The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society should top this list

by Will on March 11, 2010

Wired has assembled the best concept albums of all time.

Tagged as: Concept Albums, The Kinks

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

{ 6 comments }

1 Chris Dierkes March 11, 2010 at 11:56 am

Beach Boys Pet Sounds

2 Aaron March 11, 2010 at 1:08 pm

Second on “Village Green.” Also: “Arthur, or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire.”

3 Lev March 11, 2010 at 2:39 pm

The Kinks’ best concept album was Muswell Hillbillies. My favorite of their albums, too, right before they tanked.

4 Neon Sign March 11, 2010 at 4:47 pm

Lev, They NEVER, EVER tanked. I suggest you go back and listen to the rest of the concept albums done by the Kinks in the 1970s. The songs are truly beautiful. And their arena era albums after that were also excellent — Misfits, Sleepwalker…amazing rock music that still holds up well to this day. Ray Davies’ songwriting belongs on a short list along with Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Bob Dylan and very few others. God Save The Kinks!!

5 Rufus March 11, 2010 at 5:03 pm

I know a lot of people who disagree, and I definitely love Ziggy Stardust, but as far as Bowie concept albums go, I think Diamond Dogs coheres just as well and is a bit weirder/darker. It’s got a bit of that cocaine paranoia vibe that disturbs me, but it’s hard to beat line after line like “Her face is sans feature but she wears a Dali broach”.

6 Mike Schilling March 15, 2010 at 3:07 pm

Village Green Preservation Society is wonderful, though the concept gets lost towards the end. (Wicked Anabella? Monica?) To its discredit, it spawned both the interesting failure Preservation Act 1 and the horrific botch Act 2.

And when discussing concept albums that fizzle out, we should not neglect the hilarious The Who Sell Out. Was there ever a cheesier (or funnier) PSA than “Radio London reminds you ‘Go to the church of your choice.’”?

Comments on this entry are closed.