The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

Untitled

The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is a pop-rock album released by the English music group The Kinks on November 22, 1968. Songwriter and band leader Ray Davies crafted the concept album as a gentle homage to English hamlet life, and by extension, to the innocence and idealization of past times and people. 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. Davies tinkered with the album 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's Under Milk Wood was an indirect inspiration for the concept). This song neatly sums up the album's broad theme: "I miss the village green, 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 Anabella"), 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".

Session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins 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, played by both Hopkins and Ray Davies.

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", 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"). The album was also stylistically out of step with the heavy social and psychedelic music trends of the day, and its failure mirrored 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 concept proved to be just out of step; nostalgia was very unfashionable in the turmoil of 1968, but it soon gained a much greater mainstream appeal. Because its theme is timeless and based on common-day life experiences, the album and its gentle songs have actually grown more relevant and poigniant over time. Template:RS500.

From its inception, Davies seems to have considered the album for stage presentation, and its general theme served to inspire the Kink's 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

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
8. "Animal Farm" – 2:57
9. "Village Green" – 2:08
10. "Starstruck" – 2:18
11. "Phenomenal Cat" – 2:34
12. "All of My Friends Were There" – 2:23
13. "Wicked Annabella" – 2:40
14. "Monica" – 2:13
15. "People Take Pictures of Each Other" – 2:10

Early track listing

Very early pressings of the album (discussed below) had a significantly different tracklisting:

1. "The Village Green Preservation Society"
2. "Do You Remember Walter?"
3. "Picture Book"
4. "Johnny Thunder"
5. "Phenomenal Cat"
6. "Days"
7. "Village Green"
8. "Mr. Songbird"
9. "Wicked Annabella"
10. "Starstruck"
11. "Monica"
12. "People Take Pictures of Each Other"

Aside 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"; the addition of "Mr. Songbird" and "Days", the latter a hit single in the UK released in June of 1968; and slightly different versions of "Do You Remember Walter?" and "People Take Pictures of Each Other".

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. The twelve-track version of the album was released in September 1968 in certain European markets; these are now valuable collector's items. Production of this version was quickly halted at Ray Davies's behest, and the final revamped fifteen-track version was released in the UK in November 1968.

• US record label Reprise had intended to release many of album's tracks on a separate Kinks album titled "Four More Respected Gentlemen", sometime in mid-1968, to fulfill 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 final "Village Green" album. Reprise promoted the album's US release with an aggressive "God Save the Kinks" theme.

• Many unreleased songs from the Kinks' prolific 1967-1968 period that at one time may have been earmarked for the album formed a major component of the US compilation The Great Lost Kinks Album, released by Reprise in 1973.

• "Starstruck" was released as a single in the US and Europe, but did not chart. A promotional film shot for this release 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, North London.

• Out of print for years, 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", and the other original Kinks have expressed great affection for the album and its songs.

Personnel

• The Kinks - Arranger
• Dave Davies - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
• Ray Davies - Guitar, Composer, Keyboards, Harmonica, Vocals, Producer
• Mick Avory - Drums
• Pete Quaife - Bass, Backup Vocals
• Nicky Hopkins - Keyboards
• Rasa Davies - Backup Vocals

• Personnel as credited in the album:
  • I ARE MICHAEL CHARLES AVORY-DRUMMER
  • I BE PETER ALEXANDER GREENLAW QUAIFE-BASS PLAYER
  • I IS DAVID RUSSELL GORDON DAVIES-GUITARIST AND SINGER
  • I AM RAYMOND DOUGLAS DAVIES-GUITARIST, KEYBOARD PLAYER AND SINGER
  • THEY ARE BRIAN HUMPHRIES, ALAN MACKENZIE WHO CONTRIBUTED
  • YOU ARE OUR FRIENDS FOR PLAYING THE RECORD.