Previously unseen, digitally restored Ray Davies 1971 home movie, narrated by Ray (15 minutes long). Concluding that records like Muswell Hillbillies are conservative because they map to some vague notion of Andy Griffith Show“family values” is reductive. Even a cursory glance at the Kinks’ discography dispels any serious ideological conservatism in the band. 1970’s “Lola”, one of the group’s biggest and most beloved singles is stunningly trans-positive for its time. 1983’s “Young Conservatives” openly lampoons its subject, referencing older Kinks songs along the way as if to make a statement about the bands’ historical positions on such matters. Muswell Hillbillies’ 2014 gatefold deluxe 2LP remastered from newly discovered Ray Davies original master tapes, colour vinyl.

This enigmatic quality has served their legacy well. By ignoring fashions and trends, the Kinks forged a body of work that is an enduring paradox: so out-of-step with its time it’s timeless. The quirky, theatrical, and oh-so British Kinks albums of the late 1960s and early 1970s remain much more contemporary and interesting than much of the popular music from their contemporaries. Stolder, Steven. "Muswell Hillbillies". MusicVIP.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011 . Retrieved 5 December 2009. Original artwork for the Muswell Hillbillies album is included in a deluxe release (Image: Marketing Mix/BMG Rights Management) No character, just uniformity. They're trying to build a computerised community," but vows that "they'll never make a zombie out of me."Muswell Hillbillies’ and ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ original albums remastered in gatefold wallets, with original artwork.

The Kinks at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark on June 30, 1972. Left to Right: John Dalton, Ray Davies, Dave Davies, John Gosling (Image: 1972 Jorgen Angel) The album introduces a number of working class figures and the stresses with which they must contend. It did not sell well but received critical acclaim and lasting fan appreciation. Everybody’s In Show-Biz opener Here Comes Another Day is a definite shift, a bigger production with keyboards and brass. Likewise You Don’t Know My Name is a bright and uplifting song with layers, piano and lot of additional touches. a b c d e Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "The Kinks: Muswell Hillbillies> Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 9 November 2011.

Not all of the songs on Muswell Hillbillies are so bleak. Many are hilarious, in fact, such as “Have a Cuppa Tea”, which sends up the, yes, tradition of English reliance on the caffeinated beverage as a coping mechanism. But each song revolves around a central theme about the dehumanizing machinery of modernity. The album was not a commercial success (it failed to chart in the United Kingdom and peaked at #100 in the U.S. [10]), and its sales were a disappointment following the success of Lola the previous year. Stereo Review magazine called the poor-selling record "album of the year" in 1972 (even though it was released on 24 November 1971). In the 1984 Rolling Stone Album Guide, Rolling Stone editors gave the album five stars out of five and called it Davies' "signature statement" as a songwriter. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album a wide-ranging collection of Ray Davies compositions which focus on the tensions and frustrations of modern life. [2] Re-releases [ edit ]

My eldest sister, Rosie, brought me up. It’s a song about her going to work in a factory, and her way of escaping was the movies. No Nintendo. No PlayStation. No apps in those days. Rosie’s escape was the movies. I used her as a springboard and then I drifted off into my own world. As she walks to the corner shop, she’s “walking on the surrey with the fringe on top”. “The Surrey With The Fringe On Top” is a song from Oklahoma!. It’s the song that my other sister, Rene, was dancing to [at the Lyceum in 1957] when she died. A lot of inner messages are linked into the words. Only people who know me would fully understand them. The Muswell Hillbilly festival is Saturday, September 10, Noon-8pm, with Fortis Green Road closed to traffic. A deluxe box set of Muswell Hillbillies and Everybody's In Showbiz, Everybody's A Star including photos, remixes, remastered original songs and a Kinks north London 'roots map' of key locations, is released on September 9. Visit thekinks.info/latest/muswell-showbiz/ Album Review: After “Lola” and its accompanying album (1970’s Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One,), The Kinks had a good deal of bargaining power: the single took the world by storm and became one of their best-known songs, and while the album wasn’t quite as successful, it performed well enough that the band signed a new record deal on RCA. The Kinks first album for their new label, Muswell Hillbillies, is often cited as one of their strongest LPs, and was also the beginning of their musical shift away from the “Englishness” of their classic era ( Something Else, The Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, etc.) to a more eclectic range of influences. Universal’s new deluxe edition adds a whole second disc worth of bonus material, and while it may not be essential for the casual fan, Kinks konnoisseurs will find plenty to get excited about. Though generally appreciative of the record’s songs, Rolling Stone complained about its muddied, live sound, which often finds Ray Davies’ vocals buried in the mix. The overall impression is that the record was a missed opportunity. It is also entirely understandable that music listeners in the late 1960s couldn’t understand what Davies was doing, politically speaking, during this period either. Where seemingly everyone else was basking in the liberatory potential of the moment, Ray Davies was longing for a reset. Whatever the trends and changes in direction, these are two excellent albums with excellently crafted songs, overlooked criminally at the time.And to finish, 4 CDs (each in gatefold card sleeves), which replicate the two original albums, the bonus remixes and a CD of a travel montage from the 1971 tour. The album resonates not because it easily fits into a political tribe but because it lays the blame for societal collapse at the feet of all, liberal and conservative alike. Mechanistic thinking that ignores the profound effects of change on actual people are the target of Davies’ political ire, not any single party. What's a Muswell Hillbilly? Well, Muswell Hill was a community in England that the Davies family had to move to after their neighborhood in North London was razed and gentrified. You do the math, kiddo.