Enormous 11-disc super deluxe edition • 2018 remasters • 174 tracks
BMG will issue a 50th anniversary edition of The Kinks‘ 1968 album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society in October.
The band’s sixth studio album was originally issued in November ’68 and would be the last album by the original line-up (bass player Pete Quaife departed in early 1969). Describin the album today, Davies says it’s about “the ending of a time personally for me in my life. In my imaginary village. It’s the end of our innocence, our youth. Some people are quite old but in the Village Green, you’re never allowed to grow up. I feel the project itself as part of a life cycle.”
The super deluxe edition is a eleven-disc set, no less. It contains a double vinyl LP with stereo and mono versions (both 2018 remasters) and a 12-track ‘Continental’ (Swedish) version on vinyl.
In addition there are five CDs of content as described below:
CD1:
2018 Stereo Remaster, from the original HD tape transfers + bonus tracks of singles, B sides and original album related tracks
CD2:
2018 Mono Remaster, from the original HD tape transfers + bonus tracks of singles, B sides and original album related tracks
CD3:
Village Green Sessions – Including alternate versions, mixes and backing tracks, many previously unreleased
CD4:
Village Green At The BBC – TV performance track audio and band interviews, many previously unreleased
CD5:
Preservation, Sessions, Live & Demos – including mid 70s recordings, previously unreleased home demos, Ray Davies live in Denmark 2010 and unreleased track ‘Time Song’.
The three remaining discs are a trio of replica seven-inch singles, reproduced in picture sleeves. They are:
Days / She’s Got Everything (1968)
Starstruck / Picture Book (1968)
The Village Green Preservation Society / Do You Remember Walter? (1969)