Product Description

It's easy to imagine the confusion with which this manifesto for the defence of the status quo was received on its release in 1968. The world was in turmoil and the pose of the Street Fighting Man, turned on, rebellious and politically aware, was far sexier than the quaint homebody image the Kinks present here. The title track finds Ray Davies proudly declaring himself a preservationist of custard pies, vaudeville, and such comic book characters as Desperate Dan. However, these slices of suburban life have weathered a lot better thanmost of their contemporaries.
The Kinks were working in their own homey little world, as evidenced by songs such as the album's title track, "Picture Book", about family snapshot albums, and "All of My Friends Were There" whose very un-rebellious subject is public embarrassment. To compound the weirdness there's also "Big Sky", a classic Kinks song aboutGod that's not remotely religious, and a rocker about a steam engine. The overarching theme of VILLAGE GREEN is that ofunalloyed nostalgia--it's only today, now that many of the things Davies feared would disappear have actually vanished,that the truth and clarity of his vision is apparent.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. The Village Green Preservation Society
2. Do You Remember Walter
3. Picture Book
4. Johnny Thunder
5. Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
6. Big Sky
7. Sitting By The Riverside
8. Animal Farm
9. Village Green
10. Starstruck
11. Phenomenal Cat
12. All Of My Friends Were There
13. Wicked Annabella
14. Monica
15. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
16. Mr. Songbird
17. Days
18. Do You Remember Walter
19. People Take Pictures Of Each Other

Disc 2:

1. The Village Green Preservation Society
2. Do You Remember Walter
3. Picture Book
4. Johnny Thunder
5. Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
6. Big Sky
7. Sitting By The Riverside
8. Animal Farm
9. Village Green
10. Starstruck
11. Phenomenal Cat
12. All Of My Friends Were There
13. Wicked Annabella
14. Monica
15. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
16. Days
17. Mr. Songbird
18. Polly
19. Wonderboy
20. Berkeley Mews
21. Village Green

Disc 3:

1. Village Green
2. Misty Water
3. Berkeley Mews
4. Easy Come, There You Went
5. Polly
6. Animal Farm
7. Phenomenal Cat
8. Johnny Thunder
9. Did You See His Name
10. Mick Avory's Underpants
11. Lavender Hill
12. Rosemary Rose
13. Wonderboy
14. Spotty Grotty Anna
15. Where Did My Spring Go
16. Groovy Movies
17. Creeping Jean
18. King Kong
19. Misty Water
20. Do You Remember Walter
21. Animal Farm
22. Days

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6264 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Running time: 164 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sensing that the Beatles, Stones and Who were radically transforming rock music by turning it literate and conceptual, Ray Davies decided the Kinks should be his vehicle to explore his unusual longing for a simpler time when the English empire was not in decline. A reliance on English music hall tradition and sentiments indicated in titles such as "Last of the Steam- Powered Trains", "Picture Book" and "Village Green" clearly show Davies's nostalgic streak. Davies' singing has always been rough and non-Kinks fans may have trouble getting past his sloppy pitch. But for those listening closely, the tales are one of a kind. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

The Village Green Preservation Society
This album was released in November 1968, while bands around them were going experimental and trippy, The Kinks and Ray Davies went into the studio with a different concept in mind.

Originally the idea was not a Kinks album but a Ray Davies concept, on similar lines to the follow up Arthur album, a solo project to write and record a TV/theatre score, but loosely based around the theme of a Village Green. A theme which at the time sat firmly outside of the Bluesy R&B sound that Kinks coinsures were probably more used to.

However in November 1968 after two years of recording sessions with several brick walls being hit on the rocky road of TV concept, and with The Kinks commercial power being perceived to be on the way out. The Kinks released The Village Green Preservation Society on the Reprise record label. A concept of English Village life, as far removed from Flower Power, Student Protests and Vietnam as you could get.

In this album, Ray Davies pursues themes in a manner which many people have judged as being all part of this Village Green concept, however he goes at these subjects in a way which would be better placed in a Village Green Preservation Manifesto, then you're typical concept album.

This album is even more remarkable when you consider that it was on the back of poor single sales for "Wonderboy", and the hurriedly released compensation single "Days". As a result amazingly none of the original tracks on this album were deemed good enough for single release by record bosses, which gave the album initially a poor start in life. It's remarkable also to think that some of these songs appear on this album by accident, songs like "Do You Remember Walter" and "All of my Friends Were There", were not meant for this manifesto album, but seem to fit like a glove with their inclusion on the final cut, as was the quality of the Kinks work at the time.

After its release, the fact it never became a commercial triumph, ensured the album spent the next 4 decades being a cult classic for those people like you and I who know better.......and Elvis Costello. Unfortunately in recent years the album has been jumped upon by advertising agencies, which means we're no longer the wise ones, we're just like everybody else......but don't be too downbeat dear friends, this is only ensuring that the right thing is done and that this album is given the attention it rightly deserves. An album which is filled from start to finish with musical treasures which every human being should know off by heart.

The Village Green Preservation Society ensured that Ray Davies was lofted to the status of esteemed song writer and lyricist, and that The Kinks will always be looked upon as more then just a chart R&B act. This release, along with the follow up Arthur, proved that The Kinks could tell stories and raise issues about modern life in post Empire Britain while still making them a pleasure to listen to, which their counterparts were either overlooking or simply unable to achieve, a tremendous piece of work which sits nicely with the all time great albums.

Wonderful!
I have always loved the Kinks and this was a real landmark record. Part of the story of the low profile of this album was the fact that Ray Davies was swimming against the tide of the music industry. Whilst his contempoaries were doing their best to court the American market, with blues orientated music sung in a mid-atlantic drawl, Davies opted to further develop singularly English style and Village Green was a real peak in that development. Whilst I am a proud Scot I do appreciate this sort of understated but warm and rich examination of English values and culture. The aching beauty of Davies' observational lyrics is peerless.

The fact that Pye records was not wholley commited to this direction meant that the promotion was not as it should have been and finally, as the liner notes for this CD package point out, there was quite a lot of competition in the autumn/winter of 1968 with Beggar Banquet, Electric Lady Land and The Beatles (so called "White Album")all out at the same time it is not hard to see why this gentle gem was missed in the rush to praise thses other outstanding albums.

I would enocuorage you to get this 3 CD set, simply because the previous US/UK Stereo/Mono version on a single CD can prove a bit awkward if you just want on version. It does however have the US version whereas here you get separate disks of a Mono or a Stereo version of the same album, albeit different mixes and different bonus tracks. The Third disc here is additional bunus tracks most of which ase well worth having (although the opening instrumental version of Village Green is probably worth scipping after the first couple of plays)

No fan of 60s music should be without this album.

God Save The Kinks
Well to be honest i had very high hopes for this album on perchasing, and on first listening i was very, very, very, very, disapointed. I totaly understood why this had been overlooked by the music fans of 1968 who bought "The White Album" by The Beatles, "Electric Ladyland" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and "Begger's Banquet" by The Rolling Stones instead, and it seemed reasonable that TKATVGPS hadden't charted. You will not be blown away by this album. It's not revolutionary. It's certainly not commercial. But it wasn't intended to be. Ray Davis' vision for this album was to just create a collection of songs for himself, something he would enjoy listening to. Slightly selfish maybe, but he was bored of making commerical records.

And so the listener is offered a collection of charming, quintisentially british songs, all of which are impossible not to fall in love with. They feel like your friends, and after a few listeners you won't be able to leave the album alone. My personal fave track is "Last of the steam powered trains", because of it's sheer originality. "Picture Book" is another standout track. I don't know if it is worth buying the dulux edition, because three disks is slightly boring. But by all means buy the album.