MUSWELL HILLBILLIES  -  THE KINKS

YEAR:  1971
LABEL:  RCA
TRACK LISTING:  20th Century Man,  Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues,  Holiday,  Skin & Bone,  Alcohol,  Complicated Life,  Here Come the People In Grey,  Have A Cuppa Tea,  Holloway Jail,  Oklahoma U.S.A.,  Uncle Son,  Muswell Hillbilly
BONUS TRACKS:  Mountain Woman,  Kentucky Moon
IMPRESSIONS:  Described by Ben Eisen as probably the Kinks' last "great" album of their golden age, MUSWELL HILLBILLIES is relatively unknown compared to such other famous Kinks albums as SOMETHING ELSE, VILLAGE GREEN..., ARTHUR..., LOLA AND... etc.  After the phenomenal success of "Lola", this album seems more laid-back and less flashy.  It does share something in common with most of the previous Kinks albums in that it's something of a concept album if only obliquely; the subject matter of all the songs seems to be about working class lives.  The album is also, as Stephen Thomas Erlewine points out, "...a skewed, distinctly British, cabaret take on Americana..." with a pronounced bluesy, sometimes New Orleans feel combined with British music hall stylings Kinks fans are familiar with.  Apparently the album was also recorded using ten year old microphones in order to play up the "antique" feel and sound of it.  And "Holiday" must be Adam Sandler's favourite song?  While the album does illustrate the struggles of modern life, it never leaves its protagonists defeated.  I like that. 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  20th Century Man,  Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues,  Skin & Bone,  Alcohol,  Complicated Life,  Here Come the People In Grey,  Have A Cuppa Tea,  Holloway Jail,  Oklahoma U.S.A.,  Kentucky Moon
FACT SHEET:  MUSWELL HILLBILLIES is the Kinks' ninth album.  This is the first album the Kinks released on RCA records after leaving their previous record label Pye.  Muswell Hill is a section of North London in which Ray & Dave Davies grew up.  The cover photo was taken at the Archway Tavern two miles from Muswell Hill.  The album only went to #48 in the US and didn't chart in the UK making it a significant failure after the success of "Lola".  However, critically it was a success winning "Stereo Review" magazine's "Album of the Year" in 1972 and called by "Rolling Stone" magazine Ray Davies' "signature statement" as a songwriter.  Allmusic.com's Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls MUSWELL HILLBILLIES "...one of the Kinks' best albums."

THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY - The Kinks

YEAR: 1968

LABEL: Pye/Essential

TRACK LISTING: The Village Green Preservation Society, Do You Remember Walter, Picture Book, Johnny Thunder, Last of the Steam-Powered Trains, Big Sky, Sitting By the Riverside, Animal Farm, Village Green, Starstruck, Phenomenal Cat, All Of My Friends Were There, Wicked Annabella, Monica, People Take Pictures of Each Other

BONUS TRACKS: The Village Green Preservation Society (stereo), Do You Remember Walter (stereo), Picture Book (stereo), Johnny Thunder (stereo), Monica (stereo), Days (stereo), Village Green (stereo), Mr. Songbird (stereo), Wicked Annabella (stereo), Starstruck (stereo), Phenomenal Cat (stereo), People Take Pictures of Each Other (stereo), Days (mono single)

IMPRESSIONS: I first heard this album while shopping at Tunes in Turnersville, NJ in 1998. They were playing the album overhead in the store and it was obviously the Kinks but an album I was not familiar with. The 15-song mono version of the album has songs which average about 2:30 so I shortly had heard the entire album which was then followed by the 12 track stereo version (also included on the same cd). When I asked what album this was, I was told it was the new remastered album reissue of "VILLAGE GREEN" and I promptly bought it. This was Ray Davies at my most "veddy veddy English" mode heard on such songs as "Two Sisters" and their masterpiece "Waterloo Sunset" from their previous album "SOMETHING ELSE" which I had owned for years. Despite the digital remastering the sound is very "trebly" (even on the stereo mixes) but apparently that's the best that can be culled from the source material; either way what we have here is a classic album.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Village Green Preservation Society, Picture Book, Animal Farm, Phenomenal Cat, All of My Friends Were There, Wicked Annabella, People Take Pictures of Each Other

FACT SHEET: THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY is the Kinks' sixth album. It is the last album to feature the original band members as bassists Pete Quaife left the group in early 1969. A trip to Devon by lead singer/songwriter Ray Davies was the inspiration for a concept album about English rural town and hamlet life as well as a nostalgic lament for the passing of old-fashioned English traditions. The album failed to chart upon its original release but has since become one of the Kinks' best-selling albums (over 100,000 copies) as well as being generally considered one of the most important and influential albums the band ever made. Guitarist Dave Davies at the time called it "the best thing we've ever done".