Failure is a fascinating thing, isn't it? Especially when it's from great artists. The Kinks were hot off the heels of their golden age in '73 before their spectacularly theateric flame-out on the pseudo rock opera of Preservation Act 1. The story of a power-struggle between two factions of old and new to preserve their own way of life for their benefit, it may or may not surprise you that the end result of Preservation Act 1 was a largely uninteresting, overambitious, sometimes annoying album that can only be classified as a major fuck-up from the group. Well, the sequel's always better, right? Preservation Act 2 is more plot-focused, double the length, and admittedly with better highs. With all that being said, it may be even more of a spectacular disaster than the first one - disastrous ideas and songs, baffling production ideas, and a plot that you'll be left wondering if it's serious or not. Preservation Act 2 is a massive failure, but it's a captivating one - it veers on "so bad it's good" territory, which is undoubtedly my favorite kind of bad, and certainly that's worth at least something.
Admittedly, one of my biggest issues with Preservation Act 1 is that the plot really isn't that apparent or seemingly even that much of a focus until the album's second half - by then, you've already gotten the best doses of the album anyways and you'll find your brain turning off. Preservation Act 2 at least delivers on the... BRILLIANT plot of this album! Is it still a rip-off of Village Green? Oh yeah, big time, to the point where I'm hearing hints of Village Green hooks in songs like "Shepherds of the Nation," but at least there's enough action throughout to keep things moving, which is certainly not something that the first album can say. That doesn't stop this from being a ridiculous plot - Mr. Flash, having successfully taken control of the country, has industrialized everything for maximum consumption profit! The bastard, I know, but the evil Mr. Black (and just so you KNOW he's evil, here's a whole song about it called "He's Evil") has a solution; remove all the filth of society and make the world pure again. Eventually Mr. Flash atones for his sins and Black takes control and institutes many societal changes that essentially makes the land incredibly pure and clean to the point of censorship - I'm sure there's some message about preserving the old ways from being abused and protecting the new ways for me and you, but just go listen to Village Green for that. Is the plot stupid? Oh yeah, but it has some element of camp to it, and the songs certainly help with that - the on-the-nose nature of the music helps keep Preservation's tongue firmly in cheek.
Now, what's the good here? Holy shit. Before we get into the absolute insanity of Preservation, it is worth mentioning that there is some genuinely good songs amidst whatever the fuck this is. Opening track "Introduction to a Solution" is a pretty punching rock number that certainly made me more excited to hear this album - I can't necessarily I was disappointed, but not because this is good. From there, "Money Talks" is a fine number, albeit a bit of a guilty pleasure, and "Mirror of Love" is probably one of the best actual songs across both albums. "Flash's Confession" is another pretty good rock number - honestly if more of the record sounded like this and "Introduction," I'd think it was pretty alright. "Artificial Man" seems to be a popular one with fans I've talked to, but I just can't get behind this song. Now, with all that being said, some of this material is comically bad - this is where I started to realize the real brilliance of this album, in the sense that it's such a bomb that it wraps around into being great. "Flash's Dream (The Final Elbow)" is this weird soundscape with snippets from the first Preservation and with a spoken-word battle between Mr. Flash and his conscience. It is absolutely baffling, but it's so bad that I was laughing. On a second listen, it only came across more - a song as on the nose as "He's Evil" or the baffling "Nobody Gives," a song where, to explain the main character's neutrality in the battle of Flash V. Black, he cites the Holocaust, emphasizes how hard it is to take this shit seriously at points. This weakness wraps around in some favor of Act 2, making it a real "so bad it's good" thing that I can only liken to a 1970s version of Angelic 2 the Core, albeit made by actually competent people.
Even with this ironic enjoyment angle, I'm able to pull myself back and acknowledge that this is easily the worst Kinks album yet - finally, an album definitively worse than their debut, right? In all seriousness, Preservation is an overambitious, bloated project that regularly leaves the listener baffled, confused, and potentially even laughing at all the absurdity unfolding right in your ears. If you took the best of both projects and made one album out of it, who knows? Maybe Preservation could've been a pretty decent project, but across three discs and two albums it's a bloated and hilarious mess that stands as one of The Kinks' finest embarrassments - in my mind, it may be an embarrassment truly worth hearing to be believed.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Preservation Act 2.
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