So why is The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is sort of a concept album, mostly in terms of the mood it conjures. It’s hipster and earnest and catchy and super ear pleasing and British as hell all at once.
I’ll stand by that, and also note that it’s kind of wonderfully and perfectly 1968 in sound, and yet it also hearkens to an idyllic and nearly mythical Great Britain of the imagination*.
* While I’m a Yank, I have some grounding in UK life, having lived and worked outside of London in Kent for six months, post-college.
It’s also rather a gentle sounding album from the band who burst onto the scene with the explosive British Invasion garage rock of “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night.” And yet this level of sophistication and execution is no shock at all when you look at the band’s overall body of work.
The album opener, the quasi-title track, “The Village Green Preservation Society,” sets the scene with a dreamy, slightly psychedelic groove with delightfully weirdo lyrics to the tune of:
We are the skyscraper condemnation affiliates
God save Tudor houses, antique tables, and billiards
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do?
We are the Village Green Preservation Society
God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety
We are the Desperate Dan Appreciation Society
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties
If this song does it for you, you’re in for a veritable cornucopia of wonders all the way through.
“Picture Book” revs things up a few notches and has touches of early Who energy in the best kind of way.
I’ve been really into the bluesy romp of “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains” lately.
“Big Sky” is, like the song title, huge and soaring and grand.
I’m always a sucker for the harpsichord, and “Village Green” folds it into the vibe of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society perfectly.
Some stats & info about The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, British Bands, British Invasion, Psychedelic Rock, Pop Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #384
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society released? 1968
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #199 out of 1,000
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
We are the Sherlock Holmes English speaking vernacular. Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty, and Dracula.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.