The Kinks Komeback: new song from the archive has a Brexit shadow

Last week, a little-known, never released track by The Kinks made the world sit up and listen.

“Time Song”, recorded during sessions for the band’s magnum opus, The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society, was revealed, marking 50 years since the album’s release.

The song seems quite poignant and appropriate to release at this time in British history

And what a song it is, effortless and gently poignant. It will feature on a special 50th anniversary edition of the album, set for October. It had previously been played live in 1973.

And it now has a Brexit shadow, says frontman and lynchpin Ray Davies.

“When we played a concert at Drury Lane in ’73 to ‘celebrate’ us about to join what was called the Common Market, I decided to use the song as a warning that time was running out for the old British Empire,” Davies said.

“Oddly enough, the song seems quite poignant and appropriate to release at this time in British history, and like Europe itself the track is a rough mix which still has to be finessed.”

The release of the archive track comes just weeks after Davies revealed that surviving members of the original line-up of The Kinks will get back together. There are rumours of new music.

And remember, it was The Big Issue wot won it – with a little help from The Force.

In 2016, The Big Issue scored one of the scoops of the last half-century when Luke Skywalker himself, aka actor and Kinks superfan Mark Hamill, interviewed both Ray and Dave Davies for a special edition of the magazine (orchestrated by comic book superhero supremo Mark Millar).

And during that galactic encounter, the idea of a reunion between the brothers was first mooted.

Main image: © Barrie Wentzell