Is "The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society" the best record of the 60's?

By the way William, I think they'd kinda got over beating each other up by 1968. Most of that stuff happened a couple of years earlier.

Their run of albums from "Kinda Kinks" in 1965 to "Arthur" in 1969 (via "Kinks Kontroversy", "Face to Face", "Something Else", and "Village Green") is unimpeachably great rock n' roll.

Piss to the NME.

But it's not bad. Half the album is terrific and deeply evocative, sadly the other half is self-consciously "quaint" shit. If I can turn this round into another kind of thread: search "Johnny Thunder", destroy "Phenomenal Cat".

Long live the Village Green! And "Phenomenal cat" is COOL.

I love this album. Possibly my favorite Kinks album, if not Face To Face.

but it's up there, and that's rather rarified and prestigious company to be keeping. and TKATVGPS is flawless (yes, including "phenomenal cat"). there's just something so winsome and ethereal about it, like other great Kinks albums yet so very different. i really don't think Ray Davies ever did anything better.

My favourite Kinks album remains "Something Else" though..

"Village Green" is one of my favorite albums of all time, yet I've always wondered "What if they had done it in a rockinger, early Kinks style?" Then I listened again and realized that it could be rockinger simply by putting the vocals lower in the mix. Listen to "Do You Remember Walter" and you can hear some primo fuzz guitar that could make the song downright Stoogesian if it were mixed differently.

Now there's fat chance of Ray Davies remixing it a la Iggy and "Raw Power," but if someone with that mash-up software could separate the vocals and guitar, you could have a loud guitar version of "V. Green Prez Soc." that might be really great. Or an abomination. But dammit, I'd like to hear it anyhow.

Schoolboys in Disgrace
Preservation Act's 1 and 2 ("Flash's Confession" is a classic track)
Muswell Hillbillys
Their first 10 albums

Anyway, I also think "Arthur" is a better album, For one thing, it actually rocks.

And to say that Village Green has "Better playing" than Arthur is a bit ridiculous, I think. Just listen to "Shangri-La" and "Australia" alone. Both epic tracks. Dave Davies plays some of his best guitar on that album, bar none.

Anyway, great band, great album. The new Ray Davies CD is decent also, actually. Weird.

- e

Picked up the new(ish?) MOJO yesterday with more lurid Daviesploitation and a Kinks-covers CD, which on first listen at least pales against the Ryko tribute album.

so really no, not even in my top 20 for the '60s.

Ray Davies played here last night. Hear he opened up with "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," did fine. and a mini-suite of songs from Village Green, of course. which is now the Kinks album hipster de jour, of course.

2. but I revived this thread hoping that some non-hater out there has the ability to separate vocal and instrumental tracks, i.e. mash-up making software, so I could listen to a guitar-ified version of Village Green.

3. Can anyone tell me if there's a way I can get my paws on that software without paying a ton of dough?

4. Quit hatin'.

My whole idea, which no one else seemed to think worthwhile, was that Village Green would be an even better and more interesting album if you could de-emphasize the vocals/lyrics and turn up the guitar.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Kinks quieter albums are secretly wild and rocking albums that have had the vocals mixed way too high. And I promise I won't say anything else and leave everyone to dis poor ol' Ray.

and Village Green is a great record. Wicked Anabella needs nothing to kick more ass.

The Kinks: Echoes of a World. On Sky Arts tonight at 9pm.

https://www.sky.com/watch/title/programme/5259403a-bffb-4d15-9522-196db0b53f6f/the-kinks-echoes-of-a-world

VGPS may be my favourite record of the 60s, but calling it "best" seems almost unseemly. Like it should be rated #11 or so, just for modesty's sake, in line with the mood of the album.

I don't know if the poster upthread who wanted to turn "Do You Remember Walter" into "Search and Destroy" was ever going to be satisfied with this record.

LOL. All of the surviving Kinks were worryingly doddery in this programme.

the notion of Walter as one of the weaker tracks on this album has given me a serious agony

The song does, in fact, have a crunchy electric with some whammy-bar in the background. We'll probably never hear it any better, though; "Johnny Thunder" is the only song from this album where they located the multi-tracks to make a remix.

I can't say I would be sad if the Kinks are too old to do another album or tour again. As one of their British Invasion colleagues said, "Let It Bleed".

I like how shoddy it sounds - like no one cared - yet the compositions show great care

I like how the lead vocal will sometimes be completely panned to the left or right, it's very striking, but almost nobody would do that after 1968.

agreed =-0=-0 especially with headphones its noticably interesting