Village Green Preservation Society, The (Deluxe Edition) - Kinks (The) > Reviews > The Secret Album

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Cleverly written and beautifully crafted songs
Disadvantages:	Not everyone's cup of tea, but then, what is?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I saw a TV commercial just before Christmas and identified the accompanying music immediately as being by The Kinks, but I'd never heard the song before. Somewhat perplexed, as a fan of the band, I searched the net and found it was a song called 'Picture Book' taken from the 1968 album 'The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society'.

So why didn't I recollect it? Well, it's the forgotten album, it got trampled underfoot in the rush to buy other albums from the autumn of that year, such as the Beatles' White Album, The Stones' 'Beggars Banquet', and Jimi Hendrix' 'Electric Ladyland'.

The music was changing at the time, the flowers that grew so incredibly high were being crushed by the Street Fighting Man, Revolution was in the air....and here were the Kinks singing songs about, "draught beer, cricket and strawberry jam". The Kinks were out of favour, the album title didn't really help it's sales, and the record company didn't exactly herald the release of this record with blazing trumpets. So it slipped quietly away....

This edition is a triple CD compilation, but to prevent an overlong review I'll initially just cover the tracks on the original album, followed by a short summary of what else is stashed on this set.

~1 The Village Green Preservation Society

Not the strongest of openers but it's pleasant enough and sets the tone for the rest of the album. A medium-paced pop song with a kind of summer groove. Harmonies throughout, lead singer Ray Davies misses the old values:
" We are the Draught Beer Preservation Society
God save the Mrs Mops and dear Old Mother Riley"

~2 Do You Remember Walter?

A bouncing piano chord intro soon cascades into a Kinks-style adventure, twisting and turning through the verses, interlaced with horns, and with a slick chorus.Old friends change, apparently....

" I bet you're fat and married and in bed by half-past ten...
"Yes, people often change but memories of people can remain".
And this is years before the emergence of Friends Reunited!

~3 Picture Book

This is the one that featured on the TV ad I mentioned. Lively and catchy, this upbeat song never drags for a second. The riff is very, very similar to Green Day's 'Warning', though I'm not pointing fingers here! The song never becomes tiresome, and it's heavily flavoured with those special trademark Kinks 'offside' harmonies.

"Picture Book. pictures of your momma, taken by your poppa, a long time ago" A gem!

~4 Johnny Thunder

Acoustic based but with driving bass and drums, this is a very 60's feeling song about a biker. Lots of those high 'oohs' and girlie backing vocals, done by men in this case.

~5 Last of the Steam Powered Trains

A rocking, chugging blues underpinned by an infectious riff and added harmonica. Gets better as it progresses, speeds up at the end as the base starts to run amok, before hitting a runaway train crescendo with a chord reminiscent of those early raw Kinks 45's. As the final chord fades, the drums break in again for a further surprise verse.

~6 Big Sky

Ray Davies apparently doing his Burt Lancaster impersonation (according to the sleevenotes) on a spoken piece in this big production number. The mood softens for a sweet little sung passage, and then glides into a really beautiful, dreamy middle section that's somewhat reminiscent of 'Waterloo Sunset'.

~7 Sitting by the Riverside

Pleasantly twinkling piano (rather like a Scott Joplin rag)meanders through this languid summertime tune, until some weird effects fade in and takes the mood to a strange place. This passes and it's back to the picnic and the idyllic scene again, an accordion adding to the homely feel. Loosely in the style of 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' but with a gentle, peaceful groove.

~8 Animal Farm

Quite an upbeat song, with scrubbed acoustic guitar and filled with strings at the slower points. Ray gets dreamy again for the chorus, he still wants to return to the old ways.

~9 Village Green

This one's a punchy (the drums are up front), cossack type song with a medieval feel, a harpsichord decorating the melody. Lots of 'la la las' and 'oohs' in the background. Ray expresses his remorse at leaving behind his heritage:

"...t'was there I met a girl called Daisy, and kissed her by the old oak tree. Although I loved my Daisy, I saw fame, and so I left the Village Green".

~10 Starstruck

A calypso beat with conga drums and an ever-so catchy chorus. Crammed with those delicious Kinks harmonies, just when you wonder where it's going, the irresistible chorus slaps you in the ears. Really enjoyable.

~11 Phenomenal Cat

Here's a fairytale, the mood is set by an unaccompanied flute solo, Ray's voice gently supported by a bass drum and tambourine, plus some simple guitar chords. There's a strange helium voice in the background on the chorus - must be the cat!

~12 All of our Friends Were There

A speedy vaudeville start, Chas and Dave done in the style of the Kinks. The tempo changes to a waltz beat for the chorus, and at one point Ray adopts his city slicker accent as he did in 'Dedicated Follower'.

~13 Wicked Annabella

A tune about creepy things, witches and demons. A rolling drum controls this spooky song, and the ending is a psychedelic blast. I think that's Dave Davies taking the lead on this one.

~14 Monica

It's Latin American time again, and after a quite gentle the guitar toughens up a little and the song gets stronger as it progresses. Another very addictive chorus, and once again those luscious harmonies fill the melody out.

~15 People Take Pictures of Each Other

No slouching on this one, straight in with a racing piano, the cossacks are back! There's a you-can-all-join-in chorus that after every third beat makes you want to shout "Yah!"

So that's the basic album, but there are also bonus songs on Disc 1, most notably 'Days' which although recorded around the time of the album, was not included. There are also a couple of alternate versions of songs from the album Disc 1.

Disc 2 has the full album again but the mono mix is remastered from the original tapes, plus the mono mixes of 'Polly', 'Days' and 'Wonderboy', among others. There's the excellent honky-tonk 'Berkeley Mews' on there too, plus 'Mr Songbird' and another alternate mix from the album.

Disc 3 is entitled further listening 1966 - 1969, and again has several alternate mixes of album songs, with added orchestration for example. There are several unused songs included, the most notable being 'Misty Water', 'Lavender Hill', and 'Rosemary Rose', and there are three selections from the Kinks BBC sessions dated between 1968 and 1970.

In summary, I can quite clearly see why the album nosedived on it's release, but 37 years on it sounds really good, and demonstrates the thoughtful songwriting of Ray Davies, as well as the mellower side of the Kinks. The band themselves are quoted as being very proud of this album, Pete Townshend stated last year that it was their 'Sergeant Pepper'.

And, of course, it's intriguing, as in my case, to hear for the first time a recording that was made way back in 1968.