vocals on all of the band's studio albums to that point. Typical of the band's vocal work, their barbershop harmonies include falsettos and wordless sounds like "la la" ("Village Green"), "na na" ("Picture Book") and "ba ba" ("Johnny Thunder") or nonsense phrases like "fum fum didle um di" ("Phenomenal Cat"). Band dynamics When the Kinks rehearsed and recorded Ray's new compositions, he typically avoided sharing the songs' lyrics or melody with his bandmates. Quaife recalled: Avory suggested the practice arose out of Ray's paranoia that his songs would be stolen, while Quaife ascribed it to "Ray playing silly buggers". Both Avory and Quaife recalled being annoyed by the method since it prevented them from easily adding fills and embellishments that fitted the song. Ray explained to his bandmates that he wanted the songs of Village Green to relate to a single subject but he otherwise remained secretive about the details. Quaife later stated that the band began to understand the album's message once several compositions had been finished and that "[a]bout the time of 'Animal Farm', it all clicked". In contrast to the Kinks' work under Talmy, Ray ensured the group ran through numerous takes of songs on Village Green. Avory recalled that after Talmy's departure, the group spent more time collaborating and "[fleshing] out the sound" in studio. All group members contributed to the recording process, though Ray held final say over all decisions. He required all band members to attend all sessions, regardless of whether they were expected to play on the particular song. Quaife recalled: "He'd keep you there for hours and he wouldn't let you out of the studio either. You'd have to be there even though you weren't doing anything." By 1968, the Kinks had developed a reputation for group infighting, especially between Ray and Dave, and the group sometimes broke into physical alteractions during rehearsals, recording sessions and concerts. Humphries later said that the band's dysfunction has been overemphasised in later accounts, adding that rather than fistfights, disagreements typically led to verbal arguments between Ray and Dave. Rasa often served as an intermediary in the studio between Ray and his bandmates. Tensions within the group culminated on 27 May 1968 during a session for "Days", during which Ray and Quaife argued before the latter left the studio. Quaife remained unhappy following the incident, and he later recalled that he and Ray remained distant from