‘The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society’ by The Kinks: Nostalgia Done Right

The Kinks are one of my more recent obsessions and, if this album is anything to go by, hopefully it can convince you to let it be yours too. Most people have heard the hits by The Kinks, that loony bunch of 60s Mods that put out singles like “You Really Got Me,” “All Day And All Of The Night,” “Sunny Afternoon,” “Waterloo Sunset,” or “Lola.” However, their 1968 baroque-pop semi-concept album, semi-rock opera, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society has recently become recognised - despite both its lengthy name and initial status as a giant sales flop - as one of the best albums of the 1960s and possibly of all time. Ray and Dave Davies’ ability to sing of a piece of British paradise that they yearn to return to and their condemnation of aspects of progress like tower blocks and endless work ring true today more than they ever could have in 1968, with the UK trying to rebuild its natural areas after the centuries of environment destruction that the countryside has suffered.

The album opens with the album’s National Anthem,’ as put by Ray Davies: the title track “The Village Green Preservation Society.” The track sees The Kinks take on the role of the Village Green Preservation Society itself, outlining its purpose of ‘preserving the old ways from being abused’ and ‘protecting the new ways for me and for you.’ The music itself is delightfully charming, and its use in the film Hot Fuzz is simply perfect, as it almost takes you immediately to a middle-England village in springtime. Additionally, Dave Davies’ backing harmonies and guitar riffs take the song to a new level, adding depth and meaning to Ray’s lyrics. This takes us immediately in the driving “Do You Remember Walter?” - a song of Ray reminiscing about his old friend who he lost touch with, lamenting that he has probably become boring and fat, and will not be interested in the excitement of their youth. The song bounces along with a jaunty piano track alongside excellent drum fills from Mick Avory and is another baroque classic. 

Next up is “Picture Book,” another great tune about nostalgia, and how important scrapbooks can be for preserving memories that are special to people. An aspect of the song which is worth pointing out is Pete Quafe’s driving bass, which is very forward in the mix, but this actually is a great decision as it helps move an otherwise rather sparse arrangement along until the wonderful joyous chorus arrives.

We are then taken into the brilliant “Johnny Thunder,” which focuses on another character from Ray and Dave’s youth in Muswell Hill: a biker who ‘speaks for no-one’ and takes his own path in life. The song itself, like “Do You Remember Walter,” moves along on at a great pace, with the chorus descending into a perfect harmony from Ray and Dave accompanied by a horn section which makes the chorus particularly upbeat, and whenever I feel down about anything, this tune is sure to pick me up and motivate me to carry on.

The album then changes style again with the bluesy “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains,” a harmonica-filled lament to the retirement of steam trains in Britain, where Ray compares himself to these locomotives as both the last of their kind and not knowing where their future would lead them. This is important to note because at the time of their retirement, steam-power was not sorely missed, but with time nostalgia and the continuing interest in old technology has seen steam-powered trains come back onto British railways, if only for historic purposes.

Village Green then moves into one of it’s more ambitious songs, “Big Sky,” a comical track where Ray imitates God, looking down on all the people on Earth, stating that in reality, “Big Sky” is probably too powerful if he is real to care about our individual existences. Dave’s 12 string guitar pushes the song along with ease and makes you almost forget how existential the lyrics are and enjoy how catchy and charming it is. 

Side One closes with the psychedelic-influenced “Sitting by the Riverside,” another wonderful tune with a very strange but memorable chorus and a tense piano riffThe song features another pastoral theme: the idea of sitting by the riverside on a sunny day with the person you love. This is one my personal favourites on the album and is a must-listen song for relaxing without any worries in my mind.

“Animal Farm” opens Side Two and is a very strong start for the latter half of the album. Named after the George Orwell book, Ray begins here one of the recurring themes of the album, the need to move away from the city and return to a ‘simpler’ life. Ray wishes that he could live on a farm among animals and nature, away from the rest of the world which is ‘big and wild and half insane.’ This theme is continued into “Village Green,” where Ray again recounts tales of the town of his youth and how he misses the Village Green ‘and all the simple people.’ He bemoans how his rustic childhood hometown has now become a tourist trap for Americans who ‘snap their photographs’ and say ‘gawd darn it, isn’t it a pretty scene?’ The song utilises 12 string guitars as well as harpsichord, adding to the nostalgic feel of the song beautifully.

After “Village Green” is the album’s only single, “Starstruck,” which is both an odd choice for a single and an odd addition to the album, as it does not reflect any of the previous themes the record has been portraying. Instead, “Starstruck” is about a woman who meets Ray being starstruck at seeing a rockstar like him, and portrays his confusion at this. The following track - “Phenomenal Cat” - forces the album to take a turn for the worse. Whilst the track has fun imagery of a cat like the one in Alice in Wonderland and makes good use of woodwind and mellotron for comic effect, is in fact quite sluggish and is the biggest disappointment on the album, although this may just be due to the otherwise flawless quality of the tracklist.

Another vaudeville-esque track follows “Phenomenal Cat” - the ridiculously charming “All Of My Friends Were There.” If this song was performed by any other band than The Kinks, it would be an awful plodding comedy tune and would be consigned to the dustbin of songwriting history as a throwaway track. However, Ray’s comical inflection in his voice and near fake Cockney accent in the verses oozes charm and means that, when the unexpectedly powerful chorus hits, it is almost emotional, and the songs message of friendship and forgiveness is so achingly sweet that you can’t help but fall in love with the song. Dave takes over on lead vocals for the next song, “Wicked Annabella,” a brooding mysterious song about a woman from local folklore, which despite being the heaviest song on the album and therefore fun to listen to, it is nowhere near as impactful as the other songs and is one of the weaker songs alongside “Phenomenal Cat.”

“Monica” sees Ray return to lead singing as he speaks for his love of yet another local character. Monica is the town’s prostitute who ‘stands at midnight’ under ‘a lamplight,’ and is the focus of the village mens’ affection but she cares for none of them. The song is also fascinating for the Latin rhythm due to Mick Avory’s drumming which gives the song a very laid-back feel until the oddly structured chorus which is catchy and memorable and has been stuck in my head whilst listening to the album for this review. Finally, Village Green closes with the acoustic “People Take Pictures Of Each Other.” The song is a very fitting upbeat closer to the album, revisiting the power of photographs for memory first shown in “Picture Book” and is poignant given the development of camera phones and our constant use of photography to capture moments or memories for posterity.

In addition to the 15 tracks on this incredible gem of an album, there are over a dozen songs recorded during this period which either were discarded or chosen to be singles and have later appeared on Special Editions of the album, and two of these tracks I would also like to pick out are “Mr Songbird” and “Days.”

“Mr Songbird” was released on the original rare 12-track edition of the album but was later deleted for the final ‘true’ version, although I cannot see why. The song itself bounces along on Ray’s upbeat plea to a songbird to give him a song, with the songbird complying in the form of a flute mimicking its call and is overall a great song for a spring day. “Days” meanwhile was a single released in 1968, reaching No. 12 on the singles chart, and has been retrospectively recognised - like its parent album - as one of Ray Davies’ best works. “Days” is a masterpiece about loss, written about his older sister, but also in his optimism that he knows that ‘you’re with me every single day believe me,’ thanking her for the days he had with her which brought him such happiness, and when Dave joins Ray on the higher harmony on the second verse, it never fails to make me cry at how emotionally charged it feels.

In summary, whilst The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society was a failure on launch, it is a hidden classic among a decade of masterpieces which is only now getting the recognition it deserves. From beginning to end, The Kinks take you on a whimsical, emotional journey through nostalgia, heartbreak, loss, embarrassment, love, and memory, and in my opinion no other album deals with the subject of memory than this does, and if you haven’t listened to it before, I can’t recommend it enough.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Individual Track Ratings:

The Village Green Preservation Society – 10/10

Do You Remember Walter? – 10/10

Picture Book – 10/10

Johnny Thunder – 10/10

Last of the Steam-Powered Trains – 7/10

Big Sky – 9.5/10

Sitting by the Riverside – 10/10

Animal Farm – 10/10

Village Green – 10/10

Starstruck – 8.5/10

Phenomenal Cat – 4/10

All of My Friends Were There – 8.5/10

Wicked Annabella – 6.5/10

Monica – 9.5/10

People Take Pictures of Each Other – 8.5/10

Mr Songbird – 10/10

Days – 10/10

Image courtesy of The Kinks YouTube Page.