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OK, so The Kinks have been going up and down for me in terms of the scale of ratings. I started off with a 3 in 1966 with "Face to Face," dropping down to a solid 1 in 1967 with "Something Else by the Kinks," coming back to a 3 with their 1968 "The Village Green Preservation Society," and now, a year later, they've climbed another half a point. The volatility is strong with this one. Where can I buy some VIX? On this follow-up, the English rock band explores the album as a soundtrack concept to a television program that was never actually produced. The story is about a man named Arthur Morgan, who is trying to escape post-war England to Australia. But who's paying attention to the lyrics? I still feel like The Kinks sound a bit like The Beatles, with whimsical harpsichord and even similar chord progressions, but they are beginning to shape their own sound on here. Maybe it's just the tail of the British Invasion? It's slightly "edgier" than The Village Green (in some places), although an occasional ballad or pop pub puppetry shows up unannounced. Falling somewhere within the satirical rock opera genre, like The Who's "Tommy," The Kinks finally turn out an excellent record. And I'm sure that if it was played as much as Sgt. Pepper's on every single radio station, it would have become the world's favorite quirky rock musical to date.