As must be obvious by now to anyone who has ever encountered a true-blue rabid Kinks fan, each new Kinks album is an Officially Sanctioned major event, even in these post- Village Green Preservation Society/ Arthur days. Davies adopts different voices, including a tragicomic Bolanesque bleat, to articulate each character’s plight (alcoholism; a prison sentence; a once-fat woman fallen victim to anorexia), while The Kinks, with Dave Davies on dobro and slide guitar, allow influences from pre-war American popular music to infiltrate their famously English sound. Mostly, Muswell Hillbillies operates in a state of exaggerated calamity where pain meets the funny bone. The character in “20th Century Man”, the opening song, is a disillusioned anti-hero, alienated by every current trend and unhappy about the erosion of his civil liberties.

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies Lyrics and Tracklist | Genius

Churchill Says" " Strangers" " This Time Tomorrow" " Rats" " Got to Be Free" " Have a Cuppa Tea" " Oklahoma U. And reading between the lines of Muswell Hillbillies, they didn’t even want to live there in the first place. Both Rockways, but one has the pocket for the record on the right side of the gatefold, the other has the pocket on the left side.The best way to describe the difference between the original 1st UK (this listing) and the 1st USA is the USA is far more polite and reserved while the UK is punchier, wider and more open. The singer says that "they're gonna try and make [him] change [his] way of living, but they'll never make [him] something that [he's] not," likely referring to the government. All image and audio content is used by permission of the copyright holders or their agents, and/or according to fair dealing as per the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The album is named after the Muswell Hill area of North London, where band leader Ray Davies and guitarist Dave Davies grew up and the band formed in the early 1960s.

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies - UNCUT The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies - UNCUT

The following year, "Muswell Hillbilly" was released as a single in Japan, backed with " Oklahoma U. Despite its affectionate title, Muswell Hillbillies is anything but a tender tribute to the north London suburb that Ray and Dave Davies knew as home. The most disturbing matter of all concerns a very serious recent Kinks problem that has turned up once again here on Muswell Hillbillies: production. For the showbiz thru the end of the 1970s start with the USA originals mastered by Bob Ludwig then go to the UK pressings as a distant second.A portion of it is fine, but some of the songs are so positively uninspired and unenergetic it drives me up the wall. But then stand outside Ray Davies’s childhood home for a moment, and try to calculate its interior dimensions. While in several respects Muswell Hillbillies represents an uncertain crossroads for the Kinks’ recording career, the fact of Ray Davies’ voice being back in the background where one can’t hear it properly somehow seems most symbolic (and perplexing) of all. And that’s why it’s such a drag to hear the routine 1971 country slide guitar rot turning up on a Kinks album, even if only in a couple spots. The compact disc comes package with a twelve page staple-bound color booklet containing graphics, liner notes, and credits.