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Following a pair of compilations in 2023 chronicling earlier parts of their storied career, British rockers The Kinks have one more in the chamber to commemorate their 60th anniversary as a group, focusing on a period of transition and finality in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

The Journey – Part 3 will offer, on two CDs or two 180-gram LPs, a dozen favorites originally released on Arista Records between 1977 and 1984, including the band’s last worldwide smash, “Come Dancing.” The newly remastered selections – which, in a first for The Journey series, are curated by the band – will be paired with a never-before-released recording of one of the group’s final concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in the summer of 1993. Phil Alexander has penned new liner notes, with the Davies brothers and other band members offering track-by-track commentary.

After a challenging period of conceptual, theatrical creative ambitions but less commercial returns than hoped, The Kinks left RCA Records in 1976 and pared things back to a more straightforward rock style on record and in concert. Signing to Arista, the band – founders Ray and Dave Davies on vocals and guitar and original drummer Mick Avory along with longtime bassist John Dalton and keyboardist John Gosling – worked on their 16th album, 1977’s Sleepwalker. While no original Kinks album had charted (or would chart) in England since 1967’s Something Else by The Kinks, Sleepwalker peaked at No. 21 in America, their highest position there to date. This anticipated the tenor of their success in the decade to come.

A new bassist, Andy Pyle, replaced Dalton before the Sleepwalker sessions ended; he recorded follow-up Misfits (1978) before leaving with Gosling, leaving the group as a quartet of the Davies, Avory and former Argent bassist Jim Rodford on 1979’s Low Budget. A new keyboardist, Ian Gibbons, would join for the ensuing tour; this line-up stayed put through the mid-’80s. The Kinks’ commercial viability was reaching heretofore unseen levels in America during this period, thanks in part to a new wave of acts that were acknowledging the group as an influence, from Van Halen (who covered “You Really Got Me” on their 1978 debut) to the Pretenders (beyond covering several songs including “Stop Your Sobbing,” lead singer Chrissie Hynde birthed one of Davies’ children). The knock-on effect toward the group’s current material was palpable: Low Budget, Give the People What They Want (1981) and State of Confusion (1983) all reached the Top 20 in the United States, and State‘s single “Come Dancing” – powered by an unforgettable keyboard riff and a catchy chorus by Ray Davies, became their first American Top 10 since 1970.

Unfortunately, the Kinks komeback was not to last: Ray Davies invested time in a solo album and film, 1985’s Return to Waterloo (which featured every bandmate except his brother Dave), while Dave ignited an old feud with drummer Avory, resulting in his departure (though he would contribute behind-the-scenes to future albums at Ray’s behest). Their last album for Arista was the drum machine-assisted Word of Mouth (1984), a soft seller that also featured contributions from the group’s newest drummer (and Rodford’s former Argent bandmate), Bob Henrit. The Davies-Davies-Rodford-Henrit line-up would stay relatively consistent for the rest of the band’s days, recording for MCA and Columbia in the years before and during the Britpop boom. (Keyboardist Mark Haley would contribute to tours including the Royal Albert Hall show included here, and was eventually replaced with a returning Ian Gibbons until their 1997 dissolution.)

Both formats of The Journey – Part 3 will be available on July 11. Full specs and pre-order links can be found below; as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Journey – Part 3 (BMG, 2025)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD/LP 1: 2025 Remasters of Hits

1. Catch Me Now I’m Falling
2. (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
3. A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy
4. Sleepwalker
5. Living on a Thin Line
6. Come Dancing
7. Around the Dial
8. Do It Again
9. Better Things
10. Destroyer
11. Low Budget
12. Misfits

Tracks 1-2 and 11 from Low Budget – Arista SPART 1099 (U.K.)/AB 4240 (U.S.), 1979
Track 3 and 12 from Misfits – Arista SPART 1055 (U.K.)/AB 4167 (U.S.), 1978
Track 4 from Sleepwalker – Arista SPARTY 1002 (U.S.)/AL 4106 (U.S.), 1977
Tracks 5 and 8 from Word of Mouth – Arista 206 865 (U.K.) AL8-8264 (U.S.), 1984
Track 6 from State of Confusion – Arista 205 275 (U.K.)/AL8-8018 (U.S.), 1983
Tracks 7 and 9-10 from Give the People What They Want – Arista SPART 1171 (U.K.)/AL 9567 (U.S.), 1981

CD/LP 2: Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London, England – 7/11/1993 (previously unreleased)

1. One of Our DJs is Missing
2. Till the End of the Day
3. Where Have All the Good Times Gone
4. Low Budget
5. Apeman
6. Phobia
7. Only a Dream
8. Scattered
9. Celluloid Heroes
10. I’m Not Like Everybody Else
11. Dedicated Follower of Fashion
12. The Informer
13. Death of a Clown
14. Sunny Afternoon
15. You Really Got Me
16. Days