258 - The Kinks - ...Are the Village Green Preservation Society

First, I must confess that I wasn't able to find a proper version of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society to listen to. I found a playlist someone made of the songs on YouTube and listened to that playlist. I'm assuming the songs are the same versions from the album.

The album is a nostalgic exercise by Ray Davies. An idyllic English village and society are the primary subjects of these songs. Along with the lyrics evoking the past, the music also resurrects old "pop" musical conventions from earlier in the century. Thanks to my listening to the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums, I'm definitely being exposed to an interesting moment in the late 60's where psychedelia turned back the clock. The Americana influence of Brian Wilson's (at the time) unfinished album Smile was just one album of several that shook the quirkiness of the late 60's for the idealized musical past.

I love how the variety of music works together and provides a broad picture of "British music" to further the concept of Village Green Preservation Society. "Do You Remember Walter?" is a fun song that stretches out with psychedelic flourishes. Much of the vocals in "Big Sky" are spoken more than sung. There is quite a bit of use of Mellotron to simulate string and woodwind orchestration on various songs. There is a carnival/festival feel to some of the songs thanks to some of the throw-back instrumentation and organs.

The influence of Ray Davies/The Kinks on XTC has never been so obvious as when I listened to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. I'm not certain why it is, but I definitely preferred the first half of the album compared to "side 2."

Songs I knew I liked: "Picture Book"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Do You Remember Walter?," "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains," "Big Sky," "Animal Farm," (I actually only knew this song via the cover that the Judybats did on Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow), and "Wicked Annabella"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Village Green" comes close, but there is something cute about the lyrics that kept me from skipping the song after the first couple of listens.