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

[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.