40 Years Ago Today

[womzilla]

On November 22, 1968, one of the greatest rock albums of all time was released.

Two years ago, By Neddie Jingo! said this about the Beatles' album Revolver (via):

If Rubber Soul, from late 1965, marked the moment that the Beatles began to see the world through the eyes of adults, then Revolver gives us the world as seen by adults who know they are going to die.

If Revolver was the first rock album to acknowledge the inevitability of death, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society was the first to acknowledge the inevitability of old age and the passing away of the world that was. In just 2:50, the eponymous song--written by Ray Davies, an old man at 25--captures generations of decline, memory, and loss while remaining relentlessly, smartly, cheerful.

And that's only the best of a great bunch of songs, an album marked by a solidity and coherence all the more remarkable given its incredibly chaotic and piecemeal composition while the Kinks stared down their own pop oblivion.

God save little shops, china cups and virginity . . . What more can we do?

Comments

[spuffyduds.livejournal.com]

LOOOOOOVE the Kinks. SOOOOOO much.

And MY BLOG came up JUNIOR HIGH!!! Geez. There's gay porn, people, what more do you WANT from me?!?

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

"God Save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula."

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

The Kinks tune I find most poignant is "God's Children," a wistful, beautifully catchy tune which I love beyond all reason despite the fact that it's an anti-transplant screed.

I don't know how the hell Ray Davies can make me love a song whose theme I completely oppose.

I guess that's why he's a genius.

[bugsybanana.livejournal.com]

I came to the Kinks via "Come Dancing," and only discovered the stuff from their heyday later. Which reminds me... (adds song to Word file of '80s songs I need on my eventual iPod)

I will have you know I went from the Making Light thread linked above to YouTube to see if they had Earth, Wind & Fire's (awesome) cover of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and got an eyeful of their appearance doing that very song in the film version of Sergeant Pepper's from 1978. Which I'd had no knowledge of, never having seen the film, only having read about it in The Golden Turkey Awards. See what you made me do?

[bugsybanana.livejournal.com]

BTW, my best friend in HS, who I'm sadly out of touch with (no one you've met), was born 11/22/68, which makes him 40 now. So it was already a cool day to me.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I actually saw Sgt. Peppers in the theatres. I was twelve. It was a rock musical, sort of. It was dark. They had guns.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

There is absolutely no reason for you to admit that.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Other Kinks songs everyone should have on their music players:

• Waterloo Sunset
  
• Two Sisters
  
• Death of a Clown
  
• Dedicated Follower of Fashion
  
• Get Back in Line
  
  
  Apparently, Something Else by the Kinks is the album to own.
  

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

"The Kink Kronikles," which collects their best stuff from the Reprise Years (roughly '66-'70, hits and rarities both) is a great starting place, but my favorite Kinks album is probably the country-tinged "Muswell Hillbillies," which is sort of their "Exile on Main Street." Brilliant stuff. "Oklahoma USA" is one of the most gorgeous things ever recorded, and "20th Century Man" and the title track are two of Ray's greatest libertarian pop gems.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

Ray Davies ranks for me with Pete Townshend in a tie for the greatest songwriter of the classic rock years -- and I honestly can't think of anyone since who comes close. And Davies is the better lyricist -- if only by volume.

My own favorite Davies number would be "Don't Forget to Dance," but "We Are..." is certainly one I find myself humming to this day.