The Kinks

The Kinks’ ambitious 1969 album, ’Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire),’ is getting a deluxe 50th anniversary box set due out October 25 on BMG.

This week in the Basement: reviews of new albums from Britpop vets Sleeper and Pavement guitarist Spiral Stairs, plus Oakland, CA post-punks The World, a ’70s glam compilation curated by Saint Etienne, and more.

The Kinks’ Dave Davies released ’Decade’ last year which collected unreleased solo material dating from 1971 – 1979 and he’s just announced a North American tour in support of that.

”Jim Reid Top Picks” include songs by The Kills, The Beatles, The Kinks, Lou Reed, Vashti Bunyan, Cabaret Voltaire, The Cult, Orange Juice, Nirvana, Neil Young, Go-Kart Mozart, The Snivelling Shits, and more.

U.S. Girls and Tune-Yards remix each other, plus listen to new songs by St. Vincent, Thom Yorke, Julia Jacklin, High On Fire Tracyanne & Danny, Pill and more.

This week’s edition of BrooklynVegan Blog Radio features music from Iceage, Camp Cope, The Internet, Hop Along, Radiohead, The Kinks, Sleater-Kinney, Slowdive, Speedy Ortiz, Suicidal Tendencies, a whole bunch of Urinals covers, and more.

Ray admits he hasn’t gotten his brother Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory in the same room together yet, but he’s “working on it.” The Kinks broke up in 1996.

The world lost a true original voice last week, Mark E Smith of The Fall. We paid tribute to him on this week’s edition of BrooklynVegan Blog Radio on SiriusXMU.

The band — featuring members of Green Day, The Replacements, The E Street Band, The Hold Steady, Blondie, D Generation and more — took on songs by Ramones, The Clash, Dead Boys, Tom Petty, New York Dolls, The Kinks, Cheap Trick, Blondie, The Replacements, and more…