University of Southampton Voices 'Village Green Preservation Society'

USV revisits Harvey Brough’s arrangement of the seminal Kinks album The Village Green Preservation Society, released in 1968.

The Village Green Preservation Society is a unique musical fusion of vaudeville, oompah, music hall, palm court and the blues (an outrageous remodelling of Smokestack Lightnin’) – all bound together by the inimitable Kinksian rock with a tongue in its cheek.

Harvey has taken material from the album and session outtakes to create a modern Oratorio of Englishness, a collection of portraits of eccentricity, sometimes nostalgic or regretful, yet always leavened with wryness and humour.

USV will also perform Songs from Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) from 1969. This is another highly original album, concerned with the Ten Pound Pom emigration to Australia with anti war songs (Yes Sir, No Sir and Mr Churchill Says) juxtaposed with the superb Shangri-La, an epic tale of domestic bliss.

Both albums touch on themes that are more relevant than ever today. Along with friendship, growing up, old age and the passing of time, they deal with conservation, property development, deity, and the importance of connecting with nature.