Album Summary
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Kinks. It was released on 22 November 1968 in the United Kingdom by Pye Records and in February 1969 in the United States by Reprise Records. A commercial failure on release, it was the band's first studio album which failed to chart in either country, but was lauded by contemporary critics for its songwriting. It was embraced by America's new underground rock press, completing the Kinks' transformation from mid-1960s pop hitmakers to critically favoured cult band. Bandleader Ray Davies loosely conceptualised the album as a collection of character studies, an idea he based on Dylan Thomas's 1954 radio drama Under Milk Wood. It thematically reflects Davies' concerns about the increasing modernisation and encroaching influence of America and Europe on English society, centring around notions of nostalgia, memory and preservation. Other than "Village Green", which was recorded in November 1966 and then re-recorded in February 1967, sessions began in March 1968 at Pye Studios in London. The sessions produced numerous recordings, including the non-album singles "Wonderboy" and "Days", while others went unreleased for years. Incorporating a range of stylistic influences, including music hall, folk pop and baroque pop, the album was the first which Davies produced entirely on his own and was the last to feature the original Kinks line-up, as bassist Pete Quaife departed the band in March 1969. It also marked the final collaboration between the Kinks and session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, whose playing features heavily on piano, harpsichord and Mellotron. The album's planned September 1968 release was delayed by two months after Davies' last-minute decision to rearrange and augment the tracklist. Village Green is regarded by commentators as an early concept album. Despite its initial commercial failure, it has influenced numerous musical acts, including Pete Townshend of the Who, Paul Weller, the Jam, Electric Light Orchestra, Blur, Oasis, Yo La Tengo, Green Day and Ultimate Painting. The album experienced a critical and commercial resurgence in the 1990s, driven in part by its major impact on indie rock acts, and it has been reissued several times, including an expanded edition in 2018. In the UK it was certified silver for reaching 60,000 sales in 2008 and gold for reaching 100,000 in 2018. It has been included in several critics' and listeners' polls for the best albums of all time, including those published by Rolling Stone magazine and in the book All Time Top 1000 Albums.
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Reviews
GOOOAAT
Rather kinky
My five year old has a playlist of non- children’s songs he heard and said he liked. It’s a crazy list that ranges from booker t and the mgs to edvard grieg to fugazi to the spice girls. He’s listed to a lot of my albums from this list with me in the car and liked a few (and voiced his dislike of a few). He listed to this album with me and identified four songs that should go on his playlist. He also said “this music makes me dance”. I would probably give this a 3 or 4. But today we’re rating together, so it’s a 5.
This British Pop Rock album feels like sitting in the audience of a quaint British comedy show where the actors keep making cheerful little jokes, pulling exaggerated faces and telling stories about village life, while everyone around me seems to understand why it's funny except me. The acoustic guitars, piano, harpsichord, Mellotron and light rhythmic backing give the songs a deliberately old-fashioned, music-hall character, while Ray Davies delivers his stories with a playful, conversational style. The lyrics constantly move between nostalgic memories, eccentric characters, English traditions and little absurdities, but instead of laughing along, I find myself sitting there waiting for the punchline that never quite arrives for me. Even when the melodies are catchy and the arrangements become more elaborate, the same cheerful theatricality keeps returning, making me feel more like an outsider watching the performance than someone actually sharing in the joke. The album's nostalgia and distinctly English sense of humour are central to its identity, but that very specificity leaves me standing outside the little world it's trying to create.
such a great album. bouncing around from genre to genre. whimsical. rockin'. catchy af. we are all the village green preservation society.
FINALLY GOOD SONG ABOUT MONICA
Stunningly good album.
Fresco y clasico
Kelpo rokkia 60 luvulta, mitäpä muuta tähän nyt sanois
It's not bad. I know it wasn't a popular album when it came out but then gained prestige over time. I quite like it, but it doesn't do much more for me than that.
i like the kinks but what was that
It's the Kinks, so it can't get below 3 stars. That's the rules. This was an easy listen. It sounds a bit dated because it's very much of its time. Enjoyable, if not earth-shattering. 3.5 rounded up.
Mehhhhhhhh I like the kinks but this was boring
Best: The Village Green Preservation Society Green: The Village Green Preservation Society, Last of the Steam-Powered Trains, Animal Farm, Village Green, Starstruck, People Take Pictures of Each Other Yellow: Do You Remember Walter?, Johnny Thunder, Phenomenal Cat, All of My Friends Were There, Monica Red: Picture Book, Sitting by the Riverside, Wicked Annabella
This concept album is very jolly and whimsical and filled with charming melodies and storybook vignettes. I like it. Faves: The Village Green Preservation Society, Do You Remember Walter?, Picture Book, Johnny Thunder, Village Green
Notale Textzeile: Baby, you don't know what you're saying Because you're a victim of bright city lights And your mind is not right You think the world's at your feet In einer deutlich klügeren Timeline sind die Kinks die unangefochtene Nr. 1 ihrer Zeit (zumindest in den 60ern) - aber dann hätten sie vermutlich viele ihrer Musik und Texte so nicht schreiben können. Daher bin ich ganz zufrieden mit dieser Timeline, in der ich immer wieder neue Kinks Songs entdecken darf, sei es auf Soundtracks oder in dieser Liste. In der anderen Timeline hätte ich sicher alles viel früher und strukturierter durchgehört. Fange ich jetzt aber auch nicht mit an, weil mich die Überraschung so erfreut. Musikalisch abwechslungsreich in einem klar umrissenen Framework, gesanglich so angenehm, mit Gefühl und Ironie, Textlich nicht alles gleich genial, Konzeptalbum und so, aber nichts stinkt richtig ab. 4,5
Also für mich sind die Kinks primär diese laute Singles Band aus 64-66, und die Lieder auf der zweiten Hälfte des Best of Albums waren auch immer nur mittelbeliebt wenn ich es als Teenager gehört habe. Und doch, dieses Konzeptalbum zu good old strange England funktioniert, besser als der Music Hall Stint auf Face to Face und besser als die Musicals der 70er und 80er. Das hier hat Witz und Biss und Kohärenz und spielt irgendwie nicht mit den anderen beliebten Kindern mit. I'm the last of the good old renegades All my friends are all middle-class and grey But I live in a museum, so I'm okay
Good album. Very 60s psychodelic. I should’ve paid closer attention to the lyrics since it apparently is a concept album (with a very lengthy wiki page btw). I might need to revisit in the future.
First song is the best and it fades after that. Overall, it’s an ok album. Would I listen to it again? Probably, but as background music.
Very nostalgic and old-fashined but in a charming and delightful way. Very enjoyable to listen to.
Listening to The Kinks makes me think of this dude on Reddit who sincerely tried to argue that they were a Better band than The Beatles... What was he smoking?
I love The Kinks but, title track aside, this was disappointing … proving the theory that all concept albums are terrible.
As poppy as I've heard the band. This is as close as they get to The Beatles in style. I prefer the earlier hard rock or the proggy style of the later stuff. But no question the first 5/6 tracks are good pop.
Judged on its own merits, this album is a really good album, solid from beginning to end. Compared to their previous garage rock albums, this one is far more refined, polished, and has a mature, sophisticated approach. These qualities are also why it was a commercial failure upon its initial release. In the late ’60s, rock music was undergoing intense experimentation with psychedelic sounds, and counterculture was also leaning towards more aggressive and heavy music, leading to the rise of bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. The characteristics of this album were completely opposite, lacking the appeal of the experimental and heavy music that was becoming popular at the time.
This all sounds ok but it's so minstrely (to coin a phrase). It is a commitment to the bit though. Somehow it feels like We're Only In It For The Money is satirizing this completely but it came out after this album.
the kinks are one of those 60s psych bands that i always sleep on. love them, they so unique and fun, i really gotta show them more respect
This felt like a parody of what British musicians sound like. If an American artist made it, I would genuinely call it hate speech.
This is an undeniably classic record. It has a strong theme, bordering on concept, the songs are great and it has a thoroughly enjoyable sound. It wasn't received all that well at the time commercially speaking, failing to chart on either side of the Atlantic. Being released within a week and a half of both The Beatles White Album (1968) and The Rolling Stones Beggar’s Banquet (1968) surely didn't help and the record company did a piss-poor job of promoting it in the US. It was (mostly) critically acclaimed in the UK and moreso in the U.S., though The Village Voice really hated it. Retrospective reviews have been even kinder, often citing it as The Kinks' best work and Ray Davies creative peak. It is an enduring record who's theme resonates across the decades. If anything, the idea of nostalgic idealism while disparaging modernization and commercialism against the tide of changing times has only grown more poignant. This makes the record as relevant now as it was when it was released. A truly great record.
Really solid, damn you YouTube music
incredibly kinky thats for sure
John Prosser took the photo but no one is credited for the design. Another unfamiliar late 60s album and competitor to Beatles, with similar storytelling type tunes, which can fill one with dread but after a few spins its quality shines through.
A long-time favourite of mine. Joyfully pastoral, vibrant and cohesive. I sometimes like to troll people by saying it's superior to Sgt. Pepper's... Also can't believe Days didn't make the original UK/US version. Even the haphazard release dosen't diminish the joy.
I get this was important…it just doesn’t date well. I would love to give it more stars but I am never going to listen to this again. Sorry Ray.
I love this album. Creative and interesting, sonically diverse, and criminally underrated
Not a bad album, nothing standing out good or bad, can listen through with relative ease.
Good. Didn’t fully appreciate the Kinks. The Village Green Preservation Society is stuck in my head.
Tämähän on sitä Beatlesia intian reissujen jälkeen. Tykkään tällaisesta ei voi mitään. Siinä haisee historia.
It's ok. Pleasant to listen to but nothing really stuck for me.
A bit boring… idk perhaps I’m just not that used to this kind
Straight heat, and kicking off with a song decrying NIMBYs in the year 1968 of all years is unfathomably based.
Really interesting
Listened to the first bit and thought meh, then looked down and it's 2hr 45 min long? Oh hell nah
OOOH, it's the beatles but better.
Brilliant !
Better than the Beatles, but still didn't really truly enjoy a lot of this. It was fine.
Decent, probably just some background music.
Hmm. It’s the pop-py Kinks at the start of it all. Flashes of what’s to come, but nothing overly exciting.
in my head
Wistful, wonderful, and this set the tone for many songs looking back on a lost or imagined golden age, especially for the Britpop bands
fun short and pleasant 73/100
The Kinks have been around in one form or another since the early 1960s. I never paid much attention to them. I started off thinking that I might pass on this one. But, its a decent record. Dated, but decent. I hope they paid Howlin' Wolf royalties for the "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains." Its a clone of Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning". I wouldn't have included this in a collection of 1001 must hear albums.
An enjoyable listen with some solid tunes, but couldn’t shake the “we have Sgt. Peppers at home” vibes. Starts really strong, but started to lose me by the end.
Really liked this one a lot, and I'm really starting to like The Kinks more and more. This inspired me to go check out their other album Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround Pt. 1 and I really dug that one too. I'd probably give this one 4.5 stars, or I could see it growing into a 5 star.
I like the Kinks, so obvious bias there. That said I started with the more pop/rock kinks. Never listened to this entire album, but have enjoyed other English pastoral themed albums so this hits the spot. Also like that it’s very different from the bands other output. Versatility is good. Puts me in mind of a village fete out here in the Shires. Got to be. 5/5 for me.
Exactly what I expected for a Kink's album - goofy British tunes. Nothing stands out for me, and gets repetitive. Rating: 4/10 Favorite Song: Picture Book
I guess it was decent but bc nothing really stood out im only giving it a 2. All kinda sounded the same basic British pop rock
It was fine. Very whimsical. Felt like a copycat Bdatpes but I don’t know if I would say it was a better version of the Beatles. very similar, sounding songs throughout the whole album.
Nothing bad. Kinda fun. Like the bdatpes
A disappointing showing from a favorite band. Good guitar
Beatles like
pretty cool album
Très Beatles-esque
Pas transcendant
All My Friends Were There is the most annoying song I have heard in my life. They're not very 'hard', some of these B tier 60s bands. Too much harpsichord and dorky songs about George Orwell books.
The Kinks foi uma boa banda que corria por fora entre Os Beatles e os Rolling Stones. Este álbum especificamente tem boas músicas, mas eu prefiro o anterior de estreia.
England, rendered perfectly by the most English band of the British Invasion.
I went my whole life thinking the kinks were punk for some reason. Never mind that I've definitely heard their music before. I just never went out of my way to listen to them, so I never connected the band name to the music. I do like their music style and the album generally, it's pretty good overall.
pietra miliare, un po' lungo
Like the other Kinks album this was also okay. I don't know why they have so many though! Greedy!
beatles vibes its a good song
Not all of it was my vibe, but I liked a few songs
It's ok, just barely reaching 4 stars, rather than 3. There are too many Kinks albums on this list though.
Nice für einen Listener für zwischendurch. Hat ein wenig Beatles Vibes
Title track is brilliant. The rest is fine, but just background really.
It's fun, reminds me of the Beatles. Sitting by the Riverside made me scared.
J'ai toujours eu un petit faible pour les Kinks.
Je m'attendais à des Beatles copycats et ce que j'ai trouvé est largement mieux. Des belles tounes bien construites avec plein de styles différents dont une qui m'a fait penser à l'époque highway 61 de Dylan. Est-ce que ce sera suffisant pour y retourner?
big shrug
A perfectly good ok album that's nice but forgettable for the most part. Nice driving music
Some cool stuff in here, but also a whole lot of The Kinks sounding like every other British rock band from the era. The Last of the Steam-Powered Trains was a cool track and so was Animal Farm, but ultimately the album as a whole didn't leave a lasting impression on me.
Enjoyable enough but fairly forgettable. I overall have liked their albums on this list but this one just didn't feel like much. My kid liked it though so that's worth noting
This is just run of the mill psychedelia. Could have been made by anyone. The songs are cool but nothing is very memorable about them and I would go so far as to say they are quite predictable. I added an extra point bc it was an easy listen and I didn't hate anything.
This is my third The Kinks album and my third 3 for them, at this point I can confidently say I don't really get the Kinks.
The Kinks can do no wrong in my eyes.
god i hate 60's british music
Very cozy, very psychedelic. Nostalgic but with more range than I would have expected.
The Kinks are yet another example where this list would benefit from curation. Great album but I don't think we need 4 kinks albums on here.
Pretty decent psychedelic rock. 2.5/5 -> 3/5
The Kinks are a class act man. I've said it before, but their ability to craft these little self-contained vignettes in their songs is so impressive. And there's so many of them! The songs are really engaging and (crucially, for me) they manage to avoid coming across as twee, which could have been so easy. Musically, this is just wonderful. Really, really great melodies. When you look at the songs from a broader distance you may classify them as just fun pop songs, but there's loads of experimentation in here. There's plenty of different approaches, with a variety of different instruments, changes in tempo and so on. They always find a way to elevate each individual song. I'll say it again! The Kinks are a class act, man. 4.5 rounded up.
Great band. I can hear how they are influential to rock
I kinda like it but also I like Ringos songs on Beatles albums.
Some of the wittier lyrics I’ve encountered so far. “God save Fu Manchu, Moriarty, and Dracula” - “The Village Green Preservation Society” list a bunch of stuff to save is the gist. “Phenomenal Cat” has an “island of idiot boys.” Refreshing change of pace for song topics. Love and hate songs can get old. “Do you Remember Walter,” “Village Green,” “Animal Farm,” the bouncy “People Take Pictures of Each Other,” and “Picture Book” are wistful musical strolls down memory lane. “Animal Farm” was the stand out for me in that group. “Wicked Arabella” has a good drum beat—it switches up the sound. Perfect for Halloween. Apple Music didn’t even attempt providing lyrics for “All of My Friends Were There.” I understood lyrics anyway and decided it’s perfect for a combo Polka and slow twirly dance. “Big Sky” lyrics were too inane for me. “Johnny Thunder” is similar but it doesn’t bother me. Possibly the music on that won me over. The problem of coherent singers but not coherent lyrics. “Sitting by the Riverside” has a croony carnival sound that appealed to me. “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains” has a different sound—a bit bluesy/ countryish to my ears. “Monica” has a style that one could probably salsa to. “Starstuck” is fun, but somehow it doesn’t seem like an album end song. But I enjoy that one. The Kinks don’t mess around. No 10 minute plus songs on this album. The album has a very 60s sound but points for original song topics, sound variety, and cohesiveness. It won me over.
Better than I thought! Had a few moments where I was bopping along, but overall was pretty basic. 3.5/5 ⭐️ 276/1081
Quintessential essence of 60s. There is probably a straight line from this to Blur singing "Common People". It's either a satire of "Things aren't what they were before the war" Britain, or it actually IS saying "Things aren't what they were before the War". Either way it's full of Music Hall and Mrs Mills and Knees Up Mother Brown and good old fashioned times. It's probably important and influential, but not being British, it's a bit hard to care.
Muy bueno. Inesperado
The Kinks are fine I'm not a super fan by any means. I could put on this album end-to-end and not be too annoyed but I'm not going out of my way to try and get other people to hear it.
300.
I don't hate this, I just wish it wasn't 28 songs long. And maybe that's on me for picking the version of the album that was initially released and not going for the Remastered which is only 15 songs long. But fuck it I'm a purist and I wanna listen the way it was originally intended. Anyway this is a solid brit rock album, just not anything I'll listen to intentionally I think. I liked 'Do You Remember Walter'!! *edit okay it's not actually 28 songs oops sorry guys I can see this being played in an early 2000s British indie film.
It’s was ok. I feel like I’ve heard Animal Farm by them at some point, but this did not really resonate with me. There were a few songs that I skipped halfway through while driving bc I couldn’t continue. Just not for me!!!
Number: 271 Familiarity: Moderate Rating: 4 Before: ======= There are a few songs on here I am familiar with and that I like: The Village Green Preservation Society, Picture Book, & Animal Farm. After : ======= I discovered a couple of songs I like that I don't recall hearing before. Favorite new discovery: Monica.