Ray Davies included "Wicked Annabella" on the second side of the twelve- and fifteen-track editions of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.; . Pye first released the twelve-track edition in Sweden and Norway on 9 October 1968, while the fifteen-track UK version followed on 22 November. In his September1968 preview of the Village Green for New Musical Express magazine, critic Keith Altham described the song as Dave Davies's "turn to shine", writing that "those who have not heard colour feed back on amplifier have not heard Dave Davies". Reviewing the album for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau counted "Wicked Annabella" as one of the album's missteps due to an "impersonal artiness", preferring the album's songs which instead seem to originate in Ray Davies's actual life experiences.
