Track Listing
1. Village Green Preservation Society, The
2. Do Yuo Remember Walter
3. Picture Book
4. Johnny Thunder
5. Last of the Steam Powered Trains
6. Big Sky
7. Sitting by the Riverside
8. Animal Farm
9. Village Green
10. Starstruck
11. Phenomena Cat
12. All of My Friends Were There
13. Wicked Annabella
14. Monica
15. People Take Pictures of Each Other
16. Mr Songbird - (bonus track)
17. Days - (bonus track)
18. Do You Remember Walter - (original stereo mix, bonus track)
19. People Take Pictures of Each Other - (original stereo mix, bonus track)
20. Village Green Preservation Society, The
21. Do You Remember Walter
22. Picture Book
23. Johnny Thunder
24. Last of the Steam Powered Trains
25. Big Sky
26. Sitting by the Riverside
27. Animal Farm
28. Village Green
29. Starstruck
30. Phenomenal Cat
31. All of My Friends Were There
32. Wicked Annabella
33. Monica
34. People Take Pictures of Each Other
35. Days - (bonus track)
36. Mr.Songbird - (bonus track)
37. Polly - (bonus track)
38. Wonderboy - (bonus track)
39. Berkeley Mews - (bonus track)
40. Village Green - (no strings version mix, bonus track)
41. Village Green - (orchestra overdub mix)
42. Misty Water
43. Berkeley Mews
44. Easy Come, There You Went
45. Polly
46. Animal Farm - (alternate stereo mix)
47. Phenomental - (mono, instrumental)
48. Johnny Thunder - (stereo remix)
49. Did You See His Name
50. Mick Avory's Underpants
51. Lavender Hill
52. Rosemary Rose
53. Wonderboy
54. Spotty Grotty Anna
55. Where Did My Spring Go
56. Groovy Movies
57. Creeping Jean
58. King Kong
59. Misty Water
60. Do You Remember Walter - (BBC Session remix)
61. Animal Farm - (BBC Session remix)
62. Days - (BBC Session remix)
| Details | | Distributor: | Phantom Import Distributi | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Contains original 15-track mono album as well as 12-track stereo version.
The Kinks: Ray Davies (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Dave Davies (vocals, guitar); Pete Quaife (bass, background vocals); Mick Avory (drums).
Additional personnel: Nicky Hopkins (keyboards); Rasa Davies (background vocals).
Recorded at Pye Studios, London, England. Includes liner notes by Peter Doggett.
It's easy to imagine the confusion with which this manifesto for the defense of the status quo was received on its release in 1968. The world was in turmoil and the pose of the Street Fighting Man, rebellious and politically aware, was far sexier than the quaint homebody image the Kinks present here. The title track finds Ray Davies proudly declaring himself a preservationist of custard pies, vaudeville, and such comic book characters as Desperate Dan. However, these slices of suburban life have weathered a lot better than most of their contemporaries.
The Kinks were working in their own homey little world, as evidenced by songs such as the album's title track, "Picture Book," about family snapshot albums, and "All of My Friends Were There" whose very un-rebellious subject is public embarrassment. To compound the weirdness there's also "Big Sky," a classic Kinks song about God that's not remotely religious, and a rocker about a steam engine. The overarching theme of VILLAGE GREEN is that of unalloyed nostalgia--it's only today, now that many of the things Davies feared would disappear have actually vanished, that the truth and clarity of his vision is apparent.
Editorial Reviews
...The bass and drums sound so easy and sure....Such very fine vocals. The tune, the rhythm, are more of a delight with each verse...
Rolling Stone (06/14/1969)
Escapist, pastoral and psychedelic, Davies' vision has never been stronger.
Magnet
5 stars out of 5 - The songs are informed not by cozy nostalgia but fear and anomie and a plea for safe haven and sanctuary.
Uncut
5 stars out of 5 - The Kinks could, and did, do it all: as their last, late flowering, VGPS uncannily predates today's nostalgia-saturated pop culture at the same time as it transcends it through its charm, generosity and psychological depth.
Mojo
4 stars out of 5 - It deserves a place alongside the decade's best.
Q
[I]ts back-to-the-English-garden pop, full of harpsichords and faintly ironic la-la-las, is rife with more shiny hooks than a Home Depot hardware aisle.
Spin
5 stars out of 5 - Underneath its genteel English whimsy lurk some of Davies' most gorgeous songs, as well as his most astute observations and character studies.
Rolling Stone
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