The Kinks - Fortis Green - Non-Album Tracks (1996-1999)

The Kinks broke up around 1996. They kind of petered out, without any obvious final tour or public announcement at the time. However, in the mid to late 1990s, the two main singer-songwriters of the band, Ray Davies and Dave Davies, released enough songs, in a very Kinks-ish style, to make up an excellent album. Imagine this as a "what-if" album, had the band stayed together.

The Kinks did release one last album in 1996, "To the Bone," an "unplugged" style album that mixed live performances with new studio versions of their classic songs. It had two new songs, "To the Bone" and "Animal," so I've included them here. Unfortunately, those are the only two actual Kinks songs on this album. 

The main source of material here is Ray's 1998 album "Storyteller." I took six of the 12 songs from it. That was a mix of live and studio songs. When it was a live song, I removed the clapping to make it fit in with the other studio tracks. Three Dave songs come from his 1998 album "Unfinished Business," while a fourth, "Fortis Green," comes from his 1999 album "Bug."

Regarding the album title, I didn't want to call it "Fortis Green," because Dave Davies has already put out an archival album with that name. But I found a great photo for that title, and I couldn't resist. I figured the number of people who have ever even heard of that Dave Davies album are unfortunately very few. Plus, the song "Fortis Green" is a great one, in my opinion, so I'm glad to try to make it better known. I think it's one of the best nostalgic songs written by anyone, in my book. Had it come out as a Kinks song in the 1960s or 1970s, I'm sure it would be considered a classic.

In my opinion, ALL the songs on this album are excellent. If the Kinks had actually released an album with these songs on it in 1999 (since all the songs are from that year or earlier), I think it would have been hailed as their best album in a long time, at least since the early 1980s. Also, the trendy production problems that plagued Kinks albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s are nowhere to be seen on this songs, somehow.

I added one song as a bonus track, "Otis Riffs." It's the only still unreleased song here. I didn't include it as part of the album because it dates from a 2000 concert, and I wanted all the songs to be from the 1990s.

01 To the Bone (Kinks)
02 I'll Get Over (Dave Davies)
03 Storyteller (Ray Davies)
04 Animal (Kinks)
05 When the Wind Blows [Emergency] (Dave Davies)
06 X-Ray (Ray Davies)
07 Art School Babe (Ray Davies)
08 Fortis Green (Dave Davies)
09 Back in the Front Room (Ray Davies)
10 The Ballad of Julie Finkle (Ray Davies)
11 London Song (Ray Davies)
12 Unfinished Business (Dave Davies)

Otis Riffs (Ray Davies)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15485579/TKnks_1996-1999_FortsGreen_atse.zip.html

For the album cover, I found a picture of a Fortis Green sign - it's the London neighborhood where the Davies brothers grew up. But it's a different sign than the one used on the Dave Davies album I mentioned above. I think used a little Photoshop work to add in the sign saying "The Kinks."