Reviews (page 9 of 13)
Fun kitschy British music for Queen and country. Paints an idyllic picture of life in the countryside. Sounds lovely
Kinks gonna kink.
First listen Saved 5/15 Top track: Picture Book
We are the draft beer preservation society, and even after consuming mass quantities this album is not that good. Granted, there is a lot of variety and different song styles, most are light hearted. The songs are better stand alones than as an album. People Take Pictures Of Each Other was ahead of its time (and a bit silly) like much of Davies work. The Kinks will make The 1001 list a couple more times, this one comes in at (2.4*s)
The allure of this album is that you can tell they're just vibing and having fun, but that's also it's downfall. Why is it so damn goofy? Although I do like The Kinks, it's hard to take this one seriously as a whole. There's some good tracks buried among all 65 of 'em but the album is really incohesive. There's a lot of different styles being explored but it doesn't serve the project well. "Phenomenal Cat" made me laugh but I really couldn't stand the cheese-ball "All My Friends Were There" with it's circus tones. Then "Wicked Annabella" brings you back in right before it completely loses you again talking about Monica's nose. This album is the happy, playful version of The Beatles with more clapping and "la, la, la." I do like the title track (it hits), but the rest doesn't work on my brain.
Not really getting why such lofty praise for this one. Seems a bit juvenile and unpolished. The Kinks are a simple band I know but this felt oversimplified...like they were just laying down whatever nostalgic thing came to mind about their town. The band was influential for sure so I'm prepared for other albums to make the list. This one did not do well upon release so maybe need to listen to it more...2.0.
Not sure why The Kinks don't get more attention. They have a handful of recognizable hits and then a swath of fun original deeper cuts. The Village Green Preservation Society is another batch of jaunty tunes from The Kinks that deserve a listen. I'm not sure the overall album is anything great, but each of the songs is pretty quick and digestible. The Kinks should be recognized for managing to succeed at something different. There is something about their music that has an edge of humor and feels like they aren't taking anything seriously while still managing to assemble competent albums with occasional hits that stand out. I don't go out of my way to listen to The Kinks, but whenever they come up in my random shuffle I'm always pleased. They bring something else to the table and have some deep cut sleepers that need some more exposure. 2.28 stars
why is it now giving me all the good classic rock albums lol. after 200 days it has given me a streak of not mid
Pretty lovely as usual with the Kinks. No massive standouts (Picture book and Monica I was already fond of) but a pleasant listen! 4
The best album by a brilliant band.
Tbh, I feel like they did the whole Beatles-esque folky rock minstrel show better than the Beatles. A little derivative but really pleasant.
Can’t say I’m super familiar with the Kinks, but I enjoy this type of 60’s rock/pop. Some of the songs are more memorable than others. I like the minor elements of some of the songs though like the psychedelic elements in Phenomenal Cat and the subtle dark parts of Sitting by the Riverside. Overall, this was pretty good. Favorite Song: Picture Book Other Hits: Do You Remember Walter?, Starstruck, Phenomenal Cat, People Take Pictures of Each Other
Maybe 5
Not sure. Hints of good things to come.
Not much stood out to me on this one, found it pretty difficult to discern as a concept album. Listened to: picking up Caribbean food.
Whoever is ‘the poor man’s Beatles’, the Kinks are the poor man’s version of that. Insipid rubbish, don’t know how they’re possibly popular. Even their best song (don’t need to name it) is sort of shit? Imagine making this at the same time that the Beatles and Beach Boys were releasing those records…. Embarrassing.
It's fine, typical 60's 70's pop. Added 5 tracks to our 1001 Experience playlist, could've been less and I never would've missed them
Still not totally into The Kinks but I am understanding why people really like them. There is pop craftsmanship and wry humour to please the most hardened of souls. People Take Pictures of Each Other has aged very well in the age of Instagram which would be 30 years in the future.
I didn't like this but there's nothing that bad about it
this is boring, maybe it used to make ladies quiver in the 60s but NOT ANYMORE
é um beatles sem variação no estilo, sem a magia, sem a criatividade. OU seja, é um beatles sem graça. Passa batido, sem incomodar... Mas também sem marcar. Sem graça. E já é a segunda vez que vem essa banda aí. Pelo menos não veio Rap.
Always enjoyed the Kinks. This album flows well and I really enjoyed! 4 stars.
I listened to this album on a Friday, and it put me in a nice whimsical mood!
Fun songs. Four stars
OK
It's cool, the characters are interesting and the Kinks always took left turns before everyone else. Doesn't quite get to 5 for me, it meanders and loses me a couple times. But this one was revolutionary and is recorded in a way that sounds awesome!
Up until 'Village Green' I didn't find this album that exciting and I think it was due to my Gen Z mind.
I absolutely love this classic pop style, it's so vivid and magical that it captures my attention like a little kid watching the wizard of oz. Even with the simpler composition of the pop style, the songs are far from sounding similar, and to their benefit, conjure up a new setting with each track.
Not good
I think I saw them in person. I love their music. PICTURE BOOK LISTENED TO 25 times. Lololol
God, this just kind of sucks. Some harmonizing, Beattles wannabe stuff. I listened through some of their top tracks in spotify (which aren't from this album) and they're all way better. This cleaves way too close to "folk-rock" for my liking.
Lovely craftmanship and song writing in the early days of concept albums. Slightly overstays its welcome.
Yawn. It felt like a watered down version of The Beatles, to the point where I thought they must be a predecessor. But I was wrong--they were contemporaries.
2 or 3 for me. It's kind of a baseline corny English \"Herman's Hermits\" feel for most of the album and then some psychedelia thrown in some spots and some fun and weird tracks. favorites so far: opener - title track last of the steam powered engines sitting by the riverside all of my friends were there wicked Annabella people take pictures of each other
Strong opening few tracks, but starts to lose steam quickly. Seems like a spiritual predecessor of Thick As A Brick, but from a group that was not ready or able to take that kind of leap. In the end, they seem to be attempting psychedelia, but can't quite pull it off.
Not bad but didn’t connect with me
Sound like the Beatles
Classic rock (beatles similar)
Sometimes an album is good and there isn't much more to say about it. Favorite track: "Village Green"
Hadn't heard much of this except the well known songs. Good fun, will probably listen again.
This is, hands down, on of the best albums ever.
Surprised at how much I dug this one.
Not my vibe
Probably the best Kinks album and my favorite. It's definitely been setbreak or pre-show music so that helps too.
I like the Beatles so I liked this!
Blandly unexceptional 60s rock. Should have been the album with Lola on it instead the second half of this album really sucks except for wicked anabella
Really twee, but catchy!
Very much an album that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Weird and disparate (a lot of these songs don’t work individually, and I’m still not quite sure what the concept is) but somehow fits together to make a great psychedelic work.
Hugely biased mega-Kinks fan here. But if anyone knows a better written, better performed album of quintessentially English popular music, let me know. And I'll tell you why you're wrong. ;)
I’ve come to appreciate the Kinks quite a bit because of this journey. I knew them and liked them before, but the appreciation has deepened and become more meaningful over time. Like with cheese. You know you like cheese right off the hop, that’s a given. But as you get older you move away from the cheddar comfort zone and start to get more familiar with Gouda or Swiss. Then on to Manchego or Gruyère. The Kinks are Gruyère.
A lovely slice of baroque pop full of reflexive nostalgia and whimsy.
I have never listened to The Kinks before, but I get the slightest Beatles impression, so I'm out. I'm sorry.
This is the first album I've listened to before getting the prompt for it! It's hilarious how two days ago we got "Arthur", and I thought that "Village Green" was the better of the two Kinks albums I've listened to. Anyway, having listened to "Village Green" multiple times in the past couple of days - to compare it to "Arthur" and now for this prompt - I still stand by that. This is an excellent album - all the tracks are strong from start to finish. It also reminded me a lot of Vampire Weekend's work (especially the first half of their discography, which I absolutely love) - it's clear that they were influenced by this album.
4.3. Always been a fan of the kinks.
Interesting. It feels like this would have been much more popular when it first came out.
I'm a sucker for theme albums. The riff on "Picture Book" is like a solid 9/10 riff, it just works. But the way they convert it to minor on "Village Green" is a stroke of brilliance, straight 10/10 - that one's a beautiful touch. That said, the rest of the album is just OK. They don't have a lot going on rhythmically (that's part of the theme, I think) and have a real habit of just hanging on one chord of or one set of I-IV-V changes for just a hell of a long time. Nice listen, but a little plodding beyond the first couple songs.
Schön und gut, aber Kinks sind jetzt nicht gerade meine Favoriten
i have my hangups with ray davies worldview that ensure he will never be MY 60s pop song prophet...brian wilson is in my heart, and arthur lee strikes me as much smarter and less overly-inward in his observations (i have a deep affection for hippie aesthetics but man were they ever wasted on white people). that being said , only a fool would deny the peak of rays songwriting powers...the record is a bit side a heavy, but every track has some kind of interesting details or hooks. and ofc the bittersweet pastoral mood, running from the anxieties of industrial living even as it is crushed by them, is every bit as striking as any one of these aesthetically unified 60s pop statements...its no pet sounds, but id take it over sergeant peppers any day. song for song i think i might prefer arthur a bit atm...but this is a more fundamentally likable project for me
As I’m listening it goes from a 3 to a 4. Just endlessly inventive and fun
Cool album of the classic BritPopRock Generation
British rock nothing to write home about
Ok kinks album
Good, but not my favourite of their catalogue.
agreeably well-crafted and psychedelic but not really my cup of tea 6/10
I hate to chalk up someone’s sound to being similar to somebody else’s, but I’ve listened to A LOT of the Beatles, and this album constantly reminds me of their greatest moments. Tracks like Picture Book and Sitting by the Riverside would definitely be considered some of the best Beatles songs had they been written by them. It takes sounds from both their earlier and later albums while adding their own, wonderful touch throughout the record. These simpler, more standing out songs were the best on the album in my opinion. Despite all the positives of this album, the title track and a few others drag it down quite a bit. The best tracks are doing quite a bit of heavy lifting to keep this album at a 4, but it is still deserving of such a ranking.
Nice to hear something British that’s not ass. Loved the different direction of this, sound different compared to other British acts of the time
I've always wanted to love the Kinks. I've always liked them instead. The music is so interesting; but maybe that's the problem. It's too clever by half and I'm always made to feel like its really important to Ray that we all know that he knows how clever he is. The Zombies are similarly studio/musically clever, but their music sweeps me up emotionally. The Kinks' music is always, just, interesting.
Fuckin Hippies man.
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.
Chock full of interesting and tuneful and often funny ideas, but it does't really cohere into something I enjoy listening to. A couple 4-star songs, but plenty of 2-stars as well. Still, I'd listen again. Closer "People Taking Pictures of Each Other" is a prescient commentary on an age that can't experience the present without somehow capturing it for later - and this was 1968!
as good as Beatles, imho
Sickening amount of talent in the Davies family. The Kinks represent an amazing force in the rock and roll spectrum.
I enjoyed this album as a whole. I have to confess, though, the first four songs felt like they were taking over from where the Beatles left off after Rubber Soul. It felt like Last of the Steam Power Trains ushered in a more unique sound. Once Starstruck hit, it felt like there was a return to the very Beatles-esque sound. In between Animal Farm, Sitting and Village Green offered the oddity I liked most. This is definitely a listen again
Nice effort but fell flat to me. I love a concept album but this one did not capture me. I did enjoy "People Take Picture of Each Other". Maybe this song explains our social media culture we live in currently. Very prophetic. Otherwise, yawn.
3.4 Not super familiar with the kinks discography but this seemed like a grown up version of the band. Songwriting was interesting enough. Will be worth another listen at some point
Love the Kinks. Not as familiar with these songs, but loved this album. It does sound very much like songs the Beatles could have done.
Great album
This is one of the best albums ever made. It came at a wrong time but it was very much needed because the times changed so fast and a view back - of course with some irony - is not so bad if it happens like here. Joyful melodies with that certain melancholy transported through folkish rock music that is not folk nor rock. And that makes it so great.
It's a rare quality for a band to be almost universally mood-improving, but the Kinks really are, at least for me. Even their more introspective songs, like "Do You Remember Walter" are jaunty - so jaunty, in fact, that it's the basis for one of the all-time upbeat songs, ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky". And of course Green Day took the riff from "Picture Book" for "Warning", one of their most upbeat, Major Key songs. But what makes VGPS special is that its sonic and thematic cohesiveness is not really replicated anywhere else in The Kinks' discography. It's also the final album they made during a yearslong ban from the United States, which gives the album such a deeply English sensibility that it became a sort of ur-text for Britpop.
very interesting, some neat moments but kinda goofy in other spots
nah not really
Nice
This was a bit unforgettable. A few good moments, a few moments were a bit twee for my taste.
2 Stars (5/15)
Highly original, perfectly executed, catchy as hell, what more can you ask for
Nah.
Picture Book Sitting By The Riverside Animal Farm Wicked Annabella People Take Pictures Of Each Other
Picture book and big sky are my two favorites overall I really enjoyed this album even when it got a bit experimental for me.
It was decent but nothing to really get too attached to outside of a few hits.
Really struggled to get into this one
This album was pleasant. Very reminiscent of the Beatles and a fun read on why they weren’t allowed to tour in the United States
I would benefit from a deeper dive or song explainer documentary to better appreciate the lyrics and meaning. As it was, I passively listened to the album (both in real-time in Norway and a month later playing catchup) and came away thinking it was a decent enough baroque pop Beatles knockoff. I can't help but feel I'm missing something that fans are seeing, so I'll be generous and give it a 3.
Meh. 3
Classic Kinks
Really just not enjoyable. I like The Kinks' edgier stuff. This ain't it.
Sort of Beatles like but not as good.
Not what I was expecting, but unsure if better or worse
4+/5
Meh.
absolutely rocks
song reco: picture book ⭐⭐⭐ it's giving sunday morning vibe. easy to listen album.
Temazos y buen rollo, no lo subo al cinco porque creo que no pero esto es un cuatro alto, cuatro con cinco incluso.
This is adorable. Never heard any of these songs before. They are so twee compared to the later hits.
3.5
The next time an older person decries the state of music, I will be able to reflect on the multiple baby boomer-centric albums served to me on this list - the Paul Simon records, the Village Green Preservation Society, anything from Paul McCartney and Wings - and conclude that, no, it was not better back then, and that having skipped this genre in favor of others did nothing to degrade my quality of life.
Always think I don't like the Kinks but I end up admitting I'm wrong with every album that comes up. It's just the twee, self-conscious Englishness of some songs grates on me a bit. Listening to this you realise half of 90s Blur songs were basically Kinks tributes.
- this was fun and fine - good sound
- same year as Sgt. Pepper? Fishy - solid, some enjoyable tunes
While I know the big hits by The Kinks in later years, I knew none of these songs. At first listen, it honestly sounds like many of the British bands of this time period. Jaunty guitars, trippy at times, It’s an ok listen to me. After listening I read about this album’s legacy and what it meant to many more contemporary artists - I still do not hear anything revolutionary.
Basically the Beatles but better
Pretty standard '60s rock, nothing special really. I like the sound musically, but do not really connect with it's particular vibe of missing the old times, since it's the old time values that are least important to me that they reminisce about Favorite tracks: Village Green Preservation Society, Big Sky, Picture Book. Album art: Cool band photo, love the swirly neon colors.
True story In about 1983/4 a girl from our group of friends was invited to a party in the middle of our seaside town and we all went mob handed. The main partygoers were in the kitchen but we stayed in the lounge where there was an impressive collection of tapes on the mantelpiece. When the host wandered in I thanked him for his kind hospitality and asked him about the music collection. He told me in a very self effacing and modest way that he used to be in a band in the 60's and I may or may not have heard of them - The Kinks. It was only afterwards that I realised how big they were and now it seems that their classics will live forever. I was speaking, of course to the one and only Ray Davies. Thanks for everything Ray. BTW the album is good!
Ok. Not my favorite. A bit too mellow. Need bad boy kinks.
Not peak Kinks yet, but fun and whimsical. Great start and great finish
I enjoyed this album. I like the title track and Animal Farm. Started off pretty "normal" and got trippier by the end.
Really impressed by this album. Love the nostalgia in a lot of the songs, and the desire to hold on to their upbringing and culture. There’s something very genuine feeling about it all. Super fun and catchy and lovely.
Es un álbum interesante, es un álbum que no pega mucho con mis gustos y creo que sería un gusto más auto impuesto, creo que si lo escuchara de una manera frecuente, podría llegar a entender el mensaje, y podría llegar a gustarme
While I’m quite tired of all the 60s stuff on this list, this was a good listen and didn’t feel like a re-tread or beaten to death.
The Kinks love an early concept album I'm learning. This came right before Arthur, and, like Arthur, it's super British. This one is basically all about longing for a British small-town culture that seems to be fading to them, considering how to deal with the past, and creating a bunch of characters that evoke that culture. This album seems to be typically considered their best work, and I guess it had a huge influence on the Britpop bands in the '90s (Blur and Oasis in particular). I'll try to contain my eyeroll about some of their overly nostalgic, change-is-bad lyrics, but otherwise this is pretty solid. Just like on Arthur, they do a really great job of storytelling and capturing the feeling of a moment. I don't know that this is quite in "best album ever" territory (like some of the reviews I'm seeing are saying), but it's definitely solid. Definitely an early British rock sound, but they do a good job on the songwriting piece, and the sound is varied enough to keep it interesting. Favorite song: Last of the Steam-Powered Trains Other: The Village Green Preservation Society, Picture Book, Big Sky, Sitting By the Riverside, Animal Farm, Village Green, Starstruck, All of My Friends Were There, Wicked Annabella, Monica 6/19/24
Beautiful album, well written, the sound of 60s britrock.
Very quintessentially English and self consciously so. I suppose it's to be expected from the band that gave us Waterloo Sunset which may as well be a theme song for London. Completely uncool and out of step with the time - it connects to a sense of Englishness that was already gone whilst satirising psychedelia. This would be done later and worse by bands like Blur who were similarly trying to capture this but with considerably less humour (at least not intentional humour). If you're going to do Vaudeville, at least be funny about it, which these guys do. Phenomenal Cat maybe leans too strongly into whimsy for my taste though this is obviously deliberate, but I can't hate a song about a cat. Favourite Tracks: Do You Remember Walter? Picture Book Village Green
Cheeky lyricists With undercurrents of cool Play jaunty rock riffs
I enjoyed this
It's okay, doesn't feel too unique, but it is enjoyable
I dont get the concept. Some solid tunes however. Not my favorit type of music
60er Jahre Album, das sicherlich vom Klang der „Beatles“ geprägt war. Stellenweise klingt es auch nach den frühen „Simon and Garfunkel“. Das Album hat einen eigenen hörbaren Stil. Herausragende Stücke haben sich aber nicht herauskristallisiert. Brauchbar sind „The Village Green“, „Last of The Steam Powered Steam“, „Village Green“ & „People Take Picture from Each other“. Im Gesamteindruck ist das Album ganz ok.
This will be my third Kinks album to review. I've mentioned this on my other reviews for their albums, but heading into this project, I would have assumed that I would have loved their albums, even though I was only familiar with a few of their songs. That has not been the case so far, because as it turns out, the Kinks songs that I was familiar with and enjoyed were pretty much nothing like their albums that are on the list. I was not super thrilled to see this pop up today, but I'd prefer it to the second Pere Ubu album I still have left. Here goes nothing. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I enjoyed it much more than Something Else By The Kinks and Face to Face. I felt like the overall sound of this album was a lot more accessible, and a lot more enjoyable as well. The jangly guitar playing, string arrangements, and keyboard playing were all great, and gave this album a really unique feel. I enjoyed the various sounds that the band employed as well (calypso, blues, music hall, etc), but all of the songs still felt like they fit with the overall sound of the album. This album's sound was really fun to groove to, and the arrangements fit the concept of the lyrics really well. The nostalgia for the village green was a unique concept, although in today's political landscape of rising populism, it almost has an anti-immigrant feel. I don't think that's what The Kinks intended, but it's interesting how thin the line between nostalgia and an Eric Clapton get-out-of-my-country rant can feel these days. Still, this was a really good album, and the best Kinks album I've listened to so far. God save Donald Duck, indeed.
I didn’t find any standout tracks on my first listen but I’m sure I will in the future.
Pretty good. I like the kinks, never got to see them live. Did see Dave Davies once.
Very 60s psychedelic rock. But better somehow. Definitely not what I expected from the kinks. It was good
Hell yeah, this is some rock and roll music.
Such a great listen. I’ve never been this deep into The Kinks discography and not disappointed to be here. Styles are a little all over the place here, but it’s never off putting. Proto-‘90s-Brit-Pop! You can plainly hear the sound that Oasis and Supergrass will borrow years later. A lot of album’s are labeled “ahead of their time” but this one delivers.
Pretty good. A great song Photo Book with many pretty good songs and few if any low points. Not exactly my style, but not exactly not.
2.5 60's Ren faire folk doesn't age well for a full album. There were a couple tracks that stood out
I'll have to listen to the rest of the deluxe version later but it's nice to have one of the bands my father enjoyed being the start of the project of all things
The Kinks are such an odd band - occupying this weird place compared to the Beatles and the Stones, and with such a wildly disparate sound between songs. Another album I knew of, but hadn't listened to. I enjoyed it, and the track by track discussion on the Wikipedia entry really enhanced the experience
Quirky.
Stop forcing The Kinks on me, they're so average
I was never a Kinks fan. I think the vocals put me off. They did have some good songs though. The songs are cool, but I can't really get interested. Too bland in the production. I started getting annoyed - second day in a row. Wow, I'm surprised at myself. 2 stars because they're the Kinks.
We are full swing in the post Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper era of rock music, and this album wears those influences on its sleeve without delving too deep into Baroque Pop or Psychedelia. The biggest thing I was thinking while listening is "this is British as all hell". Unfortunately it does fall off on the B-Side, but still a pretty enjoyable experience that flows well as an album.
Fantastic concept album and semi-ironic paean to an England that only exists in nostalgic fantasies.
not as good as arthur as i prefer the heavier and more political focus on that album but this is still super comforting and enjoyable. 8/10
I go back and forth on what album from The Kinks I think is best or my favorite. Really that seven album stretch from Kinda Kinks to Lola is pretty phenomenal. Always loved Village Green and this was a delight to get and listen to, it'd been a bit.
Great album. Interesting fun catchy 60s rock. It compares a to the Beatles but the problem is that no one compares to the Beatle.
Why do these blokes think they aren't European. Bloody daft.
I really enjoyed this one. I’ve covered a few more famous Kinks songs with a band I was in a long time ago but I had never heard this album for. The lyrical content is a quaint little take on what I would imagine suburban English life was at the time: unimportant and pretty banal things that even those of us that grew up elsewhere and in different circumstances can follow along with. Some are direct (Picture Book, Sitting by the riverside) and some are more abstract (Big Sky). I read that this is supposed to be a take on the way the bands life used to be and what it meant for England to get more globalized at the time. If you listen to it with that in mind, some of the songs become a kind of call out on boring weirdness, but if you take it literally they just sound like a sing a first grader would write. It’s a bit of weird way to straddle the two ideas and I’m not sure they pull off the more intellectual side of it. Lyrical content aside, this is musically a pop rock album. It’s cleaner and in my opinion more listenable than a lot of the other British stuff coming out in that era. That doesn’t mean that it’s particularly interesting though. Again, I’m not sure how I’m “supposed” to hear it. It’s s fine enough album but I bet the Kinks have much better ones out there. Maybe we’ll hear them later.
Some of these songs really suck and the others make me want to watch Hot Fuzz.
Simon and Garfunkel mixed with the beatles, its pleasant
Pretty happy go lucky Beatles style tunes of the 60's, enjoyable. But lacking any profundity.
i do love an album title that includes the artist's name. this kinks album makes me think of them as the british beach boys, which i've never thought before. 1968 is the time where the pop bands of the sixties were experimenting, and the kinks are no exception. this album is halfway between sweet pop and more adventurous rock music. of course, i don't find them to be a cookie cutter of the beach boys at all. they took this album in a different direction. there's some south asian influence, folk, and psychedelia, too. not the sound i was expecting from the kinks!
This album felt experimental and playful while still being pretty approachable! They explore a lot of different types of music here and do so well! The Kinks seem to have followed suit of other British Invasion type bands. "You Really Got Me" was their breakaway hit, which was still fairly different (and punk-y) compared to other British Invasion bands, but the composition felt pretty standard. By this album, they have deepened their craft a bit with good songwriting and genre experimentaiton; this album kind of feels like it could be their "Pet Sounds" or "Sergeant Pepper's". Not a bad listen at all!
It was alright
Some very silly lyrics. Classic 70s stuff. Good though
Nice one
Interesting. Best track is Last Of The Steam-powered Trains 3/5
Cool
Excellent Kinks. A bit overrated in their catalogue though.
Pretty forgettable overall - doubt I'll ever listen to this again.
Masterpiece. The complete opposite of what everyone else was doing at the time. Mr Davies stuck to his guns, legend!
Eh. Don’t love it
Love this and have been listening to a lot of BritPop inspired by Kinks so this came at a great time. Super stacked album and really close which is my favorite between this and Something Else. Rating: 4.6
I enjoyed it. 3
"Easy old-school charm" personified. Nothing that I would probably seek out again, but it was pleasant while it was on. Makes you want to go sit in a field on a warm summer day.
The sound of sunshine ☀️🤗💛 The psychedelic nonsense lyrics can be a little annoying, but they're also so outrageously ridiculous that they loop back around to being fun and funny. They also do a lot musically for songs that never pass the 3-minute mark. Not all of it is a winner, especially when it turns into Tin Pan Alley reverence, but all of it is bright and enjoyable, and never asks me to take it too seriously. And when it does ask me to go deep, it's all about this nostalgia for youth and innocence, a topic I’m a sucker for generally. But unlike most records discussing those topics, it does so in a positive, sweet, cute way, which makes it an easy and enjoyable listen, instead of one that triggers an existential crisis, and I do appreciate that. I think that's why I like this so much more than other psychedelic records from this era. This is ironic and silly and enjoyable, compared to the high-minded serious ~insights~ other hippies insisted on expressing on their records. So while The Kinks aren't doing anything particularly exciting from a sonic perspective for the era (at least not anything obvious, unless you're a music theory nerd), what they ARE doing is having fun. And fun is important to actually enjoying music!! Because above all else, I just love a bunch of goofy lads 🤪
5 stars
As with the other Kinks albums I've listened to on this list, the songs here are out of the ordinary and sometimes a little strange. I can see why many reviewers don't like it ... you keep waiting for a rocker like "You Really Got Me", and you end up with a song about a flying cat. But to me the Kinks live up to their name ... the songs take a few simple, but unexpected twists and turns. I find it all both charming and fun.
There is just enough here to rate level 4 (B-). No outstanding songs just good english fun. It reminds me of British tv shows like the Darling Buds of May.
Post Sgt Pepper, pre Space Oddity, post Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Sounds like all three. There's an hidden attitude in here I don't like, but maybe I'm just projecting backwards from britpop.
Pas pour moi
Very good. mocks the nostalgia for an England already vanishing in the '60s. Ray Davies turned from American rock fantasies to English jangle; on the outside that is critique of modernity wrapped in catchy tunes. Songs to a past that was never as rosy as ppl remember.
They are amazing songwriters
just a good album really 4.2/5
Beatles esque
Favorite Tracks: The Village Green Preservation Society Village Green People Take Pictures of Each Other
Didn't think I knew anything by these guys since I didn't recognize the group name, bit I knew Picture Book from somewhere deep in my memories. Do You Remember Walter? Is a really awesome song, as is Village Green. They probably hate this, but they are like a lesser version of the Beatles on this album. Overall, thpugh, pretty fun.
They took a lot of chances on this album and not all of them worked, but points for trying. 2.5/5.0: Mixed
One of the most pleasant afternoons of my life was spent listening to this album and then Arthur while taking a walk between small English towns through farmer’s fields.
Didn't really capture my attention. Not my style of rock.
Really cool album. Can hear major shades of Brit Pop in this.
I've listened to this over & over since I was 12. Hugely influential on my own songwriting & brings back many, many memories. It's an entire album about nostalgia after all. One of (if not the) best from one of my favorite bands.
I was never much into the Kinks and understood the impact of the legacy through songs like 'Really Got Me', 'You Really Got Me', and 'Lola'. But they've never really rung the bell for me. 'The Village Green Preservation Society' has changed that. With elements of pop and psychedelia the Kinks found a great lane for themselves here. 4/5.
This screams 60s music style
Clearly someone is a big fan of The Kinks. This is definitely not their best work.
Not bad. Beatlesy
All time classic.
Good
Davies you geniuses.
a great relisten.
I mean, its THE Kinks.
Guess I'm a kinks fan now
I’m getting bored just writing this review
Yeah
I'd put this similar to rolling stones. A lot of meh with the few very good songs total classics.
Enjoyed
9/10. Felt like it brought elements from different genres. Really enjoyed it. Last of the Steam Powered Train might be my favorite song since starting the project.
Ok. Someone save me from brit 60-70s rock, I get it already. Not bad though
Right there in the depths of a 3
I enjoyed listening to this but conversely I didn't find it special.
Breezy british pop rockers with a surprisingly long album that never outstayed its welcome. 15 songs crammed into a pacy 40 minutes means most are sub 3 minutes, perfect song length. Otherwise it's a wholly unremarkable album, it just is, it feels super cozy and warm but I'd not consider it a *must listen to* album.
This is so incredibly not my kind of music that I just cannot see it. You Really Got Me is a song where you can at least see the Rock & Roll bones, but then they pivoted and went to this...mess. I don't even know how to categorize it other than to tell you there are lyrics about kissing a girl under the old oak tree. That's not much of a descriptor, I know, which should really underscore the deep antipathy I feel for this album.
Lyrically uninteresting and musically average. Released in the same era as big Kinks hits, I have to believe that the surrounding albums are superior.
a nostalgic album about what England once was. no hits on here really except for a couple of songs later used in Hot Fuzz. not commercially successful at the time. (also released the same day as The Beatles White Album).
The Kinks are always fun.
Loved the fun, playful lyrics. Similar in style to the Beatles, but different enough to have their own unique take on things. Will definitely listen to more Kinks in the future.
British rock
Some great tracks - not my go to era tbh
Good, solid album. Not really a bad song. Some songs are better than others though. I can clearly see how a lot of bands that came later were influenced by this album.
Bright and jangly melodic pop that lacks the force of their best work, but replaces it with a funny observational approach to song writing and richer arrangements. Is this just little England nostalgia though? It's self aware and parodic, but not entirely kidding about yearning to live in the Hot Fuzz town and win the flower prize...Requires a few listens to sink in.
I mean, come on. Not much beats The Kinks at their peak, and this may be it. I might listen to Something Else or Lola Vs Poweman more, but as a cohesive statement, this album (and the follow-up Arthur) are Kinks at their absolute best. Definitely essential listening. Good job, list.
The Kinks are uneven through their career. But this is great. It’s not my first time listening to this, and it won’t be my last It is, however, the first time I’ve rated it. I bounced back and forth between a four and a five on it. During Animal Farm, I was thinking it’s a 4. By the end of the same song, I was back at a 5. I think there overall sound of this album and the strength of the songs get it a five, despite there being a few three and four star songs.
Sounds like the Beatles
Gear: Fostex TH610 Artwork: unerwartet wenig grün, dafür recht psychedelisch, macht aber so gar nix her im Plattenregal Mix (2018 Stereo Remaster): in der Tat ausgesprochen Stereo, insgesamt für das Alter beeindruckend ansprechend abgemischt 👌 Musik: hinterlässt keinen bleibenden Eindruck - höchstens den langen Schatten der Beatles Wertung: 💚💚/5
3/10 very repetitive in all the wrong ways
Feel like they’re singing about nothing important or significant. I’d rather listen to the Beatles.
Yet another 70s rock album. Not bad, but did I really have to listen to it before I died ?
Just a majestic technicoloured quintessentially British record which is also withering in it's satire of Nationalism. Spanning a whole variety of different genres and tones, it's a contender for Sgt Peppers. Like a budget Sgt Peppers but loading the term 'budget' with less negativity. Really marvellous record.
The the quintessential pub garden album. Endlessly relistenabe.
Good. A little too British folksy
hmmmmmmmmm would need to listen again but have no desire to
Literally perfect - but y’all knew that already
its the kings, what to expect
Best: Walter Bester Songtitel: Monica Interesting: Wicked Annabelle Worst: All my friends were there
Very good. Proto Mac Demarco
Interesting and oddly enjoyable. Had no idea the Kinks had this in their bag.
No bangers but this was a nice, casual listen. I liked it.
Hard to believe this is almost sixty years old. There must have been some wild trippin' in those good ole days. Sounds like the trip isn't over.
Just ok for me, kind of boring
I’m so glad I finally listened to the Kinks. I must have had an aural hallucination when I was younger because I always thought of slightly out of tune, aggressively strummed chords and have just assumed they were annoyingly overhyped for as long as I can remember. It turns out I’m just an asshole and that these dudes are pretty groovy.
Great to hear these songs again.
Cool album, have loved picture book for a while, starstruck is really cool too
first time really listening to the kinks, i was hoping i could say "more like The Stinks" but unfortunately it was good so i am unable to put "more like The Stinks" in this review
Eh.
Glorious pop songs.
beat, 1968 -> 2
Honestly, a big reason I'm on this journey is to have a reason to finally listen to the Kinks. This album is so easy to listen to. It would be a 3.5 for me, but bumping to:
This really surprised me, partly because I didn't think it sounded like what I'm used to hearing from The Kinks. I really enjoyed it, but didn't expect most of what I heard.
This whole album just sounded like The Beatles or The Monkeys to me but in a good way. No major standouts but generally pleasant listening all the way through.
I didn't realize this was an "early concept album" on my first listen, but it made me like it a lot more on my second listen (and partly just that it was a second listen!) Other than Lola I haven't really spent a ton of time with The Kinks, so this was fun to do.
Influential rock band from the 60s. These songs not my favorites.
Interesting concept album but didnt grab me. Some solid songs. Probably a 3.5 for me.
Not a bad song, but no great ones. Generally mid.
Rating: 6/10
I love the Kinks, this is a great album!
Quintessentially English album, with maybe a hint too much nostalgia for a poorer & more monochrome time.
Итс окэй. Лучшая песня - Village Green.
Listening to this album solved a long standing conundrum I had with Blur. They always reminded me of something but could never put my finger on it. But this album is it! So many Blur influences on here. I loved the Kinks as a young lad and bought their early singles. When it got to the period this album was released I was totally consumed with Sgt Peppers to notice this album. I suppose this was The Kinks Pepper. If not certainly their next album Arthur which I like more than this and bought on vinyl. It’s only the last few years when available on streaming services that I listened to this album. It is a quintessential English album and from the title of the album that’s what the group were trying to capture. I yearn for the old days when there was a lot more Englishness about so this album is a small window into those days. For me the album has succeeded in capturing the sounds and flavours of those days preserving those times into today’s very confusing multi-cultural times. Yes this album reminds me of my childhood of long summer days, rhubarb in sugar cones, tickling trout, machine guns made of sticks etc when life was so simple. Modern life is rubbish (Blur again!) so thank God albums like this were made to capture a wonderful time to be alive in. 3/5 12/4/24
Previously rated: Face to Face (4/5) Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (5/5) ************************************************************** Another great Kinks album. I love their sound (especially the drums), the lyrics, and a bit of weirdness. One song reminded me of the Banana Splits theme song, which I love.
Une exploration de la nostalgie, dans ses douceurs et ses pièges, révélant la futilité de vouloir revenir en arrière ou prévenir tout changement
Was good but nothing special
Ganz ok.
british people…don’t even think this is probably the most essential kinks album. probably slapped at the time but it’s a 2 to me.
Meh.
If you liked the Kinks (and I mostly do), I’m not sure why you wouldn’t have liked this when it came out, and why it wasn’t more successful. It’s the Kinks - Ray Davies being thoughtful and quirky.
I like the first song, but the rest kinda faded into more of the same.
happy hippie yuppie duppie, not my style.
Not my favourite stuff from the Kinks but I'm a pretty basic fan.
So awesome. I think the kinks are underrated now. Love the groovy blues stuff but also the easy pop tracks. This is just such a fun album back to front. I think I would have been a biiiiig fan of the kinks if I was a 60s kid.
few songs I really liked but others not so much. Great song writing but doesn't strike much of a chord with me(except for last of steam powered trains and village green. I really liked those.)
😐
best song: title, village green beatles lite mom can we have beatles. we have beatles at home. beatles at home. it was good though nothing to complain about
I do enjoy how they say the album name a few times throughout, Im sure if i were smarter there is probably some constant meaning throughout also. The music overall is good, nothing seems overly exciting about it but.
3.5. Good but samey.
High quality 60's pop rock. Perhaps missing an X factor, but high quality nonetheless.
I’ve listened to a lot of music from The Kinks, but not this album. I shouldn’t be surprised that it was also great. It was a lot of classic Kinks style and 60s weird songwriting that I love so much. My favorite songs were “The Village Green Preservation Society,” “Do You Remember Walter?,” “Starstruck,” and “All Of My Friends Were There.” It’s been cited as an early example of a concept album, and I hear it and I dig it. I love The Kinks, and this is no exception.
an album of bond movie theme songs
This was a phenomenal album and completely missed me before now.
An under represented outside of Wes Anderson movies 60s Rock band. They produced tracks that could easily fool you as another band "oh I thought this was the Who" or "I thought this was the stones" their chameleon like effect makes this album feel like earlier Pink Floyd at times (Syd Barrett See Emily Play era) or maybe some of the pre-rock opera Who. That feature often is lost on single album listens and really speaks more to the entire catalog of the Kinks. That all said, this album is a warm spot for them. A very comfortable and enjoyable listen, maybe lacking some of the hot spots of Lola v Powerman ...
Pretty good
Not as good as Arthur, definitely early concept with more silliness than structure
Never been a huge fan of this album some good songs, but most are average or below. 3/5
Good energy on this album. On my first listen I had it on as background music and it kind of missed the mark. On my second listen I turned it up and focused in a little more and it was definitely enjoyable. Feels like an up beat version of the Beatles. My chief complaint holding me back from falling in love with this brand of 60s rock is that it feels a little stale. A little too simple, soft, and monotone.
This is my 2nd Kinks album on this list and there hasn't been one single hit song on either. I didn't get this list. I think this is a solid album. But it doesn't really stand out from all the other great britpop albums around this time.
Not my kinda thing, its not bad tho. 5/10
These guys tried SO HARD to be the new Beatles. And the new The Who. And the new Pink Floyd. And the new Kinks, even though they already were the old Kinks. They shoulld have focused on just being the Kinks in the first place, that would have been the best thing for them to do. Remember kids, just be your kinky self, don't try to be some other kinky copy!
Between a 3 and a 4. Very fun and experimental for the time, summer of love vibes and very positive friendly music. Would listen again. Highlights were title track and last of the steam trains
most of these songs feel like children’s music. fave: johnny thunder, people take pictures of each other least: annabella <~ why was it so scary “people take pictures of each other just to prove they existed”
3 decent just worse early Beatles
I definitely thought this was going to be a punk album lol
Feels Sgt. Pepper-esque, but its own thing. Each song is interesting in its own way. The message throughout is great. There's even the Ringo song in "All of My Friends Were There".
Good melodies and guitar-work, with at times clever lyrics. Also interesting that each song is a character study. However this nostalgia for all things traditionally english (which I and most people can't relate to at all) , and it clearly taking place in it's time gives it character but also dates it. (The Beatles have kind of similar themes in songs like Penny Lane, but the visuals / story-telling and central themes are so good that it makes it universal and timeless) .To me the album is imaginative and upbeat but simply sounds kind of dated, and doesn't transcend in such a way that I feel really compelled to revisit it again beyond a couple songs. Would give it 3.5 stars as I thought it was pretty good, but not amazing
Another pending subject approved! They are lovely! 😍
It wasn’t bad but none of the songs really stood out for me- maybe parts of songs like on Animal Farm and Picture Book. I still enjoyed it
Interesting rediscovery. Typical rock music. Not bad but a bit boring
Sweet Classic Kinks 4 stars
Catchy tunes with great lyrics - reminds me of Rubber Soul…. Enjoyed people take pictures, wicked Annabella, animal farm
I'll admit, when I was listening to this album today I wasn't exactly feeling it. Sure, I recognized enough quality in it to give it an "It's fine" 3 at least, but compared to the other British 60's music I like, and even to blur's PARKLIFE, I wasn't exactly all there. But then I watched Parlogram Auction's video covering this and two other albums by The Kinks, where he pointed out a way it's relevant today: nostalgia. The album was always about nostalgia, of course, but specifically in regards to how people these tends tend to have artificial nostalgia for times they never lived in. After the video I went back and listened to the album's single, "Starstruck", and I started to feel it a lot more. 'Cuz, like, I've always kind of considered myself an older soul despite being in my mid-20's. I choose to blame it on how I spent a lot of time when I was younger and more easily influenced watching, like, James Rolfe and Doug Walker, and I ended up getting turned onto a lot of the nostalgia they expressed in their videos. I think it's largely where my love for physical media comes from, honestly. And as for music, well, I've always been a bit more fascinated by what's come before my birth than after. It might not be reflected stastically, but for as many modern albums as I love, I do tend to return to older stuff more often than not. Big surprise, when I take the lyrics into consideration I get more out of it; who'd'a thought? Anyway, it's not enough for me to bump this album up a 4, but it's certainly closer than it was before. Absolutely it's one from this band that should be checked one. And all the shout outs in the world to HOT FUZZ for turning me onto "VIllage Green", too. Love that movie!
Despite the usual 60s habit of not having a great stereo mix, this is a pretty good album because of its surprisingly varied sound for a 60s British pop act.
Feeling a 3.5 and rounding it up to a 4 with this one. I appreciate the brevity, the self-containment of each track, and I think I really respect the production throughout this album; there’s just little neat touches to each song that make them each have their own identity. I don’t think the individual songs on the album are super memorable, but they have some standout moments, and it’s a really good experience. I can kind of see why this might have flopped in 1968; it’s just different from some of the contemporaries of this same time period that we’ve heard, and there are some points where the melodies and the catchiness take a backseat to what are sometimes baffling lyrics (I’m still kinda trying to figure out Track 1) but that’s the sort of thing that goes over much better in music nowadays. Pretty good album.
Awesome music!
Great late60s album
A decent record. The A side sounded a bit like a Beatles clone to me (also a bit of CCR with "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains), which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I much more enjoyed the uniqueness of the B side
Está bueno pero no hay ninguna canción que me haya llamado especialmente la atención
The Kinks are possibly the most underrated band of the British Invasion. Too many times I have mentioned them to people who have never heard of them. While this album doesn’t have any of the songs that they are most known for, it’s still solid from beginning to end and well worth the listen.
5.59/10 Top 3 Songs 1. Big Sky 2. Last of the Steam-Powered Trains 3. Monica
A cross between Beach Boys, Beatles, and the Byrds.
Seemed good but I just don't really care.
Like the Beatles but I like the Beatles better. The Kinks are at their best with "You really got me" and "All day and all of the night " and this doesn't have neither of the songs.
This was a sweet reminder of the days when an album was crafted by individuals, and not every second of every song had to be an in-your-face hook. No specific song stood out to me, but as a whole it was very listenable.
Great
Solid 3.75/5. I get the context and listening now is probably fresher than 68/69 but a lot of stand out tracks. Not a 5 star but a solid listen. Deciding bt 3 or 4 was tough. Gave 4 for the ending half really pulling it up.