THE KINKS "VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION" RARE 1968 FIRST PRESS A NICE COPY

$

60

THE KINKS

THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY

LABEL: REPRISE 6327

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 1968

ORIGINAL FIRST PRESS STEREO GATEFOLD

CONDITION: VINYL VG+ *** JACKET EX- 

This is an original first pressing from the fall of 1968 on the 2-color steamboat Reprise label. It’s a nice gatefold album with 15 tracks and a picture of the original band members on the inside. 

This album is notable for being the last studio recording with the original Kinks lineup of Ray Davies, his brother Dave Davies on guitar/vocals, Pete Quaife playing bass and Mick Avory at the drums.

In addition to the usual lineup, this album also has the great Nicky Hopkins on organ, mellotron and piano. Quaife left the band shortly after this album was released. “Thank you for the Daze!” 

When the Kinks' sixth album, ‘The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society’, was released in November 1968, the band hadn’t had a top ten hit in over 3 years. The preceding two albums didn't even break into the Top 100; ‘Village Green’ itself failed to chart altogether. 

Sales wise, it wasn't exactly the best time to be the Kinks, but creatively, according to the critics and fans, they were never better.

In my opinion, the five-year period between 1966's ‘Face to Face’ and 1971's ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ yielded their greatest albums. Problem was, not many fans purchased them and not too many people heard them at the time they were released. They got no sales and less air play at the time. 

The records have since picked up considerably more fans over the years.

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“Village Green” is now considered one of the groups best records and reflective of some of Ray Davies best writing. 

The title track’s lyrics seem to sum up Ray’s vision for the entire album: “Preserving the old ways from being abused / Protecting the new ways, for me and for you."

In late 1968, Ray Davies and The Kinks were pining for a mythical small-town Britain that probably never actually existed except in their minds.

In his songwriting, Ray Davies makes you realize how much there is to observe in the everyday life all around us; everyday people and places, waiting to be explored, inspected and explored again.

The album was Ray’s spry, personal love letter to postwar Britain at a time when old shops were closing, steam trains were being replaced, and old English ways of life were being stripped away for new ‘modern’ thoughts and styles. Reaching back to a time when life wasn’t quite so caustic and frustrating, The Kinks journey “far from all the soot and noise of the city” to the ‘Village Green’.

Ray Davies abandoned almost everything the Kinks were best known for at the time and instead he favored character studies and detailed bucolic English scenes over guitars and grunge. Ray Davies was moving way beyond the primitive three-chord guitar rock that established the Kinks as one of the British Invasion's brightest groups and into music that was more challenging to both himself and the band's audience. More introspective, witty, timely, intelligent.

All at once promoting and poking fun at the bourgeois obsession with respectability and uniformity first broached on “A Well Respected Man”, singer-songwriter Ray Davies presents a sedate alternative to the tumultuous urban landscape of London.

‘Village Green’ elucidates a quaint lifestyle that The Kinks’ contemporaries summarily dismissed as boring, stifling, and empty.

The Kinks take us to a place where friendliness isn’t just an act and the sounds of the city softly fade away (“It’s a quiet, quiet life”). Of course, this “quiet life” isn’t for everyone. Free spirits and nonconformists are poorly suited for the monotonous lull of the Village Green. Craving adventure, excitement, and stardom, these renegades are compelled to venture out and seek their fortune. “This world is big and wild and half insane,” sings a bubbly Ray Davies on “Animal Farm”.

Songs like the existentially angsty “Animal Farm,” the wistful “Do You Remember Walter?” and the quirky “People Take Pictures of Each Other” are among the best Davies ever wrote.

Despite sluggish album sales, The Kinks’ lead guitarist dubbed ‘Village Green’ “the best thing we’ve ever done.” And he’s absolutely correct.

At the time they released “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society,” one of the greatest albums in rock history, the Kinks were at a low ebb in their career. 

With hits like “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Well Respected Man,” and “Sunny Afternoon,” they’d been one of the most successful groups to emerge from the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. But by the time of this album’s release late in 1968, they hadn’t had a hit single in several years, they’d been forbidden from touring the U.S. (after running afoul of the musicians’ union), and the new music from chief songwriter Ray Davies was far out of step with the psychedelia and hard rock that their contemporaries were embracing at the time. 

It’s hard to imagine a less hip perspective and direction for a rock band like The Kinks to take in the cataclysmic year of 1968. 1968 saw the Beatles White Album, Cream, Hendrix, and the Rolling Stones. 

Instead of looking into a psychedelic, paisley-covered future of free love, revolution and mind-altering substances, with “Village Green” Davies focused on acoustic arrangements and longed for the 1950s England of his childhood, with Tudor houses, stolen kisses “beneath the old oak tree,” and, as he sings in the title track of this unassuming masterpiece, “little shops, china cups, and virginity.”

When the rock world was zigging, they were one of the few acts to zag. 

It’s a deeply thoughtful and personal album filled with soul-searing melodies, beautiful harmonies from Davies and his guitarist brother Dave, and vivid characters like “Johnny Thunder,” “Walter”, the “Phenomenal Cat,” and “Wicked Annabella.” It’s a rose-colored, deeply nostalgic look at a world that was vanishing as quickly as he could write songs about its passing. 

Nobody wanted an album like ‘Village Green’ at the time. Heavy metal and Psych rock were king. The Kinks had some major competition for the record buyer’s ear at the time. ‘Village Green’ was released the same day as the Beatles White album. Which do you think swinging London talked about more?? 

Derided at the time it was released, Village Green, through time, and particularly in these hectic days, turns out to be one of the best things Ray Davies and the group ever did. Over the decades its importance as a terrific, even legendary, pop album has grown exponentially. 

‘Village Green’ has become what many consider to be one of the finest pop albums in UK history. It remains crisp, innovative and oddly contemporary. Pete Townshend called it a “pop masterpiece.” 

‘Village Green’ is rightfully regarded as an example of song writing brilliance. Whenever I listen to it, I am reminded of Ray's genius but also his modesty and humility. 

Though widely disregarded at the time of its release, The Kinks' 1968 album, Village Green,’ has had a profound impact on the present state of indie rock. 

Only years later did the public realize what a masterpiece this album really was, hidden in all the chaos of the music released that year.

“Village Green” eventually took its rightful place as the classic record it is: Its influence has resonated across several generations of rock and pop acts both in England as well as the USA. 

A half-century later, ‘Village Green’ still sounds both timeless and of its time. That's part of its appeal. One of rock's great records.

This auction is for a stereo first pressing copy of the Rare 1968 LP “THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY"

The record is in decent shape, probably VG+, with some light scratches and scuffs, but nothing too severe. It plays thru fine with a few pops and clicks, which add charm and authenticity to this 50 year old record. It has the original two color 'steamboat' reprise labels. 

This is a very rare album and copies in ANY condition rarely come up for sale. This record has been in my personal collection as long as I can remember. It may have come from my days in college radio. It’s all a bit hazy. 

By 1968, America had lost interest in the Kinks. They hadn’t had a hit record in years, they were banned from touring in the US from 1966 to 1969 due to Union problems. By then, psychedelia and heavy metal (zeppelin, steppenwolf, cream, iron butterfly) were all the rage and the Kinks style of music wasn’t popular anymore. Essentially, The Kinks had all but disappeared from the record buying public by 1968, the year this LP was released. Few in the US purchased a copy and originals, like this are very hard to find.

Condition: I’d call this VG+ overall. As mentioned, my personal copy. Light scratches and scuffs from wear and play.

Cover is in good condition for it's age. Mild ringwear and scuffs, not bad. Gatefold tight and clean inside.

Looks great, plays OK. It’s been properly stored in my personal collection for years. I’m sure you’ll be more than happy with this rare record. Overall, a great copy and one of the better condition ones I've seen lately. Actually one of the ONLY ones I've seen lately. 

I’m retired and downsizing and letting go some gems from nearly 50 years of record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s on my page!

Shipping cost within the lower 48 states is $6.00 (six) via USPS first class. Shipping costs are ridiculously pricey these days. I will be glad to ship international for whatever the exact cost to do so is. We can talk after the auction is over and work out the details. I do NOT gouge on my shipping charges. It costs what it costs.

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All LP's come with generic white paper inner sleeves and simple poly-bags, unless otherwise noted or pictured. I do try to match up proper, appropriate generic company sleeves with my 45’s and LP's and I’ll gladly include them if I have them. 

All items are packaged with sturdy cardboard mailers and filler pads. I take pride in my packaging and shipping and pack my records as if I were sending them to myself. I refuse to use cheap flimsy packaging material when sending my records. I treat them as if they were my own and mail them the same way.

All records have been cleaned and played by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally clean them and then play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging. I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.

I’ve been told by other vinyl collecting friends that I under-grade the condition of my records. I see no harm in that. If that VG+ record comes and it’s nicer that you thought, great! We’ve all been burned by that EX- record purchase only to get it and it looks like it was cleaned with sandpaper and played with a rusty nail. My goal is to avoid that ever happening to me or you ever again. My grading is fair and honest and I will ALWAYS refund you for anything you’re not happy with. I have had nearly 3,000 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years and I have been buying/selling on ebay for over 15 years, so please bid with confidence!

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