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And it wasn't only the subject matter: with hard-rock bands like Led Zeppelin poised on the horizon, it simply sounded too whimsical. Its potential success was not helped by the injunction which prevented The Kinks from touring the US between 1965 and 1969, essentially isolating them from rock's biggest market. Despite their position as one of the founding-fathers of mid-Sixties British pop/rock, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society flopped big-time.
But over the years, it has undergone something of a reassessment. For manyit's now justly considered Davies' most satisfying album: a creative highpoint matched only by the band's landmark singles of the period. Only Davies would care that Britain's last main-line steam train finally reached the buffers that year and write an instant retro song like ''Last of the Steam-Powered Trains'', a sort of British Rail ''Smokestack Lightnin'''. Only Davies would bother to think about why people take photographs of each other ('To prove that they really existed', of course!) and write ''People Take Pictures''. But it's not all wistfully genteel: the childlike ''Phenomenal Cat'' is a nod towards psychedelia and there are some sterling Dave Davies riffs in ''Wicked Arabella'' and ''Johnny Thunder''. It's as English as billiards, but with more balls.
Village Green Preservation Society now comes as an expanded 3-disc package. The first disc is taken from the stereo masters. It also includes additional stereo mixes of ''Mr Songbird'', ''Do You Remember Walter'' and the attendant single, ''Days'', not part of the original album, but a welcome addition here. Village Green had a tortuous history from recording to release - all brilliantly explained in the extensive sleeve notes and the book of the album (published by Continuum), both by Kinks scholar Andy Miller. The original album released in November 1968 was a 15-track mono version, which now comprises disc 2 of the current reissue. Apart from the inclusion of the single mix of ''Wonderboy'', it's fairly dispensable, though, unless you have an urge to hear the sound squeezed like toothpaste into one channel.
The third disc is the real gem, covering contemporaneous outtakes and rarities, most previously unavailable on CD. ''Lavender Hill'' was once considered as a follow up to ''Waterloo Sunset ''and there is the stately ''Berkeley Mews'' and an instrumental version of the title track. It concludes with some excellent Beeb material omitted from the BBC Sessions 1964-1977 roundup: yet another version of ''Do You Remember Walter'' (a persistent question, arising for the fourth time in this reissue) and the big-Kink sound of ''Animal Farm''.
If you don't know the Kinks albums, or you only have a Best Of, pop down to the corner shop for a custard pie and take a trip to a part of the 60s you may not have visited before. Welcome to the Village Green. --Rob Webb
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Box set contents:
• Creedence Clearwater Revival [Expanded Reissue]
• Bayou Country [Expanded Reissue]
• Green River [Expanded Reissue]
• Willy & the Poor Boys [Expanded Reissue]
• Cosmo’s Factory [Expanded Reissue]
• Pendulum [Expanded Reissue]
• Mardi Gras
Customer Reviews
At the time, Ray Davies was just short of enough material for a great double album. The first 12-track single album was hastily withdrawn amidst arguments about the best way ahead, to be replaced by the better known 15-track version. Five songs were added by the change and two songs removed: Days (which had become a successful single) and Mr Songbird. The confusion resulted in a botched publicity programme and, when eventually released into the new world of hard rock and revulutionary student politics, the album's unifying theme of memories about people and place had become deeply unfashionable.
Thus, despite its earlier obscurity, Village Green Preservation Society is a first class slice of British pop/rock. The main question is whether you should buy this 3-CD "deluxe" version or go with the single CD, saving £5 or so. The following notes might help you choose.
In the CD age, the fashion for bonus tracks has resulted in versions of the album that include all 17 of the original tracks. However, if you look at the current single CD version you find Days and Mr Songbird buried amongst alternate versions of songs repeated from earlier in the track listing. In contrast, on the stereo version that comprises the first CD in this 3-CD, the long-standing 15 track album is followed immediately by Mr Songbird and Days, the latter finally taking its rightful place at the end of the "full" album. "Thank you for the days....."
CD number 2 is a mono version of the 17 tracks in the same running order, with some good near contemporary songs as a bonus. My own view is that is too little difference between the mono and stero versions for the 2nd CD to offer much value, but doubtless there are some completists who would beg to differ. However, since the current single CD version mixes stereo and mono tracks, either one of the first two CDs in this "deluxe" version is likely to sound more consistent.
The 3rd CD contains a number of rarities recorded from the same period. The best of these is Misty Waters, which would have readily slotted into Village Green's concept. Others such as Lavender Hill and Rosemary Rose might have helped transform it into a classic double album. Inevitably the third CD also contains quite a lot of forgettable stuff including the instrumentals such as "Mick Avory's Underpants" - personally I would be about as willing wear Mick Avory's underpants than listen to it again. But all things considered, the CD-3 is a clinching argument for spending the extra few quid compared to the single CD alternative.
Is it a rarely mentioned gem? Yes
I picked up a three CD edition of this, purely because it was the most Mellotronic KInks album, It's slapped over most of it and is really quite yummy, But of course songs count for more than 'Tron and songs this has. In abundance. You know? I really can't forget Walter and songs about chuffy trains are always welcome. As is the Sherlock Holmes English speaking vernacular.
So, I say to you BUY! My Walter-Ego also says BUY! So what are you waiting for?
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