The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society is the sixth studio album by the English rock group the Kinks, released in November 1968. It was the last album by the original quartet (Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Pete Quaife, Mick Avory), as bassist Quaife left the group in early 1969. A collection of vignettes of English life, "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" was assembled from songs written and recorded over the previous two years. Although the record is widely considered one of the most influential and important works by
The Kinks yet failed to sell strongly. One factor in the album's initial commercial failure was the lack of a popular single. It did not include the moderately successful "Days"; "Starstruck" was released in North America and continental Europe, but was unsuccessful. Though a commercial disappointment, "Village Green" (the project's original name was adopted as shorthand for the long album title) was embraced by the new underground rock press when it came out in January 1969 in the United States, where the Kinks began to acquire a reputation as a cult band. In "The Village Voice", a newly hired Robert Christgau called