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“This album is probably in my top ten, top five, or even maybe top three albums of all time. Whenever I listen to it, which is often, I am reminded of Ray’s genius but also his modesty and humility. No one else in any of the big bands that emerged in the early Sixties could have so eloquently and accurately created the mood of nostalgia that taunted those of us post war ‘Boomers’ who had to face the challenge of building a new way of life, with no rule book, wondering how we might do so and survive. We wanted it all. Freedom, adventure, and a quiet and serene home to return to safely. Ray captures all this.”
— Pete Townshend, April 2018
This quote from the leader of one of the great 1960s rock bands (The Who) comes from his essay in the new boxed set celebrating the 50th anniversary of an album by one of his peers: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society.
The Kinks’ mesmerizing, oft-breathtaking and all-in-all fabulous 1968 album went virtually unnoticed by much of the world despite a plethora of positive reviews and support from the music cognoscente. However, like its spiritual brother — The Zombies’ Oddessey and Oracle, a nearly unreleased record made in 1967 but effectively not released until 1969 — The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society has gone on to broader recognition as a perfect musical statement, a rock classic standing proud alongside more famous titles from that period.
Over the years, many have portrayed the album as “out of step” with its times. I disagree.
For anyone who says that music had gotten “heavy” in 1968 — which it had in some circles — I direct them to equally lighthearted and nostalgic offerings that year by no less than The Beatles (“Honey Pie,” “Martha My Dear,” etc.). Take a look at what was on Top 40 radio that year and it wasn’t all “heavy metal thunder.” No, some of the biggest hits included the whimsical retro-sounding “Those Were The Days” by Mary Hopkin and the groovy “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams. Click here to read more of that list.
But… what about Hendrix ‘n Steppenwolf ‘n Blue Cheer? Yeah, they were there but for every high flying Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly at that time there were arguably many more pop hits driving the charts: Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s In Love With You;” Georgie Fame’s “The Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde;” Tom Jones’ “Delilah;” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson.” Heck, The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” was top of the pops and that is almost Gospel in its flavor.
Jump forward to some of the big hits of 1969 and you’ll realize that not everything was quite as heavy as historians might want you to think it is: From the Billboard Top 100 that year: “Jean” by Oliver, “Love (Can Make You Happy)” by Mercy; “This Magic Moment” by Jay & The Americans; “Games People Play” by Joe South; “Everybody’s Talkin'” by Harry Nilsson; “Atlantis” by Donovan. This list goes on (click here to read more of it).
And then there is The Band’s super influential Music From Big Pink which also came out in 1968 — a recording which might be considered a North American cousin to The Kinks’ very English Village Green concept, what with its acoustic signatures, rural laid back country nostalgic feel and such.
No. The more I think about it, I can’t help but feel The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was a victim of circumstance beyond the band’s control rather than any problem with the music. Weak radio promotion? Misdirected public relations efforts? Perhaps lingering issues from The Kinks’ mid-60s U.S. touring ban? There are usually multiple reasons for things in history so it may have been all that and more.
But, there was nothing “out of step” about the music.
Perspective: I recently played the album for a friend who had never heard it before and he thought I was playing a Beatles record! Food for thought as you explore this compositionally rich, emotionally complex album, one of the great song cycles of the period.
The producer of this new edition of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society — Andrew Sandoval — went to every length possible to ensure that these remasters were as true to the original 1968 UK Pye Records pressings as possible while carefully bringing improvements where feasible. I reached out to Mr. Sandoval and he confirmed some important details relative to the set’s creation:
“I have an original UK Pye Mono and original UK Pye Stereo. I have the Swedish 12-track LP. I used all three of those things in the production of this to basically make sure that the tonality and everything was in the ballpark, was accurate and that the spaces between all the songs are matched exactly to an original pressing,” he said. “The silence and fades are matched so you have the same experience as if you were buying the $300 to $500 original record.”
(note: indeed, original UK pressings of this can fetch hefty sums!)
He went on to explain that the vinyl in the set was all cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio, created from digital files that were newly compiled (different sourcing from than The Kinks In Mono box set). (For) “the Stereo album, Sandoval continued,“we had the original Stereo LP master and that too was transferred at 24/96. From those transfers that were done in London, the individual files were mastered in Los Angeles using analog only EQ.”
So how does the new Stereo remaster sound? I asked Mr. Sandoval how he felt about it: “I tried to make it a very balanced listen. It’s my favorite album of all time. I like this one best. This is my favorite version of it. It took decades literally to get the stuff that we have on this set.
It is a very thoughtful presentation, sounding better than my original US White Label Promo copy and besting the limited edition UK green vinyl version Universal Music issued a while back. There is a greater sense of detail on this new edition, with guitar parts jumping out of the speakers more than previous editions I’ve heard.
On “Phenomenal Cat,” the Tambourine is super present. You can feel the Stereo panning and bass details are very apparent. On the “la la” refrains you can feel the air of the studio around the singer. On “All Of My Friends Were There” the Ride Cymbals resonate naturally while the finger-picked Acoustic Guitars sound fatter. “Wicked Annabella” has an interesting panning of the vocal effect I’d not noticed previously. The guitars on “People Take Pictures Of Each Other” are clearer sounding so you can now hear the hand-muted strums more directly.
The 2018 remaster of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is streaming on Tidal in 16-bit, 44.1 kHz CD quality with many bonus tracks (click this link to get to it). The basic Stereo album is also there in 24-bit, 48 kHz MQA format (click here). Again, the vinyl was cut from 96 kHz, 24-bit sources, so keep that in mind when comparing, contrasting.
The new remastered Mono mix sounds pretty fab too! According to Mr. Sandoval: “… We had the UK Mono production master. That is all that we had that exists of the Mono mix and that was transferred at 24/96. For certain songs on the record we found better sources elsewhere and we recompiled the Mono for a few of the songs we had, what seemed like lower generation tapes than this production master.”
It is an extra feather in Mr. Sandoval’s cap because the Mono album sounds remarkably consistent as an end to end listen. I am guessing here but some tracks like “Village Green” sound richer than on other versions I’ve heard with lots of neat orchestral detailing jumping out of the speakers in a fine fashion. But overall it all sounds terrific!
Which version do I like best, you ask? Well, I now own three Mono and two Stereo versions of this album on LP and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. But, I think I would have to rank the new edition as the best among what I have (alas, I do not own “original” UK pressings).
Thus far I am super pleased with the 2018 remaster of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this review where we’ll explore the many discs worth of outtakes, live recordings and other previously unreleased gems included in this set.
As someone who was alive and listening to music when the album was released in 1968, the main issue was that the Kinks hadn’t really had a big hit since 1965. Pop music thrives on newness so there were other bands to take their place.
That could be part of it for sure. Although I don’t think they were totally out of the public mindset on the radio. See my comment above about the Greatest Hits album’s success….
There is a part of my argument that doesn’t quire fit – VG was the only Kinks LP not to make the Billboard Top 200 LP chart. That includes compilations, greatest hits LPs, The Great Lost Kinks Album, etc. So albums like Face to Face (’66, #135, 3 weeks) & Something Else (’67, #162, 4 weeks ) did actually chart – albeit very briefly and pretty low on the chart- so someone was buying those albums while The Kinks weren’t touring in the US. Also factor in that those 2 LPs came out before the advent of FM “underground” radio. By the time of their next album, Arthur, (’69, #105, 20 weeks), they were back on the road & FM had really started to take hold. It was, of course, followed late in1970 by the Lola LP which, at #35, was their best showing of new material since 1966’s Kinks-Size which reached #13, spurred on by singles All Day & All Of The Night and Tired Of Waiting For You. That would be their best non-compilation showing until ’79’s Low Budget which reached #11, their 2nd all-time highest placing behind The Kinks Greatest Hits which reached #9 in ’66 and would be their only top-10 LP in the US.
One of the reasons that this LP flopped in the US was that American record buyers of a certain age didn’t buy albums by bands that they couldn’t see. And The Kinks were (famously) banned from playing in the US due to an altercation with the AFM on their first tour in 1965. The ban was lifted in ’69 and a year later they would have one of their biggest hits with “Lola.”
I hear you, no doubt about age and the power of touring artists. The tour ban had a lot to do with it. But the Kinks weren’t exactly a forgotten act in 1968…. I remember hearing Sunny Afternoon on the radio when I was a little kid becoming very aware of and into music by 1967-68 (at around 6 or 7 years old) thanks to two older brothers who were into music deeply. The wiki says that The Kinks Greatest Hits album had sold 1 million copies — if that is accurate, that is a lot of albums! — by 1968 which might have something to do with label priorities at the time. Curiously it says the hits album was certified gold six days after the release of VGPS. Perhaps some of the powers that be didn’t want to mess with a cash cow…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kinks#Charts,_sales_certifications_and_recognition
It is a shame there’s no bluray with high-def tracks like the 50th anniversary White Album has. A damn shame.
Yeah, THAT would have been a really nice plus. Maybe they’ll do a standalone someday…. There is a 48/24 version on HDTracks and it is streaming in that resolution up on Tidal. But I’d love to have a Blu-ray version for the archive. Perhaps when they find the missing multi-tracks and can remix it properly…. maybe then they can justify doing that…I hope they find the tapes soon!! http://www.hdtracks.com/the-kinks-are-the-village-green-preservation-society-2018-stereo-remaster
Agreed! Hopefully they will find the missing multi tracks for a proper remix and that would warrant the Blu-ray treatment. That said, there is a 48/24 version up on Tidal and available for download on HDTracks. But the LP was mastered from the 96/24 files so that is probably the best we’ll hear for a while.
I remember playing this album for friends when it was released. Some thought it was a joke. They didn’t recognize any of the cues the listening public was used to in rock records. With Face to Face and Something Else, North American audiences neither heard most of Kinks songs on the radio nor saw any ads. The band seemed to fall off the edge of the earth. I only rediscovered the Kinks with “Picture Book” being included in a record company sampler in 69. In the decades since, slots for the Kinks in record stores starting disappearing. In the 80’s and 90’s, despite touring to positive reviews, the Kinks disappeared from the record purchasing public. If you looked for records by the band, you found slots for Kansas and KISS with no Kinks slot in between. Many reasons I suppose but it all seems to come down to the lack of tours in the 60’s, lack of promotion esp. on this side of the Atlantic and a sophistication that recalled music hall melodies of long ago, not familiar or particularly of interest to Americans at the time. Other than “Lola” and the initial chunky hits, the Kinks have never appealed to the masses and that’s what makes it all the more satisfying to see critics have finally caught up to the majesty and magic of Ray Davies and the Kinks. Yes, there’s been plenty of closet Kinks fans over the years but the marketplace now affords us the niche attention where quality can breathe and people take notice.
They did fall out of public eye in terms of outward promotion in the mid-late 60s but from Lola onward they were pretty visible, perhaps not with their strongest commercial material until they got to Arista in the mid / late 70s… then they got a lot of attention. I was excited when they were getting that push. But I also remember being excited seeing a curious promo tour they did for the Superman single and there were still some characters around the hall that looked like they were from the Preservation/Soap Opera/Schoolboys tours. It was just before they exploded into a big time arena band so they were playing small colleges. I saw them at Keane College in Union NJ and it was in what seemed like a student class auditorium.
Curiously, I just located a Billboard chart on The Kinks and my memory of hearing songs like Sunny Afternoon and Well Respected Man on the radio are not off the mark. They charted in the Top 20 in 1966 for pretty good runs (the latter was up for 14 weeks!). So Face to Face had some exposure for sure. Sad that Waterloo Sunset didn’t chart in 1967 but perhaps it was up against too stiff competition (ie. Sgt Pepper which came out the same month as Waterloo Sunset) so I would not be surprised if the label just cut their losses and let it fail, holding off the album release until the Fall.