Ray Davies and The Kinks’s 1969 concept album Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) illuminates chronologically one man’s disillusionment with the fading ideals of the British Empire.
From rousing opener “Victoria” in which Arthur Morgan longs for the days of “croquet lawns, village greens” to the remembrance of war-time spirit in “Mr Churchill Says”, Arthur struggles to come to terms with this modern day Britain. Davies also poignantly objects to the futility of war in “Some Mother’s Son”, as well as to the absurdity of status symbols in “She’s Brought a Hat Like Princess Marina”, while the anti-establishment pre-punk “Brainwashed” perceives Arthur as a ‘yes man’ who lacks a mind of his own.
While the lyrics are key, the music itself is exceptional, played with a mixture of harpsichords, air-raid sirens, pianos, guitar, brass and military drums. This is best seen on the otherwise bizarre offering, “Australia” in which Arthur declines an alternative life in a parody of TV advert rhetoric.
Arthur’s reflections are brought to the present with “Shangri-la”; a celebration of suburban comfort – “his kingdom to command” – despite which his life is as stagnant and unhappy as ever. Arthur embraces the fall of the British Empire inside a North London semi-detached house, as Davies sings “Too scared to think about how insecure you are/ Life ain’t so happy in your little Shangri-la”. Arthur is imprisoned by the haven he spent his life trying to achieve, as mediocrity drowns out the dying passions of a life which ends up with “Nothing to Say”.
But Davies does not present Arthur as a fool. A tragic hero of the “little-men on the train”, Arthur is given rousing support on the eponymous closer, with upbeat guitar of brother Dave, hinting at an optimistic finish. The brilliance of this truly underrated record is Davies’s ability to bring the mundane to the forefront. Social satire and a cruel yet insightful observation of and objection to British ideology places Arthur at the pinnacle of innovation, a contemporary of Tommy (the more well-received concept album of 1969) and Abbey Road. Arthur’s theatrical journey reveals The Kinks at their most creative and Davies at his most inspired and heartfelt.
