Preservation Act 1
Preservation: Act 1 is a 1973 concept album by the English rock group The Kinks. It is the eleventh studio album by The Kinks.
Preservation was not well received by critics and sold poorly (peaking on the Billboard 200 at #177), though the live performances of the material were much better received. Many hardcore Kinks fans were alienated by Ray Davies' melodramatic songwriting during the Preservation project era, resulting in albums that played more like the soundtracks to a piece of musical theatre than rock albums.
However, more recent reviews of Preservation: Act 1 have been more sympathetic to its ambitions. In particular, AllMusics Stephen Thomas Erlewine has declared "Sweet Lady Genevieve" to be the "real candidate for Davies' forgotten masterpiece".
The 1991 CD reissue on Rhino was a 2-CD set combining Preservation: Act 1 with its 1974 follow-up Preservation: Act 2, but with no bonus tracks other than an extended mix of "Money & Corruption / I Am Your Man", featuring an extra instrumental break.
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1963 by brothers Dave and Ray Davies. They are regarded as one of the most important and influential rock groups of the era. The band emerged in 1964 during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the US until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. Between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group released a string of hit singles; studio albums drew good reviews but sold less than compilations of their singles. They gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies' observational writing style. Albums such as Face to Face, Something Else, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround and Muswell Hillbillies, along with their accompanying singles, are considered among the most influential recordings of the period.
Kinks (album)
Kinks is the self-titled debut album by English rock band The Kinks, released in 1964. It was released with three tracks omitted as You Really Got Me in the US.
The album was re-released in 1998 in the UK on Castle Records with twelve bonus tracks. This reissue was itself reissued in 2004 on the Sanctuary label. A deluxe edition was released on 28 March 2011.
Reception
Allmusic assessed the album as lacking in consistency, commenting that "As R&B cover artists, the Kinks weren't nearly as adept as the Stones and Yardbirds; Ray Davies' original tunes were, "You Really Got Me" aside, perfunctory Mersey Beat-ish pastiches; and [the] tunes that producer Shel Talmy penned for the group... were simply abominable."
Track listing
All songs by Ray Davies, except where noted.
UK release (Pye NPL 18096 mono: NSPL 83021 stereo)
US Release You Really Got Me (Reprise R-6143 (mono) RS-6143 (stereo)) track listing
ACT 1
Freed from labor, mill girls joyously meet their boy friends at an amusement
park (Prologue: Carousel Waltz).Among them are the effervescent Carrie and
the moody Julie, who infuriates Mrs. Mullin, the carousel owner, by arousing
the interest of her barker (and lover, we infer), Billy. In the ensuing quarrel,
Billy is fired.
Carrie thinks Julie is attracted to Billy (You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan)
and fittingly chooses this as the moment to reveal that she, too, has a beau
(Mister Snow).
Billy returns, chases Carrie off, and romances Julie (If I Loved You).
Two months later, Julie and Billy are married and living with Julie's cousin
Nettie. Preparing for that evening's clambake, the girls and boys indulge in
a bit of gender scuffling, then, with Nettie presiding, celebrate the erotic
liberation of spring (Give It To 'Em Good, Carrie.../June Is Bustin' Out All Over.)
Julie confides toCarrie he marital problems: Billy is out of work and angry.
He has even hit Julie. Carrie's news is happier - Mister Snow and she are
engaged. The eavesdropping girls are thrilled, not least when Snow himself
shows up (Mister Snow reprise). Snow and Carrie look foward to married life:
a big family and a thriving business in canned sardines (When The Children
Are Asleep).
Whalers on the shore leave pile into a waterfront dive (Blow High, Blow Low)
and get into a brawl. One whaler, the infinitely sleazy Jigger, tries to
interest Billy in robbery, which they can pull off during the clambake.
Billy is leery - but then Julie tells him she is pregnant.
Overjoyed at the thought of fatherhood as he walks along the beach
(Soliloquy), Billy decides to turn thief with Jigger after all.
Nettie, Billy and Julie, Carrie and Mister Snow, Jigger and the rest of the
Gang sail off to the clambake.