As The Kinks’ founder and frontman, Ray Davies took some liberties when he re-tooled the band’s influential rock tracks for See My Friends. The album featured pals young and old like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Mumford & Sons, but in the end, the release’s 14 tracks came “off as tired and uninspired”. So, instead of experimenting on other classic tracks with new friends, The Kink’s will just be re-releasing the original catalogue this time around.
Between March 28th and the end of July, The Kinks are set to re-issue seven of their first 10 studio records, reports Gibson. On March 28th the band’s first three records, Kinks (1964), Kinda Kinks (1965) and The Kink Kontroversy (1965) will be released, followed by Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969) and Muswell Hillbillies (1971) in May, and lastly Face to Face (1966) and Something Else by The Kinks (1967) in July. All of the re-releases will reportedly feature rarities, outtakes, session tracks, and expanded liner notes.
Details of the reissues’ exact contents are still forthcoming. Also, there’s no word on why the reissues do not flow chronologically, or why The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968) and Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) are not being given the re-issue treatment.
