Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

7. The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

LG: This is a mega album. I only heard it recently and it’s very English, innit?

AB: The production on this is so in the room. This came out the year after Sgt Pepper and the title tune pootles along really nicely.

LG: It’s like an old sitcom, you know what I mean? It’s like Rising Damp and it’s very English.

AB: It’s got great lyrics and it makes me laugh and it captures something about our parents’ lives, really. That’s the great thing about Ray Davies: he was like a mirror. In the mid 60s he’d be sat at home with a cup of tea and musically celebrating the jam on his toast. And it was natural for him to do that – that was him. But when you get other people adopting that as a style then it becomes a bit silly for me.

LG: It’s like a Lowry painting and it’s top.

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