Village Green Preservation Society (Dlx) [Import]

The Kinks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 16, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Import
• Label: Sanctuary UK
• ASIN: B00280J1HI
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,876 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and expanded deluxe three CD edition of their 1968 masterpiece includes a plethora of bonus material featuring original stereo mixes, mono versions, demos, Euro editions, instrumentals BBC sessions and more. It's easy to imagine the confusion with which this manifesto for the defence of the status quo was received on its release in 1968. The world was in turmoil and the pose of the Street Fighting Man, turned on, 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. 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 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. Sanctuary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the version to buy!, August 2, 2009

By 

Byron (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Village Green Preservation Society (Dlx) (Audio CD)

There are several different CD versions of this album floating around. Don't be fooled! This is it! The only thing comparable is the Castle version from 1998, which is out of print. The price is higher than most of them but it's worth it. Definitely avoid the U.S. Reprise version. It's inexpensive but it has not been remastered and sounds bad.
Village Green is the third album in the solid 4 album run that the Kinks had in the mid/late '60's that represented the creative (though not financial) peak of their career.
They were Face to Face, Something Else, Village Green and Arthur.
The Kinks would continue to produce good (and more profitable) stuff into the '70's but never as consistently good as this. Once Ray Davies started writing about the trials and tribulations of being a rock star on Lola vs. Powerman it all started getting a little wobbly.
Of the 4 albums Village Green is the best. The Kinks carved out their niche as a truly English band with its sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes genuine, nostalgia for an England that was rapidly disappearing. This set them apart from the Beatles and Rolling Stones who were following and adapting the American model.
This version also includes the original mono mix which is what was preferred by the band. Until '69 The Kinks, like The Beatles and their other British contemporaries, considered stereo mixing irrelevant, since stereo ownership was so low in the UK, and lavished all of their attention on the mono mixes. The stereo mixes, by contrast, were done quickly and, usually, without the participation of the band. I've compared the stereo mix and the mono mix and the mono wins hands-down.
Order this now! You won't regret it.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Kinks at their finest, January 30, 2010

By 

Benjamin Meisner (Portland, ME) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Village Green Preservation Society (Dlx) (Audio CD)

1968 was a very good year for the Kinks - though at the time no one seemed to notice much. Now TKATVGPS is considered one of the greatest albums of all time, and rightly so. It's hard to single out highlights as there are no lowlights. I'd have to say that the title track, Do you remember Walter?, Picture Book, Village Green, All of my friends were there, and People take pictures of each other are my personal favorites.
This seems like Ray Davies pinnacle. Not that he didn't produce great music before and after. But I think this is his most consistently brilliant phase. With every track on this collection his genius grows. His lyrics are sharper then usual with his great wit and pathos for the less fortunate in life. The harmony the band talks about in the CD booklet shows in their playing - which is confident, relaxed and raucous all at once. What ties the album together is the binding theme of the longing for the past. A fondness for the things of yesterday and heap of skepticism towards the present and future. The record is very much of it's time and yet ageless as well. I know these are contradictions, but that's how Ray Davies wrote them. He was a master of using irony in his storytelling.
Now I didn't notice much of a difference between the stereo and mono mixes, except that the vocals were a bit buried more in mono. What really makes this collectors edition special is the great bonus material. Different versions of Walter?, People take pictures, village green and Animal Farm give fresh perspectives to those songs. It also includes some singles and b-sides that can be gotten in other places, but their still all great songs and it's always good when a CD has Days on it (not to mention you get two here). But what really makes this special is the release of some of the tracks from the Great Lost Kinks album. It's hard to believe that classic songs like Misty Water, Lavender Hill, Creeping Jean and Where did my Spring Go took over 35 years to be released. Basically there's not a bad moment in any of the 3 Cd's, even the instrumentals have a nice charm that fits the mood of the album. And that's one of the great things about this release. They add 47 more songs and it still feels like TKATVGPS album, the spirit remains throughout. So get it and see what all the fuss is about.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Kinks CD is special, February 26, 2010

By 

W. Martin (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Village Green Preservation Society (Dlx) (Audio CD)

My real introduction to the Kinks was "Village Green". Of course I heard all the British Invasion hits they did but I really didn't think much of them until a friend told me that I should check this one out. I love "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" and you probably do too because you are reading this. I waited until a reasonably priced used copy was available because I already had a CD version of this in my collection. I cannot really discern between the mono/stereo versions of the album (I am not a recording engineer) but the out takes and bonus tracks are the true treasures here. If you don't have a copy of "The Great Lost Kinks Album" on LP, this is the closest thing you will ever get of this for now. It is not on CD as far as I know. The extensive liner notes in the ample booklet tell the tale.You need this-find a clean used copy at a good price-make yourself happy-you deserve it!