The Kinks - Are The Village Green Preservation Society (3 CD Deluxe Edition)

Digitally remastered and expanded deluxe three CD edition of their 1968 masterpiece includes a plethora of bonus material featuring original stereo mixes, mono versions, demos, Euro editions, instrumentals BBC sessions and more. It's easy to imagine the confusion with which this manifesto for the defence of the status quo was received on its release in 1968. The world was in turmoil and the pose of the Street Fighting Man, turned on, rebellious and politically aware, was far sexier than the quaint homebody image the Kinks present here. The title track finds Ray Davies proudly declaring himself a preservationist of custard pies, vaudeville, and such comic book characters as Desperate Dan. To compound the weirdness there's also "Big Sky", a classic Kinks song about God that's not remotely religious, and a rocker about a steam engine. The overarching theme of Village Green... is nostalgia--it's only today, now that many of the things Davies feared would disappear have actually vanished, that the truth and clarity of his vision is apparent.

Track Listing:

DISC 1:
1. The Village Green Preservation Society
2. Do You Remember Walter
3. Picture Book
4. Johnny Thunder
5. Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
6. Big Sky
7. Sitting By The Riverside
8. Animal Farm
9. Village Green
10. Starstruck
11. Phenomenal Cat
12. All Of My Friends Were There
13. Wicked Annabella
14. Monica
15. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
16. Mr. Songbird
17. Days
18. Do You Remember Walter
19. People Take Pictures Of Each Other

DISC 2:
1. The Village Green Preservation Society
2. Do You Remember Walter
3. Picture Book
4. Johnny Thunder
5. Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
6. Big Sky
7. Sitting By The Riverside
8. Animal Farm
9. Village Green
10. Starstruck
11. Phenomenal Cat
12. All Of My Friends Were There
13. Wicked Annabella
14. Monica
15. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
16. Days
17. Mr. Songbird
18. Polly
19. Wonderboy
20. Berkeley Mews
21. Village Green

DISC 3:
1. Village Green
2. Misty Water
3. Berkeley Mews
4. Easy Come, There You Went
5. Polly
6. Animal Farm
7. Phenomenal Cat
8. Johnny Thunder
9. Did You See His Name
10. Mick Avory's Underpants
11. Lavender Hill
12. Rosemary Rose
13. Wonderboy
14. Spotty Grotty Anna
15. Where Did My Spring Go
16. Groovy Movies
17. Creeping Jean
18. King Kong
19. Misty Water
20. Do You Remember Walter
21. Animal Farm
22. Days