A review by matthewcpeck
The Kinks' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society by Andy Miller

4.0

Although 'TKATVGPS' is one of my desert island/and or stranded-in-space records, I've tended to pass over the Kinks in my mp3 shuffling, as of late. Andy Miller's breezy assessment (read it in a day) is an unexpected delight that renewed my appreciation for the singular concept album that birthed my love for the brothers Davies upon first listen, 10 years ago. The book consists of an account of the albums's conception and recording, a track-by-track analysis of the album and of the b-sides and rarities resulting from the recording sessions (thank God for SoulSeek). Miller writes the way I wish every music critic would write – he is erudite without hip name-dropping; he writes an equal amount of material about the purely musical elements as he does the thematic and lyrical stuff; and he evinces a genuine and contagious passion for the band. His mini-essay of ‘Big Sky’ will compel you to put the track on repeat. I don’t agree with all of his opinions – I think he undersells the more aggressive, rockin’ permutation of the Kinks that preceded and followed and this era – but, again, that’s what a critic is meant to do.
I don’t need a companion book to grasp the profundity of the Kinks’ opus, but now I have more verbal ammunition for convincing everybody to listen.