Preservation: Act 2 was a sprawling two-disc album in its original vinyl incarnation. It was just a better album pure and simple but was one of those releases that might have benefited by reducing the number of songs. There were a number of announcements that were meant to connect the parts of the album, but I found them to be an uninvited disruption to the overall flow of the music. I did appreciate the rocking nature of a number of tracks as on “When A Solution Comes,” “He’s Evil,” and “Flash’s Confession," where Dave Davies breaks out his guitar for some scintillating playing with a wah-wah sound.
Preservation: Act 1 and Preservation: Act 2 have been returned to their places on my record shelves. While there are some tracks worth visiting, I find the overall approach to be less inviting as there are a number of Kinks albums that are more worthy of your time. While the Preservation albums have aged well, they are still only for the seasoned Kinks collector.
Article comments
1 - julian the apostate
Act 1 is the better of the 2 albums.
Even Lou Reed proclaimed it at the time as his favorite album.
Anyone who reviews a Kinks album from that time period and highlights the "rocking songs" clearly has no clue.
2 - BlitzKriegBopper
Certainly not radio faves but they do have a place in history. Not nearly as dreadful as Tales From Topographic Oceans. I think the most painful aspect was dragging it out further with the hideous Schoolboys in Disgrace. Can't figure out that one since neither of these charted well.