BMGThe 50th anniversary reissue of The Kinks‘ acclaimed album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society arrives today in multiple formats and configurations, including a super-deluxe box set.
The loose concept album finds frontman Ray Davies getting nostalgic about rural U.K. life and the vanishing “old ways” of his homeland.
Kinks guitarist Dave Davies tells ABC Radio that The Village Green Preservation Society is “a very powerful record,” thanks to his brother Ray’s songwriting.
“There are some beautiful ideas on it, and themes and concepts,” Dave notes. “It evokes so many ideas about the past, that we can’t let certain things go because we’re trying to keep things that are good, but still, we’ve got to forge our way into an unknown future.”
He also notes that family and characters from the local community were big inspirations for Village Green‘s songs.
“Ray’s writing is drawn from family and the people involved with the family,” Dave maintains. “So Village Green really expresses this in a very deep way, I think, about the people that we grew up with…neighbors and weird people that we make weirder with our imagination.”
As previously reported, super-deluxe Village Green box set features five CDs, two vinyl LPs, three seven-inch vinyl singles housed in picture sleeves, a 52-page hardback book and a variety of memorabilia.
Dave tells ABC that his contributions to the package include a written piece reflecting on Village Green and a series of paintings inspired by characters from the album’s songs, among them “Wicked Annabella,” “Phenomenal Cat” and “Monica.”
Among the many bonus tracks on the reissue are some unreleased demos Ray had found on a cassette; Dave says he’s the one who convinced his brother to include them.
Visit TheKinks.info for more details about the reissues.
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