FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
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IT is not often that I head back to…
PHOTO CREDIT: Barrie Wentzell
the 1960s when it comes to inspiration from Vinyl Corner so, for this edition, I have selected The Kinks’ The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Released in November 1968, It was the last album by the original quartet (Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, Mick Avory - as bassist Quaife left the group in early-1969). It is amazing to think that The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society was not a success upon its release! Now, it considered one of the band’s essential albums but, back then, there was a bit of a mixed reaction. Maybe it was because the songs are not as raw and instant as the likes of You Really Got Me. That said, Something Else by the Kinks of 1967 sold poorly in the U.K. – it was released in January 1968 in the U.S. and it is another genius album. Listening back to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and I cannot fathom why it was not a massive success as the songwriting is so rich and engaging! I think this was Ray Davies (the band’s lead songwriter) near his very peak. I would encourage people to buy the album on vinyl, as it is really food value; one of the finest albums from the late-1960s. Ray Davies did not write the songs to fit a theme as such, but a certain commonality develops in his lyrical interests of the time.
The main theme (of the album) concerns the passing of old-fashioned English traditions. Maybe the Englishness of the lyrics alienated U.S. listeners and meant that the album was not as successful there as it could have been. At the time of writing The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, Davies was very isolated and in quite a dark place. Perhaps the lyrics reflect an escape or fantasy; a chance to immerse himself in something more idyllic or safe. I guess, in 1968, Rock was dominating and bands like The Rolling Stones were being favoured. That would have been the case for American audiences so, when presented with an album that was more pastoral and inventive, they were taken by surprise. Pitchfork highlighting that in their review of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society back in 2004:
“It takes a Village Green Preservation Society to love The Kinks.
The problem facing The Kinks when they released The Village Green Preservation Society in late November 1968 wasn't merely the competition-- Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland, Led Zeppelin's debut, and the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet offered plenty-- but that this subtle, funny, surreal, and at times almost tender record could have been recorded on another planet. During the summer of 1968, stateside fans were hooked on a high-intensity diet that had them jonesing for aggressive, overstated fare like "Street Fighting Man" and "You Shook Me" and "Communication Breakdown". The disconnect between The Kinks and the rock world's rapidly narrowing palette could hardly have been more pronounced. Compare the Stones' bombastic, urban "Sympathy for the Devil" with understated work like "Village Green", bouncing along like a horse and buggy as Ray Davies paints the landscape: "Out in the country, far from all the soot and noise of the city..."
Critics praised the album, the public ignored it, and Davies-- surveying the scene-- asserted that it wasn't created for public consumption. Intentions aside, The Kinks simply moved on, leaving small knots of fans to pledge secret allegiance to Village Green. However, as years passed and the weather changed, its following grew, and finally, one day, the verdict reversed and the album was touted as a masterpiece. Ironically, it might have happened sooner had the band not been so prolific up through the late 80s.
Intricately sketched and brimming with unusual arrangements, The Village Green Preservation Society was the first clear look at an iconoclastic, imaginative and sometimes brilliant artist as he came into his own. Audiences used to sizing up work on a scale created for rock gods and counter-culture icons were forced to consider this album as a piece of conceptual art. The Lennon-McCartney/Jagger-Richards duos towered over and shaped the sensibilities of a vast army; Davies explored a deeply personal world that confounded fans even as it provoked their curiosity”.
I really love The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and I feel Davies’ songwriting was among the very best in the world. One listens to the songs from that album nearly fifty-three years later and they do resonate and strike a chord. Maybe it is because of what is happening in the country at the moment and how people would like to get back to a bygone time…you can put on The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and it provokes emotions.
I want to bring in one more review before wrapping things up. This is what AllMusic wrote when they tackled The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society:
“Ray Davies' sentimental, nostalgic streak emerged on Something Else, but it developed into a manifesto on The Village Green Preservation Society, a concept album lamenting the passing of old-fashioned English traditions. As the opening title song says, the Kinks -- meaning Ray himself, in this case -- were for preserving "draught beer and virginity," and throughout the rest of the album, he creates a series of stories, sketches, and characters about a picturesque England that never really was. It's a lovely, gentle album, evoking a small British country town, and drawing the listener into its lazy rhythms and sensibilities. Although there is an undercurrent of regret running throughout the album, Davies' fondness for the past is warm, making the album feel like a sweet, hazy dream. And considering the subdued performances and the detailed instrumentations, it's not surprising that the record feels more like a Ray Davies solo project than a Kinks album. The bluesy shuffle of "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" is the closest the album comes to rock & roll, and Dave Davies' cameo on the menacing "Wicked Annabella" comes as surprise, since the album is so calm. But calm doesn't mean tame or bland -- there are endless layers of musical and lyrical innovation on The Village Green Preservation Society, and its defiantly British sensibilities became the foundation of generations of British guitar pop”.
Go and listen to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society and, if you can, buy the album on vinyl. It is a classic album from one of the greatest bands we have ever seen. Even though the album did not get the acclaim it deserved back in 1968/1969, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society has been featured in lists of the finest albums ever. At such a stressful and strange time, spin this magnificent album and…
EXPLORE its wonderful world.