The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (Bonus Track Edition)

I’m ashamed to admit that for many years I got by with a Kinks Greatest Hits album, but the creativity and cleverness behind song’s like Autumn Almanac, Well Respected Man and Plastic Man made me want to learn more. So early last year I bought The Village Green Preservation Society; I liked the humour and Britishness behind the title and I haven’t looked back. I listened to it solidly for 3 weeks. When I would normally be watching TV or listening to talk radio, I listened to this album and it’s fantastic. Some of the songs only need one listen to become instant favourites, such as -The Village Green Preservation SocietyDo You Remember Walter?Picture BookStarstruckPhenomenal CatAll of My Friends Were ThereWicked AnnabellaPeople Take Pictures of Each OtherOthers needed a couple of plays before I came to love themSitting By the RiversideAnimal FarmVillage GreenMonicaMy only regret, is that I didn’t discover this album 20 years ago.

This wonderful 1968 album from Ray Davies and the boys may seem rather prescient, looking back now half a century later and pining for such seemingly innocent times. But, of course, whilst The Village Green Preservation Society may conjure up all manner of memories and reflections for us listeners, it had great personal significance for Davies himself. There is, indeed, a good deal of fondness running through Davies’ often eccentric, sometimes fairy tale-like, tales, but there are also darker moments too. Thus we have the delightfully idiosyncratic references of the album’s title tune (from Desperate Dan to The Custard Pie Appreciation Consortium), romantic liaisons with Daisy in (the earlier) Village Green, plus the idyllic setting depicted in Sitting By The Riverside and the back-to-nature feel of Animal Farm. Similarly, the capturing for posterity of treasured moments gets an airing on Picture Book and People Take Pictures Of Each Other.Elsewhere, though, things are not quite so hunky-dory. Davies conjures up memorable individual characterisations of the local hoodlum in Johnny Thunder, whilst a ‘lady of the night’ features in Monica. Even the child-like fairy-tale of Phenomenal Cat is pitched against a much darker counterpart in Wicked Annabella. This latter song also goes somewhat against the musical grain of the album, which is predominantly typical Davies ‘pop whimsy’ sounding (à la Sunny Afternoon, Waterloo Sunset, etc) – instead giving us Pete Quaife’s powerful bass-line and Mick Avory’s up-front drums, conjuring up The Who’s Boris The Spider, with Messrs. Entwistle and Moon on top form. Also diverging from the album’s delicious pop melodies is the blues-based (and seemingly Davies self-referential) Last Of The Steam-Powered Trains. The 1998 Sanctuary CD, in addition to the 15 mono recordings on the original album release also includes the 12-track stereo version, with additional track Days and Mr Songbird.All-in-all, it’s a seminal album from an iconic British band. Don’t worry that there’s little in the way of hit singles here – this album fits some form of ‘concept album’ mould, along the way demonstrating Davies’ position as one of music’s greatest lyricists, and is a seamless delight as a result.

For years my only exposure to the Kinks was through a well worn `best of' album, which inexplicably only contained one track (Days) from this masterpiece. It was only when I started collecting their albums a little while ago I discovered the rest of the gems on this impressive album. How I regret having never heard it before then!Up until hearing this I had thought of the Kinks as an outfit f hard rockers, with such classics as `you really got me', etc. But towards the end of the 60's Ray Davies started to get a new musical vision, and began to move the band away from their roots. The beginnings of this shift can be heard in their previous album, the reflective `Something Else By The Kinks'. However, here the pastoral vision is given full reign and used to make a classic album that holds together as a thematic whole.The basic theme is the great English countryside and its fast disappearing traditions. It's not a folk album, but it does have a very pastoral theme. Songs are well crafted, with plenty o Kinks style great hooks and melodies, coupled with great lyrics which show a real regret for a world fast disappearing. Stand out tracks are the title track, and `last of the steam powered trains'. There is no filler though. Why more of the tracks don't find their way onto best of albums is beyond me. For my money this is the best and most consistent album the band ever made.Two versions of the album are presented here, the mono 15 track version, and the stereo 12 track edition, all on the same disk. The remastering is very good and the disk has a nice crisp clear sound. The inlay contains a nice essay about the recording of the album and some photos of the band.A classic album, well presented. Recommended to any fans of the Kinks, country fairs, steam rallies, strawberry jam in all its different varieties, draught beer and the old, simpler life in general.

Despite the complexity of track selection due to this being two versions of the same album, crammed onto one CD, hence many double tracks, this is a fabulous piece of work. Like many other reviewers, I totally missed this album first time around, indeed I only heard the title track for the first time last year ! I loved it immediately, so eventually bought the CD. Picture Book jumped straight out as such a new sounding track, that I hadn't recognised it as a Kinks recording when it was used in a certain advert a while back. The whole album sounds so new and fresh, just miss out Phenomenal Cat & All My Friends Were There, and it is pure joy. Never again will I regard the Kinks as just a right good singles band. The only other albums that come close to this are Kontroversy, Sleepwalker & Word of Mouth. Buy these, and any greatest hits, and you have all the Kinks you will ever need. Ray Davies is a genius, but often errant, songwriter & performer. On all too many other Kinks albums, he tries to sound like his contemporaries. But when he plays himself, there are few (if any) better.

Poco da dire sulla musica di questo cd. Questo è uno dei capolavori del gruppo, concept album incentrato sulle vecchie tradizioni inglesi viste attraverso il solito occhio sarcastico ma anche un pò nostalgico di Ray Davies. Realizzato nel 1968 "The village.." è subito divenuto uno dei classici della band, quindi poco da aggiungere. Da lodare invece questa edizione curatissima che offre l'intero album sia in versione mono che in versione stereo. L'artwork è curatissimo con foto molto belle e note di copertina dettagliate. Un ottima edizione.

This is one of those "classic" albums you always hear about, part of the late 60's "concept" album trend. However, there are no BIG hits (the title track, Starstruck and Days were hits but not BIG hits here in North America). This is also true for some other Kinks albums, which are well reputed but have few if any major hits. I am very familiar with and love all of the Kinks big hits from the 1960's-80's and so I took a chance on this... and I'm very glad I did.Even with so few obvious "hit" songs, the album is very cohesive and flows together well. I like EVERY song and the running order. It's not a "heavy" album, there are no songs like "You Really Got Me". It's more folky and acoustic, with some Ray Davies British music hall type songs, and some very "different" pop/rock songs. Overall, the songwriting is not dated at all, and I think many songs could have been written at any time since. The lyrics are very interesting, witty and unique as well... in a good way.It only took a few plays for this entire CD to grow on me. I've played it many times since and I rate it as one of my favourite albums by anyone. Another thing I like is that this CD includes both the mono and stereo versions of the complete albums, plus the single version of Days. A great bargain for the price.In North America, the Kinks have always been overshadowed by the Beatles, Stones, Who, etc. in terms of popularity, exposure, and availability of material. I'll be ordering more classic Kinks and I hope they're as good as this one.UPDATE --- I did order 3 more classic 1960's Kinks albums, and I did not like them in the same way. While I love the Kinks for their singles, this is the only Kinks album that I love and can listen to all the way through (other than their hits compilation albums).

My second favorite Kinks album although in many peoples opinion it is probably the favorite. I happen to really like "Low Budget"

Io scelgo sempre attentamente i cd da acquistare, attendo un po' di mesi, verifico,poi acquisto.Anche questa volta scelta azzeccata,bella musica,ho aggiunto un'altra perla alla mia collezione.Molto soddisfatto.

J'ai acheté "The Village Green Preservation Society" car cet album est donné pour être le "Sergent Pepper" des Kinks. Fidèles à leurs valeurs, les Kinks continuent dans la recherche de leur Saint-Graal esthétique: si pour "Face To Face" ils entraient dans le trio de tête des groupes à pochettes moches, pour "Village Green" ils décrochent le pompon! On n'est plus en présence de mauvais goût, mais plutôt d'un tendance masochiste lourde!Mais bon, attaquer sur le physique n'est pas très fair-play, on est entre gentlemen !Tous les grands groupes ont eu une très grande rythmique: Entwistle-Moon pour les Who, Jones-Bonham pour Led Zeppelin, Watts-Wyman chez Jagger-Richards , Paice-Glover au sein de Deep Purple, Squire-Bruford dans Yes, Macca-Ringo enfin pour les Beatles. On tirera de cet axiome, selon sa lucidité ou sa mauvaise foi, les conclusions qui s'imposent...Dès la première écoute de l'album, on s'aperçoit que les Kinks n'ont pas eu la chance d'avoir un grand producteur, comme George Martin par exemple (et aussi un grand ingénieur du son comme Geoff Emerick). Ici c'est Raymond Davies qui produit, tout le monde ne peut pas s'appeler Brian Wilson.Tout comme Bruckner dans la musique classique, les compositions de Ray Davies me posent problème. Pour Bruckner, c'est facile: c'est juste un grand musicien qui n'a rien à dire!Le cas de Ray Davies est plus complexe: j'y décerne une tendance au masochisme, voire à l'auto-mutilation. En effet, dès qu'une idée, une mélodie, un gimmick intéressants sont trouvés, au lieu de les développer et de les travailler, Ray Davies leur appose très souvent un élément contraire, un genre de collage improbable, une sorte d'antidote au chef-d'oeuvre."The Village Green Preservation Society" débute gentiment l'album, même descente d'accords un peu monotone tout au long du morceau, sympa mais gâché par des backing vocals un peu limites. "Do You Remember Walter" illustre la tendance Daviessienne au masochisme: la mélodie hautement improbable semble avoir été composée avant l'avènement du tempérament égal cher à J-S Bach, plus faux tu meurs! A côté les délires vocaux de Robert Wyatt ont l'air bien sages."Picture Book" ressemble à du Macca solo, la voix de Ray est belle, mais les choeurs ineptes emmènent vite le morceau vers les pentes dangereuses et glissantes de la variétoche."Johnny Thunder" est sympa, on dirait du Dylan accompagné par Townshend, et j'aime bien les "pâ-hâ-papa-la-papa" qui rappellent les premiers Floyds. "Last Of The Steam-Powered Trains" c'est du Creedence, mais sans John Fogerty. Les Studios Pye auraient quand même pû payer un bon micro à Ray Davies."Big Sky" est un morceau lourd, appuyé, mais un peu vain. Batterie moonesque sympathique, mais j'aime pas du tout le chant. " Sitting By The Riverside " est dans le style bluette d'avant-guerre chère à Macca. Préfigure aussi de futures Queeneries avec ses vocaux édulcorés. "Animal Farm", c'est "Dirty Old Town" des Pogues avant l'heure (qui a dit que les Kinks n'étaient pas des précurseurs?)."Village Green" est l'exemple type de la bonne idée mal gâchée: clavecinade modèle 1966 redondante, partie de hautbois outrageusement fausse, c'est bien d'écouter les concertos brandebourgeois, c'est mieux de les digérer."Starstruck" est surtout remarquable pour son horrible partie de Mellotron. Par contre Phenomenal Cat est assez bien produite (sans être un chef-d'oeuvre), délicates flûtes au Mellotron, ambiance acide-Barrett du premier Floyd. "All Of My Friends Were There" recycle l'orgue et la descente d'accord de "Whiter Shade Of Pale" mais en moins bien (façon Aphrodite Child)."Wicked Annabella" est un brin étrange avec son riff de guitare inquiétant, du pré-Alice Cooper? "Monica" possède un super pont-refrain très bien torché, mais les Kinks préfèrent développer la première partie "musique des îles" totalement insignifiante, encore un exemple de gâchis! "People Take Pictures Of Each Other" (qui conclut la version mono) démontre que si des grands de la chanson française comme Serge Lama ont repris les Kinks, ce n'est pas qu'un hasard!La deuxième version stéréo est amputée de quelques morceaux mais propose "Days" et "Mr.Songbird", deux gentilles ballades acoustiques qui n'apportent pas grand chose de plus à ce chef-d'oeuvre de la pop-music.Comme vous pouvez vous en douter, j'ai apprécié modestement cet album. J'arrête d'enfoncer le clou, la prochaine fois je prendrai des vis...