I read several reviews comparing them to the Beatles, so here I go: they are like the Beatles, but cleaner, with less experimentation, crazyness and electricity (I mean, even on their early records the Beatles are wilder than the Kinks). It's not bad (it's even pretty good) but it doesn't work so well for me.
After a shambolic tour of the USA in 1965, Ray Davies had a nervous breakdown and decided to focus on his songwriting. This album is the result, being a concept album with vignettes of nostalgia and longing for a lost rural England. There’s a lot of humour here and poignant character pieces about the inhabitants of Ray’s imaginary village. The music is uniquely English too, touching on music hall, folk and psychedelia. Utterly charming!