VOX POPULI & The Orchestra of the Swan - A Salute to THE KINKS

Vox Populi salute THE KINKS

with The Orchestra of the Swan (leader Davd le Page)

To celebrate 60 years of THE KINKS, Vox Populi, the new community choir for Leamington Spa, Coventry and surrounding areas sings Arthur (the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) and The Village Green Preservation Society in new arrangements by Harvey Brough for choir, soloists and chamber orchestra.

At the invitation of Ray Davies, Harvey Brough arranged these iconic LPs.

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 Brough 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.

We meet characters such as schoolfriend Walter (Do you remember Walter smoking cigarettes behind your garden gate?), Uncle Charlie (a-boozing with his friends in sunny Southend), Wicked Annabella, a temptress twisting minds, a Phenomenal Cat who eats his way around the world and Monica, who’ll do something wrong and prove to you she is right.

Songs from Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) is from 1969, 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.

WE ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY

GOD SAVE DONALD DUCK, VAUDEVILLE AND VARIETY

Host or Publisher Vox Populi