The Essential Kinks
The Essential Kinks is a two disc compilation album by English rock band the Kinks, released on October 14, 2014, on Legacy Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Background. The album celebrates the Kinks' 50th anniversary of their first release with RCA Records. The album includes all the Kinks' biggest hits from 1964 to 1993. It was released as part of Sony's "The Essential" series and contains 48 tracks. The liner notes were written by David Bowie. The Davies brothers, who had not played together since 1996, revealed in early 2014 that they had met  in person and put their animosity behind them. They were writing new compositions and discussing the possibility of playing together again. Sony has acquired exclusive licensing to the North American rights to albums made by the Kinks for both RCA Records and Arista between 1971 and 1985. Hi-resolution digital downloads, including "Muswell Hillbillies" from 1971, "Preservation Act 1" from 1973, "Preservation Act 2" from 1974, and "State of Confusion" were released on 9 September 2014.