The Kinks called "Village Green". In an attempt to revive the group's commercial standing, the Kinks' management booked them on a month-long package tour for April, drawing the group away from the studio. The venues were largely cabarets and clubs; headlining was Peter Frampton's group The Herd. "In general, the teenyboppers were not there to see the boring old Kinks, who occasionally had to endure chants of 'We Want The Herd!' during their brief appearances", commented Andy Miller. The tour proved taxing and stressful—Pete Quaife recalled, "It was a chore, very dull, boring and straightforward... We only did twenty minutes, but it
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society LP was released in France, Italy, Sweden, Norway and New Zealand. These have since become rare and collectible. Upon its release "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" was greeted with almost unanimously positive reviews from rock critics but failed to sell strongly, an estimated 100,000 copies worldwide. Despite this slow start, the album has since become the Kinks' best-selling original record. The album did not have a popular single ("Starstruck" was released in North America and continental Europe, but failed to chart anywhere but the Netherlands). Although it was commercially unsuccessful upon its US release in January 1969,