The Kinks' seventh studio album Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) was released in 1969. It is a concept album about Britain and follows the fictional character Arthur who was born at some point early in the 20th century. Its themes discuss the careless upper class, the dejection of the lower class, and war. The album was praised critically at the time of its release and had decent commercial success. It is generally considered one of the Kinks' best albums.
I've been well aware since their fourth Face to Face that any dip in songwriting from the Kinks would result in a severe drop in quality because of Ray Davies's high lyrical ambitions and the band's inclination for artsy music. Thus, if either doesn't completely work, the album suffers from pretentiousness. Both the lyrics and music of this album don't completely work. Davies's lyrics are preachy and relativity simply while many of the melodies are either dull or irritating. The best songs--"Brainwashed," "Australia," and "Mr. Churchill Says"--evade the album's usual tropes by demonstrating the band's most straightforward rock'n'roll since their second album. B-
