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The Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society (Thirty Three and a Third series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Andy Miller
Publisher: Continuum
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 94285
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 4.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 0826414982
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.421660922
EAN: 9780826414984
ASIN: 0826414982
Publication Date: October 2003
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Product Description
Andy Miller has worked as a bookseller and a publisher (for Fourth Estate) in London. He is an occasional contributor to Majo, and has recently published his first book through Penguin in the UK, Tilting at Windmills: How I Tried to Stop Worrying and Love Sport.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 a thorough examination March 31, 2008
the kinks are the village green preservation society was released on the same day as the beatles white album, november 22, 1968.
the album charted nowhere in the world:the combined US sales of the album and its predecessor 'something else by the kinks' were estimated at a paltry 25,000.
those two facts out of the way, I'd like to declare the broad depth, research and discussion this tiny book carries.
the author analyses 'village green' beginning with the preceeding album(s)and singles while touching on related subjects involving following albums(Arthur, the great lost kinks album, Four More Respected Gentlemen, etc.)...the cultural climate, Rays' personal life and his family, what the rock scribes of the day had to say and quotes from all members of the Kinks.
Once into the album itself, Andy Miller details each track providing all there is to say, to report and to opine about said track. no stone left unturned.
such a small book and yet filled to the brim with really, absolutely everything there is to learn about the subject..that being, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. Through the entire book we learn specifically how its singer and songwriter Ray Davies felt about the album, his band and the success and lack of fortune that that period provided.
the many......many quotes from all concerned thoroughly explains every facet to the making of this cherished classic album.
indepth. seriously indepth. that is my statement regarding this book.
Andy Miller did a fantastic job.
Great Book! December 27, 2007
My first venture into the 33 1/3rd series and I will be buying more! The best thing that I can say about this (and it's what I have heard about everything in the series) is that after about ten pages in, I put on the record and haven't taken it off for several days. It avoids the pitfall of glossing over the problems and placing Ray and The Kinks on a pedestal. Instead it places them directly in context of the time that it was released, and the struggles for relevancy that they were experiencing. Fantastic.
 Better than the Pet Sounds book but still disappointing November 12, 2007
This is the second 33 1-3 book I've read and it'll probably be the last. It's much better than the first one I tried, Jim Fusilli's book on Pet Sounds, which was discursive and only occasionally illuminating. It begins promisingly, with a solid overview of the Kinks' place in the British music scene in the mid-60s and the band's fall from grace. There's a clear and informative summary of the band's disasterous year of 1968 and of the causes and effects of the group's internal strife during this period.
Once it gets to the album itself, however, the book falls short. For some reason (licensing? space constrictions?) the author chooses not to cite lyrics from the album; this weakens what analysis goes on here, as the reader is required to have committed the entire album to memory in order to follow some points made. Worse, most of the discussion of individual songs here is descriptive only, without much in the way of analysis of the song's musical or lyrical significance. That's a shame, especially for American readers who would really benefit from a discussion of the many specific and (to us, anyway) obscure British subtexts and references scattered throughout this great album.
Mr. Miller is an extremely capable writer, so reading this book was a breeze (Fusilli's book, in contrast, is full of annoying colloquialisms). There is some useful information here, but this is not the 'last word on TKATVGPS' that I'd hoped it would be. I'm beginning to suspect the entire 33 1-3 series has been too hastily written and edited--both books I've read fell well short of expectations.
Sufficiently Kink-y June 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The album with that may have the longest name in rock history, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, is now a book. It is part of the "33 1/3" series, now comprising over 40 volumes, with more on the way. Each volume is about an album, with musical acts far ranging from The Band to The Beastie Boys.
This particular volume, about the Ray Davies-led 1968 effort The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, is written by Andy Miller (many different authors have contributed to the series thus far). Seeing is how there wasn't one about Rush, I immediately picked up the one about The Kinks, one of the most underrated bands of the British Invasion.
TKATVGPS is a wonderful album, and being born almost 20 years after its initial release I was completely unaware is was a flop upon release. Miller's volume sheds light on the creation of the album, the recording sessions, and the relationship of the band to the album's material.
It tops out at 150 pages, and it's about six inches high, so it's a nice little volume. It doesn't, however, go into the meaning of the lyrics as much as I'd like, but I think that's a point of personal preference.
Overall, this volume of the 33 1/3 series is pretty well written, and a great gateway to understanding a great album. My only reservation is that the cover price on these is about $10. A couple dollars off of that and I'd be quick to buy several more.
If they have one about an album you're especially fond of, pick t up. This is a very cool series of books, and I hope it continues long into the future.
quick, but insightful reading March 9, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
this book offers track-by-track commentary about the album. i kinda wished there was more information about the begginigs of the band, as there is on other books of this collection. still worth reading though.
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