The Kinks - "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono, 2014/1968 (Sanctuary Records)

It took me a while, but I finally purchased a new or mint copy of the Mono edition of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society." The sound of the record is brilliant, but what's more important is the music itself.  Clearly a masterpiece, and I think it is at that status due to its powerful images of a world that is a combination of William Makepeace Thackeray, Henry James, and a touch of Oscar Wilde. In other words, it's British, but not the lad England of Oasis but the world of English gentlemen, quiet pubs, and great inner depression.  Perhaps there is a touch of the Angry Young Men movement as well.  It's a shame that this album was never turned into a musical in London's West End.  There is no narrative, but one can quickly write the 'book' and make this an instant classic, just due to the excellence of the songs.  

I originally bought this album in the time of its original release in 1968.  I have been a somewhat consistent Kinks fan, but life in Los Angeles didn't always allow an easy route to purchase a Kinks album, even though they were on Reprise Records in America.   For one, they dropped out of the press or TV appearances, and for about six months, I totally forgot that they even existed.  I came upon this album when I lived in Topanga Canyon, and I felt like a prisoner in that area of the world.  "Village Green" unknown to me at the point of purchase, exposed me to another prison, but one in Merryland England.   My sense of alienation perfectly fitted the mood of this Kinks' album.  When I got home with the record and put it on my turntable, I think I felt tears from my eyes.  I never had a record that encouraged such an emotional response before.  It wasn't sadness exactly, but more of the fact that I too felt I lived in a village, and there is something rotten in that neighborhood.  

Also, this is very much music made by and for Dandies.  I like the cover, but I feel that it should have been a painting portrait of The Kinks, perhaps in oil, or even an image of Francis Bacon at the very least.  Still, over the years I have purchased this album in every format possible, and it was until very recently I bought the Mono mix of "Village Green."   For my ears, it sounds more punchy and forceful, and therefore I prefer the Mono to the stereo mix.  Not one wrong musical moment on this record, it's perfection as an art form, with the band performing this delicate music as an oil painting or perhaps building the village as a sculpture.  One of the remarkable albums from the 20th-century.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - "Merrie Land" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2018 (Studio 13)

Sad, but a very compelling work from Damon Albarn and the band 'The Good, The Bad & The Queen,' which also has the talents of Paul Simonon on strong bass, Simon Tong on guitar, and the extraordinary drummer Tony Allen.  "Merrie Land" is a very tight focus on the nature of England, and how it looks at its past but also dealing with a sense of loss with respect to Brexit.

 Albarn and company may be the first artist/band to comment on Brexit, and what it means to them as well as to British culture.  The song and title "Merrie Land" is ironic because it deals with the thought of nostalgia, but in fact, it's fantasy.   "Merrie Land" deals with England as a concept, as well as an illusion.  For some reason, whenever I hear or think of Brexit, I think of Jonathan Swift's book "Gulliver's Travels."  England is not only an island, but it thinks culturally like an island as well.  Part of the world, yet separated by water, and again in fantasy likes to think of itself as mental fort set aside by the thought of Britain first.  Nationalism is an ugly neighbor, and I suspect that Albarn and company are exploring the disillusion of a place and time.

Musically the album reminds me of Madness, who also sung of British characters, and maybe even a cousin to The Kinks' "Village Green Preservation Society."  "Merrie Land" and "Village Green" deal with the concept of England that's partly cinematic but also being thrust to the present, and the feeling of insecurity that goes with change.  Michael Redgrave on the cover of the album is a perfect visual for the sounds inside the jacket, which is theatrical in a British music hall manner.

The band itself is restrained and working together to make mood that's dread, with a touch of The Specials' "Ghost Town" thrown in the mix.  Tony Visconti co-produced the album, and there are traces of the vibe from David Bowie's "Blackstar."  "Merrie Land" has great beauty, like all things sad.  I feel that there should be a Criterion DVD added to the package, as if "Merrie Land" was already a film or book.   It feels like a classic work, and I think people will listen to this album thinking what was the beginning of the Brexit years were like?   Art is giving an impression of a feeling or writing something down on the sand before the tide takes it away.

The Kinks - "The Kink Kronikles" 2 x Vinyl, Compilation, 1972 (Reprise)

I have always loved The Kinks since I first heard their music in 1964, but it was in the late 60s and early 1970s where I became a fanatic fan.  Their album from 1968 "The Village Green Preservation Society" opened me up in an emotional manner that to this day was a unique experience for me.  I have heard people taking a walk and finding God in their lives, and correspondingly, this is what happened to me with respect to The Kinks.   Throughout the early 1970s, I went to see the band play at the Santa Monica Civic numerous times.  As a teenager, I was liberated at the thought of Ray Davies acting 'camp' in front of an audience, but also his sharp lyrical writing skills of telling a story, or observing a life that's quiet, yet full of emotional meaning.  "The Kink Kronikles" was heaven sent for the American fan because it added Kinks songs that were not available to the U.S. market at the time of its release (1972).

For the first time, I heard songs "Deadend Street," "Autumn Almanac," and "Did You See His Name?"   I don't know how I missed these songs in the first place, but by late 1966 and early '67, the Kinks sort of disappeared in the U.S. marketplace.  "The Kinks Kronikles" is an excellent compilation of those years, and it shows the genius of Ray Davies but also the sound and vision of the band, as they focus on the little things in life that are significant in one's life.  "Lola" a song about gender confusion on the dance floor has enough detail in its story to be a novella.

More important this is an album for the Kink fanatic, and usually, this double-record was passed among other fans, in a secret society of lovers of this type of music.  John Mendelsohn's liner notes describe precisely what made the Kinks a fantastic force in one's life.  For those who are not familiar with the magic that is The Kinks, this is a magnificent collection that will wet your hunger for more.