THE KINKS Are The Village Green Preservation Society

	£		105
	$		139

THE KINKS

ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY

This is a rare opportunity to aquire an original 1968 UK mono 1st Pressing on the 1st Press Pye label of the LP 'The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society'.

It was one of those albums that did not really perform in commercial sales terms at the time but, with the benefit of hindsight, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is now seen as one of the major album releases of the 1960s. Pete Townshend of the Who described the album as Ray Davies' masterpiece, his Sergeant Pepper. Davies himself called the album "pop's best-kept secret." The Village Green Preservation Society, loaded with so much imagination and possibility, stands more than ever as a vital work, and as one of rock's first classic, one-of-a-kind albums.

A piece of near perfect pop perfection repeatedly imitated and arguably never bettered. It's essentially an anachronistic concept album, lamenting the decline of an imaginary British way of life, the joy of a pint of beer, and the last of the, "good old fashioned" steam powered trains. "Sitting by the River Side" expresses the joy of simply sitting down by the river and watching the water go by, and "Animal Farm" declares the desire to return to the pastoral country side to evade the increasingly whirlwind and "insane" pace of modern urban life. 

Lyrical content aside, it's the music itself that carries Village Green from an odd ball piece of rose tinted British nostalgia, to a rightfully regarded piece of song writing brilliance. Gentle, folk-like arrangements flirt with traditional English music hall melodies to create frequently stunning pop ditties, injected with a dose of intelligently accessible complexity that props the album up, from what could have been merely comedic, to serious brilliance.

Taken as a whole, Village Green presents an artistic statement that is immediately familiar on first listen; an artistic statement examining the motivations, fears, and concerns behind day to day existence, never dwelling into the realm of posturing pretension, instead comfortable enough to boldly stand on its own legs, expressing a gentle and sentimental vision through the lens of intelligent pop music. A unique accomplishment for any era, it's no wonder that The Village Green Preservation Society is not just viewed by many as a good album, it's viewed as an essential album, a '60s classic, if not a timeless one. 

THE RECORD VINYL :-

RUN OFF GROVE : Matrix numbers side one : NPL 18233-A 

RUN OFF GROVE : Matrix numbers side two : NPL 18233-B 

THE RECORD LABEL:- 

The original PYE LIGHT BLUE LABEL MONO; both sides are in very good condition, with minor spindle marks on each side.  (Please see photos). 

THE RECORD SLEEVE:- 

The laminated gatefold sleeve is in good condition,  with some wear to the corners and to the upper and lower edges of the front cover. The top right corner to the front of the sleeve shows a crease with the laminate remaining intact. A similar crease is visible to the back of the sleeve at the top left corner. (Please see photo's). Comes with the original inner sleeve.

Track listing:

Side One

1) Village Green Preservation Society 2) Do You Remember Walter 3) Picture Book 4) Johnny Thunder 5) The Last Of The Steam-Powered Trains 6) Big Sky 7) Sitting By The Riverside

Side Two

1) Animal Farm 2) Village Green 3) Starstruck 4) Phenomenal Cat 5) All Of My Friends Were There 6) Wicked Annabella 7) Monica 8) People Take Pictures Of Each Other.

THIS LP IS VERY RARE AND HARD TO FIND - ESPECIALLY IN MONO. THIS HAS TO BE REGARDED AS ONE OF THE RAREST KINKS LPS - AND CERTAINLY ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER.