The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (2018 Stereo Remaster) (1968/2018) [Hi-Res]

BMG will be releasing a definitive version of the album many consider to be The Kinks’ singular masterpiece, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which celebrates its 50th anniversary.

The new version of the album, which will be made available in a variety of formats, features a gorgeous, previously unreleased track entitled “Time Song” that was mixed earlier this year by Ray Davies himself. Though it was never included on an official release, The Kinks did perform the song during their January 1973 concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in celebration of Great Britain’s acceptance into the Common Market.

“When we played a concert at Drury Lane in ’73 to “celebrate” us about to join what was called The Common Market, I decided to use the song as a warning that time was running out for the old British Empire,” Davies explains in the press release announcing the Village Green reissue. “This song was recorded a few weeks later but never made the final cut on the Preservation Act I album. Oddly enough, the song seems quite poignant and appropriate to release at this time in British history, and like Europe itself the track is a rough mix which still has to be finessed.”

“I think The Village Green Preservation Society is about the ending of a time personally for me in my life,” Davies said in a prepared statement. “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.”

Digitally remastered