Need help-- which Kinks reissues should I buy?

I have no idea about a box set, but every album from Kinda Kinks to Lola vs. the Powerman and the Money-Go-Round (or Muswell Hillbillies, depending on who you ask and I'm not sure I quite got those album titles right) is well work owning.

I've got The Great Lost Kinks Album on MP3, and I agree that it is superb. It might be my favorite Kinks album right now. Well, OK, Arthur is my favorite, but The Great Lost Kinks Album is a strong contender, and certainly easier to listen to repeatedly.

Incidentally, how do I post in italics on this board?

Also, any info on a possible box set would be great . . . .never heard this.

Also - get the BBC Sessions! The versions of See My Friends, You Really Got Me, All of The Day, and especially Love Me Till the Sun Shines knock spots off the originals.

Thanks for the advice, Dr. C. I was actually looking at the BBC Sessions in the store today, and I noted that it also has "That Strange Effect", which I liked when I heard Holly Golightly do it, and "When I Turn Off the Living Room Light"-- is that the same version as the track on "The Great Lost Kinks Album"? I think it'll be a Christmas request.

The Castle reissues seem to be a little difficult to track down at this late date. Apparently, they've been supplanted by less generous versions? Anyway, I'll try my best to get all the early albums that I don't have.

As far as Village Green goes, I read in the liner notes to my reissue that it was originally planned as a double album, with 20 tracks! Does anyone know what the other 5 tracks would have been, if the album had originally been released that way? And are they included on this theoretical double CD reissue?

Misty Waters IS a VGPS outtake though. If you takethe mono and stereo versions together there are 17 songs (the stereo adds Mr. Songbird and Days and drops 5 others) If we add Misty Waters that makes 18. It's possible that LH or RR would have been recycled for the double VGPS and it's also possible that She's Got Everything (B-side of Days) would have been on there.

I'm disappointed that "She's Got Everything" wasn't tacked on to the end of the CD-- I could have done without the mono mix of "Days" to compensate, if length was an issue. Oh well, I guess I can always pick up The Kink Kronikles, especially since it seems like there are a few other songs on that album that never made it on to the end of a Castle reissue.

"muswell hillbillies," which is a damn good album but maybe a bit overrated, was the first album the kinks made after they left reprise, and as such it wasn't reissued by castle; it was reissued a little bit later by velvel. or at least that's what's available in the u.s. i have no idea if the velvel issue is still in print, but it's damn easy to find here in new york.

the castle reissues seem to come in two different sizes; you can find 20-or-so-track versions of all the '60s classics but you can also find 15-or-so-track versions of the same albums, with two or three bonus tracks instead of seven or eight. i have no idea why that is, but make sure you're buying the ones with the most tracks. because, damn, their outtakes and singles and b-sides were mighty fine.

Stereo versions of the non-stereo tracks that were only on the English version, maybe?

I have a Japanese version of the UK album, and there all tracks are in stereo.

Other than that, I say definitely Face To Face is your next essential. Beyond that, move forward and backward through the catalog until you hit a point where you don't like the stuff anymore. For me, that's just after Muswell Hilbillies!

And incidentally, I think the reason you don't see that around anymore is that the company that reissued them (Velvel) is now out of business, but I thought someone else picked them up? Anyone know?

And also because I have Kinks Kronicles; albeit not remastered, it's a fantastic summary of that era, including great liners by Jon Mendelssohn, and one of the best songs from the 3-CD set, "Berkley Mews".

BTW, is it wrong to like Arthur more?