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

[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.