2000 Great Songs #1370: Johnny Thunder
The Kinks ' 1968 masterpiece, Village Green Preservation Society , is one of the most-played records in my collection, yet this is only our second visit to the album. (Third if you count " Days ," but since that wasn't included on the version of the LP I first owned, I've always considered it a part of the mass of wonderful non-album tracks from the era.) Aside from the delightful title track , I tend to hear the rest of the album as a whole, so it's always been hard for me to pick favorites. I mean, songs like "Picture Book" and "Big Sky" are fantastic stand-alone tracks, but, still, it's so hard to single anything out. Yet I've always had a weird fascination with "Johnny Thunder"; maybe it's the odd, childlike la-la-las, or Ray's strained delivery. But I think it's just the closest thing the album has to a straight pop/rock song. At the time I bought Village Green back in high school, I knew the band for th...
