All Topics  
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
 
 
  Topics The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society Topic Home

The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is a pop-rock album released by the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 music group The Kinks
The Kinks

The Kinks are an England rock music group formed in 1963, and categorised in the US as a British Invasion band. The Kinks have been cited as one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time....
 on 22 November 1968.

writer and band leader Ray Davies
Ray Davies

Ray Davies, Order of the British Empire is an English Rock music musician, best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks - one of the most prolific and long-lived British Invasion bands - which he led with his younger brother, Dave Davies....
 crafted the concept album
Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being musical improvisation or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to narrative....
 as a gentle homage to English hamlet
Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural Human settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community....
 life and, by extension, to the innocence and idealization of past times and people. While a love letter to an idealized England already gone, the album also has a pervading ironic sting, starting with the title track.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'
Start a new discussion about 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is a pop-rock album released by the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 music group The Kinks
The Kinks

The Kinks are an England rock music group formed in 1963, and categorised in the US as a British Invasion band. The Kinks have been cited as one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time....
 on 22 November 1968.

Production

Songwriter and band leader Ray Davies
Ray Davies

Ray Davies, Order of the British Empire is an English Rock music musician, best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks - one of the most prolific and long-lived British Invasion bands - which he led with his younger brother, Dave Davies....
 crafted the concept album
Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being musical improvisation or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to narrative....
 as a gentle homage to English hamlet
Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural Human settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community....
 life and, by extension, to the innocence and idealization of past times and people. While a love letter to an idealized England already gone, the album also has a pervading ironic sting, starting with the title track. There is a sense Davies yearns for this world but knows both it is not real and if it were he could never fully be part of it. The songs were assembled from material recorded over a two year period prior to the album's release, as Davies moved away from producing commercial hit singles and into a more personal, nostalgic style of songwriting. Many of the songs recorded prior to the early summer of 1968 may have originally been intended for a Ray Davies solo album and/or stage show related to the loose "village green" theme, because Davies was unsure whether they fit the Kinks' musical image and style. But as the concept progressed, and as the Kinks' commercial fortunes declined in 1968, the album was completed as a full-fledged Kinks project. Fearing the band would soon dissolve and that this would be their final project, Davies poured his heart into the album, tinkering with it until the last possible minute. He even halted the production of an early release version to revamp the song selection.

The album theme was inspired by a track recorded by the band in November 1966, "Village Green", which was inspired by the Kinks' performances near rustic Devon, England in late 1966 (Davies has also stated that Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh people poet who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself....
's Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood is a radio play by Dylan Thomas, later adapted for the stage play. A film version, Under Milk Wood directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972....
 was an indirect inspiration for the concept). This song neatly sums up the album's broad theme: "I miss the village green
Village green

A village green is a commons open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common pasture land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events....
, and all the simple people..." In addition to nostalgia, the album's songs touch on a wide range of emotions and experiences, from lost friends ("Do You Remember Walter"), memories ("People Take Pictures of Each Other", "Picture Book"), bucolic escape ("Animal Farm"), social marginalization ("Johnny Thunder", "Wicked Annabella"), public embarrassment ("All of My Friends Were There"), childlike fantasy ("Phenomenal Cat"), straying from home ("Starstruck") and stoical acceptance of life ("Big Sky", "Sitting By the Riverside"). Davies did not compose many of the songs to fit the predetermined theme of the album, rather their commonality developed naturally from his nostalgic songwriting interests at the time. The title track, one of the last written and recorded (in August 1968), effectively unifies the songs through an appeal to preserve a litany of sentimental objects, experiences, and fictional characters from progress and modern indifference: "God save little shops, china cups, and virginity". This last lyric inspired the slogan, "God save the Kinks" which was used in the US promotion for the album, and was associated with the band through the 1970s.

Session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins

Nicky Hopkins He recorded and performed on some of the most important British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the most important session musicians in rock and roll history....
 contributed significantly to the album. With the exception of true orchestral backing on the early "Village Green" track, the string and woodwind backings on such tracks as "Animal Farm", "Days", "Starstruck" and "Phenomenal Cat" were simulated by the Mellotron
Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphony keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world's first sampling keyboard....
, played by both Hopkins and Ray Davies.

Reception

The record sold poorly upon its initial release and was ignored by pop music audiences. A contributing factor was that none of the album's songs proved viable as a single ("Days
Days (The Kinks song)

"Days" is a song by The Kinks as the A-side to a single in 1968 in music. It was written by Ray Davies. It also appeared on an early version of the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and now appears as a bonus track of the remastered CD....
", a modest UK hit for the band in the summer of 1968, was originally intended for inclusion in the album but was released independently after the failed single "Wonderboy
Wonder Boy (song)

Wonderboy is a pop music, written by Ray Davies and recorded by The Kinks in 1968. It reached #36 on the UK Singles Charts, becoming the first major Kinks single since 1964 to be a relative commercial failure....
"). The album was also stylistically out of step with the music trends of the day and its failure was indicative of the Kinks' commercial decline during this period.

However, the record soon achieved a cult status as one of the band's best and most loved albums. Davies' timing with the album's nostalgic concept proved to be just out of step in the cultural turmoil of 1968, but it soon gained a much greater mainstream appeal. In 2003, the album was ranked number 255 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2003.Related news articles:* The list was based on the votes of 273 rock musicians, critics and industry figures, each of whom submitted a weighted list of 50 albums....
.

Follow-up

From its inception, Davies seems to have considered the album for stage presentation and its general theme served to inspire the Kinks' more ambitious, but less popular, two-part theatrical work "Preservation" in 1972–1974. A 2004 three-disc reissue package of the album includes a history of the evolution of the record and a wealth of alternate mixes, bonus tracks and rare material. The album was also the subject of a 2003 book by Andy Miller.

Track listing

All songs by Ray Davies.

UK and U.S. version


Side one
  1. "The Village Green Preservation Society" – 2:45
  2. "Do You Remember Walter?" – 2:23
  3. "Picture Book" – 2:34
  4. "Johnny Thunder" – 2:28
  5. "Last of the Steam-powered Trains" – 4:03
  6. "Big Sky" – 2:49
  7. "Sitting by the Riverside" – 2:21


Side two
  1. "Animal Farm" – 2:57
  2. "Village Green" – 2:08
  3. "Starstruck" – 2:18
  4. "Phenomenal Cat" ("Phenominal" on the LP sleeve) – 2:34
  5. "All of My Friends Were There" – 2:23
  6. "Wicked Annabella" – 2:40
  7. "Monica" – 2:13
  8. "People Take Pictures of Each Other" – 2:10


Original European 12-song version


Side one
  1. "The Village Green Preservation Society"
  2. "Do You Remember Walter?"
  3. "Picture Book"
  4. "Johnny Thunder"
  5. "Phenomenal Cat"
  6. "Days"


Side two
  1. "Village Green"
  2. "Mr. Songbird"
  3. "Wicked Annabella"
  4. "Starstruck"
  5. "Monica"
  6. "People Take Pictures Of Each Other"


This 12-song version was Ray's initial intended release for the European market. It was released in France, Sweden and Norway in October 1968; it was also released in New Zealand (December 1968) and Italy (January 1969). Ray and Pye had it withdrawn before it was manufactured for UK release and the re-sequenced 15-song version was released there (22 November 1968) and in the United States (January 1969). Apart from sequencing, this early version differs by the absence of "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains", "Big Sky", "Sitting by the Riverside", "Animal Farm" and "All of My Friends Were There", and the inclusion of "Mr. Songbird" and "Days" (the latter a #12 UK hit single released in June 1968). The stereo mixes of "Do You Remember Walter" and "People Take Pictures Of Each Other" were slightly different from the mono mixes.

The unreleased Four More Respected Gentlemen


In parallel with the 12-song European version, Ray and Reprise Records (the band's U.S. label) initially intended to release an 11-song album for the American market called Four More Respected Gentlemen. The unreleased album was even given a Reprise serial number (RS 6309). However, Reprise at some point decided that the 15-track UK "Village Green" album was suitable for the US market and cancelled plans for this album. The track listing would have consisted of:

Side one
  1. "She's Got Everything"
  2. "Monica"
  3. "Mr. Songbird"
  4. "Johnny Thunder"
  5. "Polly"
  6. "Days"


Side two
  1. "Animal Farm"
  2. "Berkeley Mews"
  3. "Picture Book"
  4. "Phenomenal Cat"
  5. "Misty Water"


When originally sent to Reprise, the album was also to include the following tracks:

  1. "Autumn Almanac"
  2. "Did You See His Name"
  3. "There Is No Life Without Love"
  4. "Susannah’s Still Alive"


These songs, however, were pulled from the album before the final master was compiled.

2004 Sanctuary Records special deluxe edition


Disc one (stereo)
  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" (bonus track, from 12-track edition)
  17. "Days
    Days (The Kinks song)

    "Days" is a song by The Kinks as the A-side to a single in 1968 in music. It was written by Ray Davies. It also appeared on an early version of the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, and now appears as a bonus track of the remastered CD....
    " (bonus track, from single and 12-track edition)
  18. "Do You Remember Walter?" (bonus track, original stereo mix from 12-track edition)
  19. "People Take Pictures of Each Other" (bonus track, original stereo mix from 12-track edition)


Disc two (mono)
  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" (bonus track)
  17. "Mr. Songbird" (bonus track)
  18. "Polly" (bonus track)
  19. "Wonderboy" (bonus track)
  20. "Berkeley Mews" (bonus track)
  21. "Village Green" (bonus track, no strings version)


Disc three (rarities)
  1. "Village Green" (orchestra overdub, previously unreleased)
  2. "Misty Water" (stereo)
  3. "Berkeley Mews" (stereo)
  4. "Easy Come, There You Went" (stereo, previously unreleased)
  5. "Polly" (stereo)
  6. "Animal Farm" (alternate stereo mix, previously unreleased)
  7. "Phenomenal Cat" (mono instrumental, previously unreleased)
  8. "Johnny Thunder" (stereo remix from the original multi track tapes, previously unreleased)
  9. "Did You See His Name" (previously unreleased)
  10. "Mick Avory's Underpants" (previously unreleased)
  11. "Lavender Hill"
  12. "Rosemary Rose"
  13. "Wonderboy" (stereo mix with the vocals buried)
  14. "Spotty Grotty Anna"
  15. "Where Did My Spring Go"
  16. "Groovie Movies"
  17. "Creeping Jean" (Dave Davies) (previously unreleased longer stereo mix with some minor overdubbing missing)
  18. "King Kong"
  19. "Misty Water" (mono, previously unreleased)
  20. "Do You Remember Walter" (BBC session remix, previously unreleased)
  21. "Animal Farm" (BBC session remix, previously unreleased)
  22. "Days" (BBC session remix, previously unreleased)


Song and album notes


In late summer of 1968, the Kinks had hoped to release the album as a two-record set with 20 tracks, but Pye Records rejected this plan. A twelve-track version of the album was released in September 1968 throughout certain European markets; these are now valuable collector's items. Production of this version was quickly halted at Ray Davies's insistence and the final revamped fifteen-track version was released in the UK in November 1968.

U.S. record label Reprise had intended to release many of album's tracks on a separate Kinks album titled Four More Respected Gentlemen
Four More Respected Gentlemen

Four More Respected Gentlemen is an unreleased album by the United Kingdom rock group The Kinks. Most of the songs were recorded in 1968, the year the album was assembled for the US market....
 sometime in mid-1968 to fulfil a contractual album obligation. This was in the final stages of pre-production when Reprise dropped all plans to issue it, based on the strength of the forthcoming Village Green album.

"Starstruck" was released as a single in Europe and the United States, and charted in The Netherlands, peaking at #13. This is the only appearance of any track from the album on the hit parade in any country.

A promotional film shot for "Starstruck" in late 1968 is the last surviving footage of the original 1960's Kinks lineup, before Pete Quaife's March 1969 resignation from the band.

The photography used for the album art was shot in August 1968 on Parliament Hill, a part of Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath is London's largest ancient parkland covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the List of highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay The Heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, a train...
, North London.

Out of print on vinyl for years (it has been consistently available on US Reprise CD since 1990), today the album is reported to be the best-selling non-compilation album in the Kinks' catalogue. Ray Davies has recently referred to it as the "most successful flop of all time".

"Picture Book", not one of the singles from the album, became popular after it was used in a 2004 television commercial for Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard

The Hewlett-Packard Company , commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States....
 digital imaging products.

"Big Sky" is covered on Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo is an United States indie rock band based in Hoboken, New Jersey, New Jersey. With more than 15 albums released since their formation in 1984, they have demonstrated unusual longevity for the indie-rock scene....
's debut Ride The Tiger
Ride the Tiger (album)

Ride The Tiger, released in 1986 , was the debut album of the Hoboken, New Jersey-based alternative rock band Yo La Tengo. The song "Big Sky" is a cover of The Kinks song from their album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society....
 album.

The eponymous opening track appears in the film Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz is a British films of 2007 Cinema of the United Kingdom action film comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and starring Pegg and Nick Frost....
 and its soundtrack album. "Village Green" is also featured in the film, but not on the album.

A cover of "The Village Green Preservation Society" by folk singer Kate Rusby
Kate Rusby

Kate Rusby , is an England folk singer and songwriter from Penistone, South Yorkshire. Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale. She has headlined various United Kingdom national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most famous English folk singers of contemporary times....
 is used as the theme song for the BBC sitcom Jam & Jerusalem.

The American punk band Green Day
Green Day

Green Day is an American Rock music trio formed in 1987. The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong , Mike Dirnt , and Tr? Cool for the majority of its existence....
 "borrowed" the main riff from "Picture Book" for their song "Warning"; the riff has been also used in variations by Big & Rich
Big & Rich

Big & Rich are an American country music duo comprising two singer-songwriters: Big Kenny and John Rich . Both members alternate as lead vocalists and play rhythm guitar in the duo....
 on "Love Train" and by Steriogram
Steriogram

Steriogram are a Rock music band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed in 1999....
 on "Walkie Talkie Man
Walkie Talkie Man

"Walkie Talkie Man" is a single by the New Zealander band Steriogram, released in 2004.The song has been since released as a single, and is widely recognized as the song that brought Steriogram the majority of their popularity....
".

American singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant

Natalie Anne O'Shea Merchant is a professional musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993....
 performed "The Village Green Preservation Society" during six sold-out shows January 4-10, 2008 at the Hiro Ballroom in Manhattan, New York.

Personnel

  • Ray Davies
    Ray Davies

    Ray Davies, Order of the British Empire is an English Rock music musician, best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks - one of the most prolific and long-lived British Invasion bands - which he led with his younger brother, Dave Davies....
     – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
    Keyboard instrument

    A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
    , harmonica
    Harmonica

    The harmonica is a free reed aerophone wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes....
  • Dave Davies
    Dave Davies

    David Russell Gordon Davies is an English rock musician , most well known for his membership with the England Rock music Musical ensemble The Kinks....
     – lead guitar
    Lead guitar

    Lead guitar refers to the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, fill , and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock music, heavy metal music, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop music contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompan...
    , backup vocals, lead vocals on "Wicked Annabella"
  • Pete Quaife
    Pete Quaife

    Pete Quaife is an English people musician, artist and author. He was a founding member and the original bass guitarist for The Kinks, from 1963 until 1969....
     – bass
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
    , backup vocals
  • Mick Avory
    Mick Avory

    Michael Charles Avory is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and percussionist for the British rock band, The Kinks, joining them shortly after their formation in 1964 and remaining with them until 1984, when he left amid creative friction with guitarist Dave Davies....
     – drums
    Drum kit

    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
    , percussion
  • Nicky Hopkins
    Nicky Hopkins

    Nicky Hopkins He recorded and performed on some of the most important British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the most important session musicians in rock and roll history....
     – keyboards, mellotron
    Mellotron

    The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphony keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world's first sampling keyboard....
  • Rasa Davies – backup vocals
  • Personnel as credited on the album:

External links