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The Village Green Preservation Society
 
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The Village Green Preservation Society [Extra tracks]

~ The Kinks
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Audio CD (25 May 1998)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Extra tracks
  • Label: Castle Comm.
  • ASIN: B00000899Z
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 46,984 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

1. 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. Village Green Preservation Society
17. Do You Remember Walter
18. Picture Book
19. Johnny Thunder
20. Monica
See all 28 tracks on this disc

Product Description

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


CD 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, rebellious and politically aware, was farsexier 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 than most of their contemporaries.
The Kinks were working in their own homey little world, as evidenced by songs such as the album'stitle 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 about God that'snot remotely religious, and a rocker about a steam engine. The overarching theme of VILLAGE GREEN is that of unalloyed 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.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars God save little shops, china cups and virginity, 10 Feb 2004
Well firstly, here's a little query. How can an album that contains only one song from the best of collection that everyone owns possibly be a Kinks album that you should own? Well, to be fair, that singles collection that everyone owns doesn't have the Eighties bittersweet account of romance and impending adulthood "Come Dancing" either, so maybe not every moment of glory ends up on a Best Of.

The opening track sets the scene perfectly, we are entering into a world celebrating the small marvels of the world, the idiosyncracies of the British and also the fear of passing time. All that and it's funny as hell too. Only the Kinks would dare to rhyme English-speaking vernacular with 'Moriarty and Dracula'. It has all the oomph, dash and sing-along of its cousin of similar name from the Italian job 'The Self-Preservation Society'

We then proceed to the Kinks just smacking home-run after home-run (or really six after six, a la Garfield Sobers). Walter captures the closeness of adolescent friendships while at the same time showing how such friendships decay and have nothing much to offer you in adolescence, Johnny Thunder the way oldfashioned comics and stories could pull you into their world, Last of the Steam-Powered Trains linking American blues into Hornby, Animal Farm and Village Green neat little vignettes of rural life. Big Sky is frankly amazing, you just can't work out what effect they have put on Davies' voice, but he sounds detached and otherworldly and though the lyrics are simple, they are written with a compelling and interesting perspective.

It is true that with Phenomenal Cat, we go rather off the rails and I can't make up my mind whether I adore or loathe All of My Friends Were There - it is sung in an old-fashioned music-hall style with swooping vocals and it is either marvellous or ridiculous depending on your mood. But at least they tried it.

And to be honest, Sgt Peppers has Lovely Rita Meter Maid AND When I'm Sixty-Four, so it is acceptable for a great album to have a bit of a shaky patch.

Blur were very sneaky in trying to rip this off without acknowledging it. The Kinks produce an album you can sing along to, or sit quietly and think about. And the title track will be bouncing round your head for days after you've heard it. It is really a four-and-a-half, well worth the money (even if my housemates asked me whether it was by the people who did Lilly the Pink)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What the sixties sound like when you remove the hype, 6 April 2003
By Superleccy (Newbury, UK) - See all my reviews
I love this album.

Now virtually forgotten (and not particularly well known even in its day), "Village Green" the finest forty minutes of one of the cornerstones of the British hit parade. But, there's not one hit single here... nothing you're going to recognise from all those "Best of the Kinks" collections, and nothing that's ever going to be played on Radio 2. The closest you may have come to hearing this album could be hearing its grandson, Blur's "Parklife".

There are many who make Pepper-esque comparisons, crying about what this album "could have been". Think of it the other way round... if you take away the producers, the art departments and the marketeers, this is what you end up with. Raw beauty.

Within five years, some naff boy band will cover "Big Sky" or "Starstruck" for the soundtrack of some movie starring Hugh Grant, and it will stay at number one for an entire summer. Imagine how bad you're gonna feel if you don't discover this album before that happens. Buy it now, and discover that The Kinks made classic albums, not just classic singles.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated yet arguably the best 60s album they made, 15 Sep 2000
The end of the 60's saw a difficult time for the kinks. Pete Quaife the bassist was looking to leave the group making VGPS his his final album. It was the title track that did it for me. Superb song writing from Davies as he provides a social commentary of English life with talk of old pubs and English novels. The strong riff backed up well with the rock organ is truly something else not to mention the wailing harmonies and Ray's prominent majestic voice particulalry at the end. Also this song almost predicts the future for English culture with the mention of American stars such as Donald Duck. In a way its almost as though Davies' sensed the move towards America. Other great songs are Big Sky, Walter, Animal farm and Mr Songbird. Although on sales the album did not score it has been said by many that it was their greatest album! I think as fans the appropriate word would be `if only' but despite lack of success its a great album! Spread the word. Enjoy!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars great ,i need say no more
Released in 1968 amidst a decline of sorts for the classy group,the village green preservation society follows on from their best album in my opinion with 'something else by the... Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2007 by sean paul mccann

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest concept album in British Pop
That one of rocks greatest ever concept albums, released by the Kinks during the ultimate era for grand album-long statements, should sink without trace is just one of the many... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2004 by Danny Neill

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite there
I bought this album after buying 'Arthur' as it is always trumped as the best Kinks album. Well... I disagree. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2003 by blendling

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pastoral Triumph
You will have to search hard amongst the plethora of greatest album lists produced by the glossier music magazines in the last few years before you find this album and yet it... Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2003 by J. Skade

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but not what it might have been
After loving the Ultimate Collection and reading such praising reviews, I decided to give Village Green a go and was ultimately disappointed. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars We'll sit and laugh and talk about the village green.
The sheer beauty of this album makes you reminisce of dreams that were never real. Imagine an album that opens your mind to drinking by the riverside, with friends of old and new... Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Greatest
If anyone thought that 60's music ends with the Beatles please listen to this. Although considered an album that more people talk about than have actually listened to, this album... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2000 by andrew.bonnington@ft.com

5.0 out of 5 stars The alluring charms of cranberry pie
For those who still think that The Kinks are "a fairly good pop group of the days of The Beatles, commanded by this guy who composed 'You really got me' and 'Lola'", the... Read more
Published on 3 May 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the finest Kinks album
The Village Green Preservation Society is without doubt The Kink's best album. Davies brilliance shines throughout, from the lucid description of a quintessential idyllic English... Read more
Published on 2 April 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Best kept secret of the 60's british music scene
Having invented heavy metal by virtue of slashing a speaker cone with a razor blade and winding up the guitars for the perfect riff on 'you really got me' the Kinks then came up... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2000 by TheJonesBoy

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