Until I watched you strongly endorse this album, on a video of your favourite albums, I somehow didn’t know it existed. I immediately bought it & have listened to it so many times, my 10 yr old son could probably recite it backwards. It’s a total joy, I adore it and see The Kinks in an entirely different light because of it. Have to say, I noticed Pete Townsend had pilfered some of it for Tommy, but that seems in keeping with the way the industry used to roll along. Can’t tell you how thrilled I was to find something previously overlooked, it’s a genuine gift of an album.
The Village Green is one of my favorite Kinks albums, although I have the 2018 remastered CD release with the bonus tracks. I wasn't even aware of the album's existence when it was released in 1968. I'm sure it never got any local air-play in northern Utah. Over the decades I have rediscovered the Kinks and have bought most of their albums. Also among my favorites is "Face to Face", "Muswell Hillbillies", "Something Else", and "Arthur".
I'd forgotten the Kinks, because AM and FM radio had stopped playing them. Then I found Village Green, newly released. Soon after, I acquired Face to Face and Something Else. I've played those three, hundreds of times. More than three decades passed, before I met anyone else who owned Village Green. But I've since learned that every member of The Turtles revered it, back in 1968. And Ray subsequently produced their Turtle Soup album.
Brilliant analysis of Village Green. A timeless classic. Arthur is even better IMO. A total masterpiece that should be in any top 10 albums of all time list.
A most brilliant album. It conjures up memories of my relatives, most passed away what they ate, fish and chips, meat pies HP sauce, curried chutneys, crumpets, scones, mince and mash potatoes etc.... Born Canada my relatives called Britain 'the old country'. I remember some went back but we never heard from them again. I think many of us are hardwired to the past
Great album analysis and breakdown. Love listening to your insights. It's my favorite in their catalog with a close 2nd for Powerman. I'm 55 in the USA and only know 3 other friends who all love many genres of music who cite the Kinks as an excellent band with a brilliant catalog (despite imo the 2-3 mid 70's opera based concept records). Can you PLEASE do an in-depth show on why the Kinks were banned in the US in 1966 or 67, not sure what year. Such unfortunate luck cause their 67-71 output was on par or better than the huge bands that were their peers. I read once that many Kinks songs were written in minor keys which don't sit well with the general publics unappreciative ears. Thoughts?
Sir , one of your better reviews.i have the massive boxset of this album . I am 67 and I find that , in retrospect , this period was awash with musical masterpieces . The Beatles , The Stones , The Who , Led Zeppelin and., of course , The Kinks . I find myself being part of Ray Davies nostalgic frame as I look back on this incredibly fertile period of English pop . I find myself asking where is the equivalence in 2024 ? An era with so much social unrest and society being twisted and turned by the powers that be , where is the music that questions or comments on our changing world ? Has it all been reduced to Taylor Swift concert tickets and their role in a government getting in a twist over their distribution , corporate boxes at one of her shows ? Don't worry about inflation , unemployment , immigration and racism . . . no , tell the provinerce of these Taylor Swift tickets . This is the state of pop music we find today. An excellent review 😂❤ Thank you sir .
I wish I'd gotten hold of that huge set, I just have the two CD version. People say 'Arthur' is their best album, but my preference will always be for this one
Great to see you reviewing a classic album by an under appreciated band. The Kinks were amazing. A real thinking person’s band. If you listened you got it.
I adore the Kinks, Ray and Dave to me are as important as Lennon and Mccartney (just my opinion) As much as i love Village Green Preservation Society (a great album) i always felt alot of their 80s output shared alot of the same themes and vignettes that characterised their best work and is criminally overlooked, i speak to many people who are unaware that the Kinks even released albums in the 80s and 90s, that always makes me mad!!. As for the Village Green Preservation Society, it sold poorly at the time of release but is probably better regarded today than any of its contemporaries. A great band, and a great video thank you
I agree completely with your assessment that Village Green is their best album. Due to the musician union's ban on live performance by the Kinks in the United States, they were largely forgotten by 1968. I felt that I was pretty much alone among my circle of friends in my love of this album. It has remained among my favorite albums of all time since its release. And its follow-up, Arthur, is nearly as good. Another excellent review. Terry
I remember listening to this album as a teenager in Canada and feeling nostalgia for something I never experienced, that’s how great a songwriter Ray Davies is. Great review.
I waver between this one and Muswell Hillbillies as my favorite Kinks albums. Muswell just edges out Village Green but mainly because I listened to the former non-stop when I finally discovered it.
Finally someone who gets this album. I have worn out many vinyl copies over the last half century. The Beatles sold 2 millions of White Albums and Kinks 50 K village greens that year. But which album influenced more British musicians ?
My big three albums (all released within a year of each other are) 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society', Love's 'Forever Changes' and the Zombies 'Odessey and Oracle'. All were recorded roughly at the time that I was being born and all, to me, have a certain yearning and melancholy which I love. I saw Ray Davies in Melbourne, Australia in 1997 and he signed my 'Village Green' album cover. Definitely a prized possession. He's the greatest songwriter for me. Thanks for doing this video.
I always loved this album and still do. Of all the great bonus tracks that were left off, I'm surprised you didn't mention DAYS. Fortunately it was released as a single, even though it sunk like a stone in the U.S. Of course, I bought it. Carry on you old curmudgeon.
I bought the album back in '79. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it a bit more with each listen. I agree that it's their best album from start to finish.
Just a few days ago, I listened to VGPS for the first time in years (and my wife heard it for the first time ever.) It runs out of gas a little bit on side two, but this album has at least ten outstanding songs on it. What strikes me is that people were calling it "anachronistic" in 1968 because it sounded more like 1964 - imagine that happening today, someone saying that an album released in 2024 "sounded like a throwback to 2020." I don't really play the "music was better then / is better now" game, but pop music was certainly changing faster back then.
One of my all time favourite albums. From the first moment I heard it, I was hooked. Beautiful melancholy, humour, nostalgic musings...Ray Davies at the height of his powers.
The standout track is Animal Farm. It is a superb album. I think of Village Green as a British version of The Bands albums in the US around the same time. Very understated, rural, olde timey, and completely out of sync with the current trends and sounds typified by Electric Ladyland, Beggars Banquet, Truth, etc. They were like going to your grandmas house. But with great music playing.
" ... with a work like "Village Green" bouncing along like a horse and buggy along England's hedgerows and thoroughfares, it seemed like anachronism; nevertheless, the critics praised this album - but the public ignored it. Songs about village greens, cricket, trips to the seaside seemed distinctly middle-aged and certainly a bit 'un-hip'." "On my supersonic rocket ship, nobody has to be hip; nobody needs to be "outta-sight". I guess that's why I love The Kinks - and cannot imagine either a "British beat" or a "British Invasion" without them. Well done, Barry. Top marks. Thank you! 👍😃 I bought my copy new - in the early spring - when you'd open your windows for the first time and smell newly cut grass. That's what VGPS will always remind me of. Greetings from Tucson, Arizona.
Loved the Kinks and you do a great job of explaining their concerns and their appeal. There is something so melancholic about it all. Why didn't they poach Syd Barrett and conquer the world?
Ray said years later when he went onstage at Madison Square Garden he carried a copy of the VGPS album under his arm. Probably multiple symbolic meanings here but my best take is that this wonderful gem was very special to him as it has been for so many others.
Excellent commentary. I wonder how You- Tuber Andy Edwards ( the man who has talked about the English aesthetic) might react to this. Thank you Sir, this is much appreciated.
TKATVGPS is the best - front to back, first track to last track LP they put out. the kinks were also in the midst their "classic albums" stretch that i count running from "Face to Face" thru "Muswell Hillbillies". RE Phenomenal Cat - this is one of the most curious tracks (along w/Wicked Annabella, imo) on the record. i think this ‘nursery rhyme’ is an allegory for England/the British Empire. This would not be a big surprise, given Ray’s track record documenting the doings of the British Empire. the cat (the spirit of the empire) sits in his tree (the British Isles) and discovers the secret to life in old Hong Kong and all the other places he flies. the secret to life = building an empire at the time the British Empire was coming into being, the model on how to do that was (and pretty much remains the same today) to accumulate and appropriate as many other cultures as one can and exploit their resources to your benefit, etc., etc., etc. the English did this very well back in the day (as did the Spanish and French and Portuguese, Italians and Dutch and on and on and on). So, the cat keeps eating his way thru the world (adding to the empire) till he gets so fat (the sun never set on the British Empire, the empire covered the globe) he can just sit back in his favorite tree (England) and eat himself (live off the empire's accumulated wealth) thru eternity. fum fum diddle um die… anyone else see this or am i nuts? alternate takes on this? please discuss!
Village Green, Something Else and Face to Face are great albums but my preffered one is Muswell Hillbillies, in fact an outstanding country-rock made in England album. On account of live albums the greatest one is their last, the double To the Bone (acoustic and electric tracks). Greetings frm Brazil!
A wonderful album i always felt Days should have been on it, but for me Arthur is its counter point and more concise. would love to hear a review from you . Arthur for me represents the true disintegration of the British empire Rays sings about on Village green.
The Kinks released 5 classic albums between 1967 and 1971: Something Else, Village Green, Arthur, Lola Versus Powerman, and Muswell Hillbillies. All grossly underrated by a band that should be rated as highly as the Beatles, the Stones and the Who. Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is my personal favourite.
Even for a Yank like me, Village Green is in my top 10. Arthur is #2. Both brilliant and necessary. I just noticed Ray flipping the bird in that one picture. Rascal.
Ray has always been a social coomentator, a lot of his nostaglia is from his parents as he has often said , but growing up in the 40/50s would have given him his own recollections too. 1968 was a different world , a better world .The album is a great piece of work , their best ? As a Kinks fan it is the top 3 for me , rock eulogising ? Some people make a living from it ,fair does, but it is really about the listener and how it moves them. That said i still enjoy your musings Barry.
Edward Lear, George Orwell, Dylan Thomas bump into Raymond Douglas Davies.........The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society! Timeless and true.....
To me, that album has always been about the difference between reality and memory. I have listened to guys talk about their youths, and the girls get prettier and the feats of strength get more unlikely as time go by. This is all to human, and Ray captures it. No need to show pictures that remind me. Don't show me no more please.
Love the Kinks. And I think you're right about this album. Super! Unfortunately, the production, at least in the U.S. pressed LP, is bad. Can anyone tell me if the CD is an improvement? Of course, the track that my cats love is "Phenomenal Cat."
I never knew about that qoute but he's right about Eleanor Rigby! When explaining why I don't like Revolver as much as many Beatles fans do, I like to mention that I think Eleanor Rigby sounds more like an instructional recording for music students than it does a fully realised song. I don't mind Yellow Submarine, though, when you accept it for what it is.
USA fan since 1964. Either you got the Kinks or you didn't. Most did not. A great record and so very different than everything around it. The U.S. was a lonely place for a Kinks fan in those days but it was also cool to be in on something that seemingly, literally no one else was.
This probably is their best album and the Arthur album too.I find their albums as a whole are a bit spotty. In actual fact I live in Hornsey which is just downhill from Muswell Hill the Davies home in Denmark Terrace Fortis Green Rd. P.S in fact the only time I spotted Ray was in Muswell Hill pruning his hair in about 1989 , Ray is very vain !
I’m a life long a Kinks fan but I never understood the love for the Village Green. It would be way down on my list of favorites. Although it has grown on me a bit in recent listenings I can’t seem to connect with it.
It's hard to imagine what this album might have sounded like had the Kinks not been banned from touring America at the time. (Paradoxically, I think its lack of success actually prolonged their career as they would have otherwise been just another burned out, chewed up and disposed of combo in the so-called British invasion.) I'm sure Davies is on record as stating something along the lines that he knew it wouldn't be a hit, as he was forced to withdraw into an isolation where the surroundings were unrelentingly English.
Bare in mind Robert Cristgau had a habit of dissing classic albums and bands like it was a calling card. Very much like Marin Poppof today. If you don't agree with my opinion, you are obviously wrong!
A member called "Wonder Boy" as the Herman's Hermits wanking. Hmmm... I wonder who would have said that? Dave Davies perhaps. Sounds like Dave. Dave was so over the top when he was young. Dave was punk before punk. Don't forget that "You Really Got Me" knocked The Beatles out of #1 too and Lennon was supposedly not happy. He & Paul almost got into it with Ray at a show both bands were on. They were as that writer said "brilliant piss takers" but they were SO much more. So many others came later essentially as copies like Blur, Oasis,The Jam and others. The only band that came close to almost matching them but were there own thing was Madness.
I really like this album but it seemed then, and now, as to be a wistful, soft edged variant of the conservative/reactionary of the middles aged who'd already forgotten the war and looked back careful to avoid the depression and WWI.Nostalgia while trying to move forward.
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The Village Green may not have any super standout tracks on their own, but when put together it becomes something magical.
I agree
Big Sky!!!
Johnny Thunder!!!
Until I watched you strongly endorse this album, on a video of your favourite albums, I somehow didn’t know it existed.
I immediately bought it & have listened to it so many times, my 10 yr old son could probably recite it backwards.
It’s a total joy, I adore it and see The Kinks in an entirely different light because of it.
Have to say, I noticed Pete Townsend had pilfered some of it for Tommy, but that seems in keeping with the way the industry used to roll along.
Can’t tell you how thrilled I was to find something previously overlooked, it’s a genuine gift of an album.
God Save The Kinks!
"people often change, but memories of people can remain" One of my all time favorite albums!
Favorite songwriter.❤
This album and the one that preceded it, Something Else 🎸🇬🇧👍
The Village Green is one of my favorite Kinks albums, although I have the 2018 remastered CD release with the bonus tracks. I wasn't even aware of the album's existence when it was released in 1968. I'm sure it never got any local air-play in northern Utah. Over the decades I have rediscovered the Kinks and have bought most of their albums. Also among my favorites is "Face to Face", "Muswell Hillbillies", "Something Else", and "Arthur".
It's one of those albums that creates it's own world...
I'd forgotten the Kinks, because AM and FM radio had stopped playing them. Then I found Village Green, newly released. Soon after, I acquired Face to Face and Something Else. I've played those three, hundreds of times. More than three decades passed, before I met anyone else who owned Village Green. But I've since learned that every member of The Turtles revered it, back in 1968. And Ray subsequently produced their Turtle Soup album.
Brilliant analysis of Village Green. A timeless classic. Arthur is even better IMO. A total masterpiece that should be in any top 10 albums of all time list.
Wonderful video. One of my favorite albums by any band, it should be required listening to anyone who appreciates great music.
A most brilliant album. It conjures up memories of my relatives, most passed away what they ate, fish and chips, meat pies HP sauce, curried chutneys, crumpets, scones, mince and mash potatoes etc....
Born Canada my relatives called Britain 'the old country'. I remember some went back but we never heard from them again. I think many of us are hardwired to the past
Only The Beatles on a good day could compete with The Kinks. WHAT a band! Extremely underrated.
Great album analysis and breakdown. Love listening to your insights. It's my favorite in their catalog with a close 2nd for Powerman. I'm 55 in the USA and only know 3 other friends who all love many genres of music who cite the Kinks as an excellent band with a brilliant catalog (despite imo the 2-3 mid 70's opera based concept records).
Can you PLEASE do an in-depth show on why the Kinks were banned in the US in 1966 or 67, not sure what year. Such unfortunate luck cause their 67-71 output was on par or better than the huge bands that were their peers. I read once that many Kinks songs were written in minor keys which don't sit well with the general publics unappreciative ears. Thoughts?
their magnum opus, up there with the best of the 60s
Sir , one of your better reviews.i have the massive boxset of this album .
I am 67 and I find that , in retrospect , this period was awash with musical masterpieces . The Beatles , The Stones , The Who , Led Zeppelin and., of course , The Kinks .
I find myself being part of Ray Davies nostalgic frame as I look back on this incredibly fertile period of English pop . I find myself asking where is the equivalence in 2024 ? An era with so much social unrest and society being twisted and turned by the powers that be , where is the music that questions or comments on our changing world ?
Has it all been reduced to Taylor Swift concert tickets and their role in a government getting in a twist over their distribution , corporate boxes at one of her shows ?
Don't worry about inflation , unemployment , immigration and racism . . . no , tell the provinerce of these Taylor Swift tickets .
This is the state of pop music we find today.
An excellent review 😂❤
Thank you sir .
I wish I'd gotten hold of that huge set, I just have the two CD version. People say 'Arthur' is their best album, but my preference will always be for this one
Great to see you reviewing a classic album by an under appreciated band. The Kinks were amazing. A real thinking person’s band. If you listened you got it.
“Preserving the old ways from being abused. Protecting the new ways for me and for you. What more can we do”?
All this Quaint Nostalgic Englishness is being buried by mass immigration
Excellent analysis of a wonderful album.
Personally, I'd go with Arthur but Village Green is quite excellent!! Great video Barry! Cheers from Ontario, Canada!!
I agree!
...and when I feel that the World's too much for me
I think of the Big Sky... and nothing matters much to me!
I adore the Kinks, Ray and Dave to me are as important as Lennon and Mccartney (just my opinion) As much as i love Village Green Preservation Society (a great album) i always felt alot of their 80s output shared alot of the same themes and vignettes that characterised their best work and is criminally overlooked, i speak to many people who are unaware that the Kinks even released albums in the 80s and 90s, that always makes me mad!!. As for the Village Green Preservation Society, it sold poorly at the time of release but is probably better regarded today than any of its contemporaries. A great band, and a great video thank you
I agree completely with your assessment that Village Green is their best album. Due to the musician union's ban on live performance by the Kinks in the United States, they were largely forgotten by 1968. I felt that I was pretty much alone among my circle of friends in my love of this album. It has remained among my favorite albums of all time since its release. And its follow-up, Arthur, is nearly as good. Another excellent review.
Terry
Have actually been having a kinks fest this week! Great band
I remember listening to this album as a teenager in Canada and feeling nostalgia for something I never experienced, that’s how great a songwriter Ray Davies is. Great review.
If only England was the same now..Great review sir...
Village Green and Arthur are peak Kinks.
Totally, the best of the Kinks-first saw them in ‘68, then 6 more times in the 70s. Closely followed be Something Elst
I waver between this one and Muswell Hillbillies as my favorite Kinks albums. Muswell just edges out Village Green but mainly because I listened to the former non-stop when I finally discovered it.
Finally someone who gets this album. I have worn out many vinyl copies over the last half century. The Beatles sold 2 millions of White Albums and Kinks 50 K village greens that year. But which album influenced more British musicians ?
Super album. I play 'Something Else' more often and 'Face to Face' often as well. Honorable mention to the 'Powerman and Money go round' album too.
They had an incredible run. You didn't even mention 'Arthur' which was another corker.
My big three albums (all released within a year of each other are) 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society', Love's 'Forever Changes' and the Zombies 'Odessey and Oracle'. All were recorded roughly at the time that I was being born and all, to me, have a certain yearning and melancholy which I love. I saw Ray Davies in Melbourne, Australia in 1997 and he signed my 'Village Green' album cover. Definitely a prized possession. He's the greatest songwriter for me. Thanks for doing this video.
I always loved this album and still do. Of all the great bonus tracks that were left off, I'm surprised you didn't mention DAYS. Fortunately it was released as a single, even though it sunk like a stone in the U.S. Of course, I bought it. Carry on you old curmudgeon.
Ray Davies was on fire during the 60's Pye Era.
I bought the album back in '79. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it a bit more with each listen. I agree that it's their best album from start to finish.
@@Justin_Kipper Oooo. A fellow BOC fan!
Just a few days ago, I listened to VGPS for the first time in years (and my wife heard it for the first time ever.) It runs out of gas a little bit on side two, but this album has at least ten outstanding songs on it. What strikes me is that people were calling it "anachronistic" in 1968 because it sounded more like 1964 - imagine that happening today, someone saying that an album released in 2024 "sounded like a throwback to 2020." I don't really play the "music was better then / is better now" game, but pop music was certainly changing faster back then.
An eloquent, well -informed and entertaining review of a great album by a great British band. Thank you, Barry.👍☺
First-rate conversation. Oh, how we need such vlogs.
One of my all time favourite albums. From the first moment I heard it, I was hooked. Beautiful melancholy, humour, nostalgic musings...Ray Davies at the height of his powers.
The best music channel on YT. Superb writing and analysis.
Thank you
The standout track is Animal Farm. It is a superb album. I think of Village Green as a British version of The Bands albums in the US around the same time. Very understated, rural, olde timey, and completely out of sync with the current trends and sounds typified by Electric Ladyland, Beggars Banquet, Truth, etc. They were like going to your grandmas house. But with great music playing.
" ... with a work like "Village Green" bouncing along like a horse and buggy along England's hedgerows and thoroughfares, it seemed like anachronism; nevertheless, the critics praised this album - but the public ignored it. Songs about village greens, cricket, trips to the seaside seemed distinctly middle-aged and certainly a bit 'un-hip'."
"On my supersonic rocket ship, nobody has to be hip; nobody needs to be "outta-sight".
I guess that's why I love The Kinks - and cannot imagine either a "British beat" or a "British Invasion" without them.
Well done, Barry. Top marks. Thank you!
👍😃
I bought my copy new - in the early spring - when you'd open your windows for the first time and smell newly cut grass. That's what VGPS will always remind me of.
Greetings from Tucson, Arizona.
Sir, you made me cry.
Excellent! I’d better go and buy the album now.
Loved the Kinks and you do a great job of explaining their concerns and their appeal. There is something so melancholic about it all. Why didn't they poach Syd Barrett and conquer the world?
That was absolutely lovely Barry
Even though it didn't have any of those great singles the Kinks are best known for it remains probably their most satisfying album overall
Brilliant album when looking at the world now maybe we should look a little at the nostalgia of this album and rewind 👍🏼👍🏼
I agree with your ranking...with Something Else a close second.
Ray said years later when he went onstage at Madison Square Garden he carried a copy of the VGPS album under his arm. Probably multiple symbolic meanings here but my best take is that this wonderful gem was very special to him as it has been for so many others.
Heman’s Hermits wanking! A vision that cannot be unseen. Thanks.
That was Pete Quaife's take on Wonderboy.
Excellent commentary. I wonder how You- Tuber Andy Edwards ( the man who has talked about the English aesthetic) might react to this.
Thank you Sir, this is much appreciated.
TKATVGPS is the best - front to back, first track to last track LP they put out. the kinks were also in the midst their "classic albums" stretch that i count running from "Face to Face" thru "Muswell Hillbillies".
RE Phenomenal Cat - this is one of the most curious tracks (along w/Wicked Annabella, imo) on the record. i think this ‘nursery rhyme’ is an allegory for England/the British Empire. This would not be a big surprise, given Ray’s track record documenting the doings of the British Empire.
the cat (the spirit of the empire) sits in his tree (the British Isles) and discovers the secret to life in old Hong Kong and all the other places he flies.
the secret to life = building an empire
at the time the British Empire was coming into being, the model on how to do that was (and pretty much remains the same today) to accumulate and appropriate as many other cultures as one can and exploit their resources to your benefit, etc., etc., etc.
the English did this very well back in the day (as did the Spanish and French and Portuguese, Italians and Dutch and on and on and on).
So, the cat keeps eating his way thru the world (adding to the empire) till he gets so fat (the sun never set on the British Empire, the empire covered the globe) he can just sit back in his favorite tree (England) and eat himself (live off the empire's accumulated wealth) thru eternity.
fum fum diddle um die…
anyone else see this or am i nuts? alternate takes on this? please discuss!
Brilliant analysis; always wondered WTF Ray was alluding to here. Phenomenal songwriter!
A fine appraisal. Journalisic talents even. I've always said that out of all the big hitter bandsThe Kinks were and are the most influential
Face to Face is even better.
Love village green Aurther Preservation so many Albums so many styles also the 80 Days bootleg is a classic
Village Green, Something Else and Face to Face are great albums but my preffered one is Muswell Hillbillies, in fact an outstanding country-rock made in England album. On account of live albums the greatest one is their last, the double To the Bone (acoustic and electric tracks). Greetings frm Brazil!
A wonderful album i always felt Days should have been on it, but for me Arthur is its counter point and more concise. would love to hear a review from you . Arthur for me represents the true disintegration of the British empire Rays sings about on Village green.
The Kinks released 5 classic albums between 1967 and 1971: Something Else, Village Green, Arthur, Lola Versus Powerman, and Muswell Hillbillies. All grossly underrated by a band that should be rated as highly as the Beatles, the Stones and the Who. Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is my personal favourite.
Even for a Yank like me, Village Green is in my top 10. Arthur is #2. Both brilliant and necessary. I just noticed Ray flipping the bird in that one picture. Rascal.
The Kinks or more precisely Ray Davies wrote songs about the England I grew up in and which has gone now forever…what a crying shame…
I checked this album out again after your review. It is certainly better than I remember it although side 1 is far better than side 2 IMO
If it was already vanishing in '68, then where is England now?
Ray has always been a social coomentator, a lot of his nostaglia is from his parents as he has often said , but growing up in the 40/50s would have given him his own recollections too. 1968 was a different world , a better world .The album is a great piece of work , their best ? As a Kinks fan it is the top 3 for me , rock eulogising ? Some people make a living from it ,fair does, but it is really about the listener and how it moves them. That said i still enjoy your musings Barry.
Edward Lear, George Orwell, Dylan Thomas bump into Raymond Douglas Davies.........The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society! Timeless and true.....
Waterloo Sunset is beautiful.
To me, that album has always been about the difference between reality and memory. I have listened to guys talk about their youths, and the girls get prettier and the feats of strength get more unlikely as time go by. This is all to human, and Ray captures it. No need to show pictures that remind me. Don't show me no more please.
Sounds like Herman's Hermits w@nking. Classic description of Wonder Boy 😂
Preservation Act 2 is one of my favorites
I have a near mint US 1968 Reprise pressing
A beautiful anachronism…
It is. I really love Low Budget, tho
The Howling Wolves = Simon Dupree & The Big Sound = Gentle Giant.
I love the song Strangers by the kinks-my fav
Might sound crazy but I LoVe Schoolboys in Disgrace
Love the Kinks. And I think you're right about this album. Super! Unfortunately, the production, at least in the U.S. pressed LP, is bad. Can anyone tell me if the CD is an improvement? Of course, the track that my cats love is "Phenomenal Cat."
Give The People What They Want
I never knew about that qoute but he's right about Eleanor Rigby! When explaining why I don't like Revolver as much as many Beatles fans do, I like to mention that I think Eleanor Rigby sounds more like an instructional recording for music students than it does a fully realised song. I don't mind Yellow Submarine, though, when you accept it for what it is.
Arthur for me
USA fan since 1964. Either you got the Kinks or you didn't. Most did not. A great record and so very different than everything around it. The U.S. was a lonely place for a Kinks fan in those days but it was also cool to be in on something that seemingly, literally no one else was.
Ray Davies went on to buy a hat like Princess Marina, so he don't care.
'Do you remember Walter' always reminds me of Cardiacs .... just me? 😁
This probably is their best album and the Arthur album too.I find their albums as a whole are a bit spotty. In actual fact I live in Hornsey which is just downhill from Muswell Hill the Davies home in Denmark Terrace Fortis Green Rd.
P.S in fact the only time I spotted Ray was in Muswell Hill pruning his hair in about 1989 , Ray is very vain !
A slight edge over "Something Else" but both 5 star albums.
I’m a life long a Kinks fan but I never understood the love for the Village Green. It would be way down on my list of favorites. Although it has grown on me a bit in recent listenings I can’t seem to connect with it.
Arthur is even better, I think
I agree…The album cover is worth the price of admission.
Arthur is great but Village Green will always take 1st place. Its just too legendary now to be anything less.
It's hard to imagine what this album might have sounded like had the Kinks not been banned from touring America at the time. (Paradoxically, I think its lack of success actually prolonged their career as they would have otherwise been just another burned out, chewed up and disposed of combo in the so-called British invasion.) I'm sure Davies is on record as stating something along the lines that he knew it wouldn't be a hit, as he was forced to withdraw into an isolation where the surroundings were unrelentingly English.
I love the kinks...but, in reference to their "best" album...i think Arthur really stands out. Just my take. i love the album.
Free the Nipple!
Kate Rusbys version of village green is worth a listen...
England always seems to be mourning its past.
And Ray Davies leaned heavily into that sentiment on the follow up album Arthur: Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire.
I love Village Green BUT I consider Arthur to be their best album.
Bare in mind Robert Cristgau had a habit of dissing classic albums and bands like it was a calling card. Very much like Marin Poppof today. If you don't agree with my opinion, you are obviously wrong!
A member called "Wonder Boy" as the Herman's Hermits wanking. Hmmm... I wonder who would have said that? Dave Davies perhaps. Sounds like Dave. Dave was so over the top when he was young. Dave was punk before punk.
Don't forget that "You Really Got Me" knocked The Beatles out of #1 too and Lennon was supposedly not happy. He & Paul almost got into it with Ray at a show both bands were on.
They were as that writer said "brilliant piss takers" but they were SO much more. So many others came later essentially as copies like Blur, Oasis,The Jam and others.
The only band that came close to almost matching them but were there own thing was Madness.
It was Pete. Bless him.
I lean more toward "Low Budget"
I really like this album but it seemed then, and now, as to be a wistful, soft edged variant of the conservative/reactionary of the middles aged who'd already forgotten the war and looked back careful to avoid the depression and WWI.Nostalgia while trying to move forward.
For me it's Face To Face but Percy may be a contender.
Peter Hitchens , much prefer his brother R.I.P.
It’s a wonder the album hasn’t been banned by the woke brigade
The Kinks stopped producing any more great songs after their 60's hits
Yeah forget the impending USA Civil War 2.0.. "Best Kinks Album" is definitely the burning issue of our time 🙄