The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

 

Banned from America, Ray's songwriting went to a British extreme for this album, as he wrote while staring out the window of his London home. He dreams of preserving the "old ways" in the barroom singalong opening title cut that moves into a paean to a relative, "Walter", again, painfully British, but with a highly memorable melody. Of of my faves is the ultra catchy, acoustic-guitar-riff-laden "Picture Book", a tune about saving innocent, happy family memories followed by another fun, poppy acoustic number about "Johnny Thunder" (inspired by the same comic that gave the Dolls' guitarist his name, maybe?), and then they sorta return to their early bluesy roots for a Howlin' Wolf steal in "Last of the Steam Powered Trains" (appropriately rippin' "Smokestack Lightning"). I actually learned to truly appreciate the pretty camp take of religion, "Big Sky", due to Flop's more edgy version of it, but you can't deny the songwriting here - just wish that the band had a bit more bite in this period. 

They go a bit over-the-top vaudeville/camp in "Sitting By the Riverside", then create a quirky acoustic-driven, mid-tempo number in "Animal Farm", Ray pulls from almost medieval melodies for his quest for the past in "Village Green", then goes almost Calypso for the silly "Starstruck", more odd quirkiness for "Phenomenal Cat" that hits an absurd level in "All of My Friends Were There" with multiple time changes in a tale of public, drunken embarrassment. "Wicked Annabella" opens with a swingin' drum beat, giving it a bit more push than many of the numbers here, and the chords changes at times evoke the strangeness of a John Entwistle tune, while "Monica" sounds almost like a more straight-forward (in relative terms) extension of the former, and the closer, "People Taking Pictures Of Each Other" is more of Ray's whimsy.

While I've learned to dig more of this period of the band's legacy, it is still kind of spotty to me, as Ray goes overboard with his British-isms and witticisms and generally forgets about rockin'. There are some fine lyrical observations and nice melodies, but I miss the power chords, and even the electric guitars that are mostly missing here. I may be in the minority here, but I find this one good, but not terrific.