One of the greatest albums ever

The most mellow, relaxing album you could ever hope for. The Sunday afternoon drive cd. One of the few albums I could put on infinite repeat and never grow tired of. The record?

The KinksVillage Green Preservation Society. Simply put, it’s brilliant from start to finish. My history with it is pretty basic. Like everyone, I’m familiar with “Lola”, “You Really Got Me”, and “Come Dancing” from a youth spent listening to AOR radio stations. However, roundabout 1999, I was at a Creature Comforts show and they said they were going to do a Kinks’ cover. They then proceeded to play this head-wagging, jangly tune called “Picture Book” that immediately lodged itself in my brain.

I asked their lead singer, Chris, what album that the song was on. He informed me that it was on Village Green and that it was a must-own. So, the next day, I wander downtown, and after going to about three record shops, I manage to track down a copy. I take it home, throw it in the stereo, and I’m hooked from the opening piano notes.

The record is a real departure from what rock bands were doing at the time. In 1968, when it was released, the Stones and the Beatles were all in their “experiemental” phase, trying out shit like the tabla and using people like Ravi Shankar. The Kinks proceed to make this very pastoral album that looks back to the early 1900s. Almost MORE experimental than what the other groups were doing.

Go buy it. You know “Picture Book” from the Hewlett-Packard commercials. That should be good enough to make you want to hear the rest of the thing. And, rest assured, it will stay in your cd player for days, weeks, and months, and everyone you know will try and kill you for speaking about it incessantly.

the Kinks – “Last of the Steampowered Trains

Watch the HP commercial