Comments:

It may have vanished a little in the amount of very strong album releases that characterized these years. Moreover the theme in "Preservation" came out much unresolved, and the plot and characters did not come out clearly until the release of "Preservation Act 2" the following year.

In fact this album, along with with "Muswell Hillbillies", for me is easily the group's strongest release during their time at RCA.

Several of the strong songs have only peripheral or no connection with the "Preservation" theme and in fact the album would probably have worked well as an ordinary album, with a dozen songs with different themes.

Songs like "Sweet Lady Genevieve" and "Sitting in the Midday", sung by the character "The Tramp" in "Preservation" are sone of Davies' most beautiful, and both are clearly releated with several songs of the original "The Vilage Green Preservation Society ".

"Where Are They Now" is nostalgic song about great men of the past - a theme also found on the "Muswell Hillbillies" - Great melody and another favorite.

The two opening tracks "Morning Song" and "Daylight" are very powerful and I remember how I got goose bumps during the performance of "Preservation Act" in London’s Royalty Theatre at Christmas 1974."Cricket" is a biting humorous song performed in music-hall style.

"There's a Change in the Weather", "Money and Corruption", "Here Comes Flash"and "Demolition" sound a lot like the songs from "Preservation Act 2" and they are tightly linked to the plot of the opera. Both are also fine songs that actually can be enjoyed out of context. An album everybody deserves to hear at least once.