Back in the late ‘90s through till around 2005 or so, the Sanctuary Label Group was right there on the cutting edge of CD labels, releasing top new product and classic reissues. The Beatles had a huge success with their mono box set at the end of 2009 and likewise, after way too long off the radar—through the auspices of Universal Music—the fabled Sanctuary label is back in action with fresh mono remasters of the classic ‘60s albums from The Kinks. Ray, Dave, Pete and Mick never sounded better than they did in the mid ‘60s and those first three classic Kinks albums have been reissued again in 2011 as individually packaged, double CD, deluxe edition sets. The first three Kinks studio albums, spanning early ‘64 to late ‘65, now with new bonus cuts stretching into early ‘66—Kinks, Kinda Kinks and The Kink Kontroversy—remain essential artifacts encapsulating the group’s meteoric rise to fame as only second to the Beatles and Stones. Each of these Kinks remasters are literally reinstated editions, now featuring the original mono masters on one CD with a second CD containing an abundance of rare demo tracks, BBC cuts and hit single masters. Even the demo tracks here sound fab with several just a step or two away from being finished works. One of the definite highlights here—the Sanctuary / UMe double deluxe of Kinda Kinks highlights the original 12 track mono master of Kinda Kinks on disc one while disc two features a wealth of rarities, with the lynchpin being the Kinks late ‘65 breakthrough single “A Well Respected Man.” The whole Kinda Kinks episode / era as recollected on this double disc retrospective ended up providing the basis for three different American Kinks Lp releases—including the U.S. release of Kinda Kinks, the U.S. only Kinks Size leading up to and including the late ‘65 release of Kinkdom. This 2011 Kinks series on Sanctuary / UMe was superbly remastered by Andrew Sandoval and Dan Hersh and overall, it really sets the record straight and is topped off with insightful (and thankfully readable) liner notes—appealingly packaged along with numerous pics of never before seen memorabilia. www.TheKinks.info

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