Man, Village Green is such a cool album, alltime top 10 for me sometimes. And "Picture Book" is a pretty nice song too. So the other day a friend asked me what the song is in the HP commercial running on TV now, which surprised me at the time because usually she doesn't take that active of an interest in music, but I didn't know the commercial yet. Saw it last night and was really heartened to hear one of my favorite alltime bands, the Kinks! And it wasn't some cheesy commercial either, but a very well done and innovative one, just like the band! Made me smile

Surprisingly, many people on this board (including me) were introduced to this song though the commercial.

Yup, well done commercial.

On a similar note, I had never really listened to much Iggy Pop until I heard "The Passenger" in a Guinness commercial.

I hate when terrific songs are ruined for me by being played over and over in commercials that always seem to air when I'm watching TV. "Picture Book" is a perfect example.

Yeah, pretty much how I feel about that one. I actually heard about its use several months ago from an older guy at work who is a long time Kinks fan. He was pretty annoyed by it, but as Davey said, he admitted that it was at least a decent commercial. Anyway, good thing I don't watch TV too often.

And if it introduces a handful of people to Village Green then I guess it isn't such a terrible thing.

Now, if only folks could take up an interest in Radio Birdman after hearing New Race in the car ad, the world would be a better place.

There was a thread on that other board about albums you don't like to admit NOT having. Village Green was the first one I mentioned, along with Big Star #1 Record. Couple weeks later, CD-Rs of both albums, as well as Radio City, were in my mailbox thanks to our pal J (MGH). What a guy! Village Green was a revelation, just like I knew it would be. I've been playing for about a month straight and it just gets better and better, I think I like it better than all the other classic Kinks albums (Face to Face, Something Else, Arthur, Muswell Hillbillies and Lola). Though I had seen the HP commecial...a lot...didn't know the song was a Kinks song. A good commercial gets even better. Village Green cements my opinion that The Kinks are THE most under appreciated "great" band ever.

BTW, #1 Record was maybe an even bigger revelation. I really didn't think I'd like this album, which I thought would be good quality but cheesy pop. WRONG!!! What a fantastic album, not a bad song on it. How was it not HUGE? Up there with Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Clash, Wire, Elvis Costello, for best debut albums ever.

Yeah, Jay is great guy. Set me up with copies of the two I mentioned in that thread too. He must have all the classics! You probably know it, but the Big Star twofer made quite a splash on SACD last year too. The recording never did sound all that good on CD but I guess the SACD mastering was a marked improvement. It was all the rage for a few days in audiophileland over at the Steve Hoffman forum. Made a lot of new fans.

Village Green is probably the Kinks' pinacle, but I've made top 10 lists with Face To Face and Arthur as well. Depends on my mood, but I'm in a Village Green cycle right now. Loving that Augie March Strange Bird album a lot too, partly because it reminds me a lot of something the Davies boys might've done back in that era. Cool stuff. Wound up #3 on my shmoo poll for 2004, even though it was released in 2002 in their native Australia.

1. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
2. Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
3. Augie March - Strange Bird
4. Honeydogs - 10,000 Years
5. Pinback - Summer In Abaddon
6. Carina Round - The Disconnection
7. The Futureheads - The Futureheads
8. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
9. Moonbabies - The Orange Billboard
10. The National - Cherry Tree
11. Old Canes - Early Morning Hymns
12. Electrelene - The Power Out
13. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Regard The End
14. Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire
15. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
16. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
17. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
18. Blonde Redhead - Misery Is A Butterfly
19. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
20. Autolux - Future Perfect

Speaking of Ray Davies, did you ever hear that boot of his concert a couple years ago backed by Yo La Tengo? Our old and long lost buddy Cornelius sent me a 2-CD set and it's a lot of fun. Don't know if he sent you one too. I don't have my copy with me right now (it's still with all my junk in Arizona storage) but I should make some copies when I get it back and send you one. Or maybe it's available online. Have to check...