchill Says (good rocker), Drivin' (fun music, somewhat dark lyrics - speaking of dark lyrics, Some Mother's Son was pretty powerful, but the song itself was kinda meh), and Brainwashed (another "fun" sounding song with somewhat dark lyrics). I had mixed feelings about Shangri-La. I liked the acoustic guitar part at the beginning, but by the end the song seemed all over the place (and at one point sounded like a rip-off of Tales of Brave Ulysses).

christ these guys leveled up since Something Else

ahhhh

I probably won't listen to the album again, but I could see going back to make a connection.

Ninguna canción de este disco está entre las 10 más oídas de Spotify pero empieza bien con "Victoria". Lo siento pero se va a quedar en 2 estrellas, hay mejores discos de ellos que oír.

The Kinks are maybe my favourite discovery from this site.

Olin jotenkin aina suhtautunut Kinksiin huonompina Beatleseina, mutta on tää kyllä omalla tavallaan nautinnollinen bändi ja hyvä levy! 4/5