I have read where the 3 disc set Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society was supposed to have some 73 tracks, but 11 were cut at Ray Davies request. Does anyone know what these other 11 tracks were supposed to be and if they are available anyway? I know some of them (Till death do us part, shes got everything, when i turn off the living room lights) are available on the Great Lost kinks album Boot. But what about the others, whose titles I dont know? Thanks

I have oftened wondered why there has never been a collaboration between Mick and Ray, or, Keith and Ray. Ray Davies is truly a genius, the British Brian Wilson. Then, once, way back, I remember hearing something about an old falling out between the Stones and the Kinks, Ray in particular; however, I never got the full story as to why. Anyway, it just seems odd, as the Stones have, at one point or another, done a little of something with just about everyone in the British music scene. Why not Ray Davies? Surely the Stones recognize his greatness.

Yes Ray is a musical genius and greatly underrated as a musical talent. I always thought the Beatles and Stones benefited from the fact they each had two capable songwriters in their groups whereas Ray Davies and Pete Townshend carried the full songwriting load for their bands.

Well Dave Davies might disagree with you there. He claims to have written a lot of the music and Ray the lyrics...But yes, Ray is a brillian songsmith....

As for the Village Green, I don't have the answer, other than I have the three disc version and it is great!! Worth it! And the Stones should be looking at how the Kinks have released some great packages for the FANS. And The Kinks are not huge sellers as well.

x



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-06 05:29 by Beelyboy.

[www.amazon.co.uk]

This little book actually explains a lot. Great companion to this amazing record.

Beelyboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ray davies is as good a songwriter as any of his
> contemporaries, any of them...
> including dylan. and as fully diverse as the glims
> and bobby d. and john and paul at their best...and
> townshend...
> ray would put out a great rock opera every year or
> so like ten in a row or something...he's
> brilliant.
> sorry i can't answer your original question, but
> someone responded they have the fabled 3 disc set
> for 'village green!!! well, what's the track
> list...???
> in the states it was a single album release...two
> sides.
>
> [www.amazon.com]
> tion-Society/dp/B000002KOI
>
> and all hail Mick Avory, one of the most
> under-rated drummers in history, similarly to the
> fantastic Dino Danelli with the Rascals, in that
> respect.

Being from the states I've always known it to be a single cd- don't know of any three disc version of Village Green but would be interested if anyone had some info on it.

FrankM Wrote:
> Being from the states I've always known it to be a
> single cd- don't know of any three disc version of
> Village Green but would be interested if anyone
> had some info on it.

[www.amazon.com]
- mono + stereo + lots of outtakes + more

and don't miss the book [www.amazon.co.uk]

One of the things that me and other Kinks fans have appreciated is Ray's "Englishness". Waterloo Sunset etc. He'a wonderful writer with a better mind (!) than Brian Wilson.

Which is not to say that Wilson hasn't written some great songs.

My biggest regret- never saw The Kinks in concert.

[I am also a huge Kinks fan and the original tracklisting was all that different from what came out.

Here's the original announcement from April 2004:]

"From the News and Rumors site, the track listing for the new VGPS upcoming
"Deluxe Expanded Edition" is as follows (courtesy of the www.castlemusic.com
site):

Disc 1 contains the 15-track stereo version of the album, plus the
alternate stereo mixes from the 12-track version as bonus tracks

Disc 2 contains the 15-track mono mix of the album, plus the following
bonus tracks (all mono, I assume): "The Village Green Preservation Society
(No Strings Version)", "She's Got Everything", "Mr. Songbird", "Polly",
"Berkeley Mews", "Did You See His Name" and "Days"

Disc 3 has lots of exciting tracks:

Village Green (demo)
Village Green (Original version with double tracked vocals)
Village Green (orchestral overdub)
Misty Water (stereo from Four More Respected Gentlemen)
Pictures In The Sand (mono demo)
Do You Remember Walter (alternate stereo mix from euro edition)
Berkeley Mews (stereo from Four More Respected Gentlemen)
Easy Come, There You Went (instrumental)
Polly (stereo from Four More Respected Gentlemen)
She's Got Everything (stereo from Four More Respected Gentlemen)
Phenomenal Cat (Instrumental)
There Is No Life Without Love (stereo from Four More Respected Gentlemen)
Johnny Thunder (stereo remix)
Mick Avory's Underpants (Instrumental)
Lavender Hill (demo)
Rosemary's Rose (demo)
Spotty Grotty Anna (Instrumental)
Til Death Us Do Part (from Pye EP)
Where Did My Spring Go (demo)
People Take Pictures Of Each Other (stereo euro edition)
Ray Davies Interview (BBC session)
The Village Green Preservation Society (BBC session)
Do You Remember Walter (BBC session)
Animal Farm (BBC session)
Monica (BBC session)
Days (BBC session)"

[There was a press release from Sanctuary in June 2004 which elicited this response from a Kinks fan on Neil Ottenstein's list:]

More confusing information. According to this release, the mono mix of
Days is included at least twice, and it also includes the "single mix" of
Mr. Songbird, which as far as I know was never a single at all. Then
there's King Kong, which was already included on the reissue of Arthur
(wasn't it?), along with its A-side, Plastic Man, which doesn't make an
appearance here. And the "long stereo" version of Creeping Jean, which is
odd since the "not long" version from the single has never been released
on any Kinks CD; nor has its A-side, Hold My Hand, which makes no
appearance on this new release either. I'd say that might be a good sign
for the imminent release of Dave's 1969 album, which was promised two or
three years ago _ except Groovy Movies also shows up here for no apparent
reason, and why use it now if it's soon to appear on Dave's album?
Also, the note that the stereo version of VGPS has "oddly" never been
available on CD is about as wrong (not to mention "odd") as it could be.
It's available in the U.S. on Reprise, and has been for at least 10 years;
I also used to have a UK version, on Castle or one of those labels. And
there were probably more than that.
I don't get it. Despite my earlier vow, I'm still tempted to get this
thing, but with all these mistakes in the press release, how can you be
sure what you're getting?
Maybe the press release will be corrected. I hope the album doesn't need
to be, as was the case with the reissues of Arthur (fouled-up stereo of
This Man He Weeps Tonight) and Low Budget (two identical versions of
Gallon of Gas), and maybe others as well.

[So I don't think there's too much left. There is a great package on Phenomenal Cat that makes the rounds which includes nearly every other outake, radio session, and live recording. If there's something in particular you are looking for email me at bill@cri-search.com and I will burn a CDR for you. No need to line bootleggers pockets when a fan is willing to share.]

The only talk that I've ever heard of concerning a falling out between Ray and the Stones (and it's not too serious) was in 1981. The Kinks were offered the opening slot on some Stones shows and Ray refused saying The Kinks didn't open for anybody.