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Muswell Hillbillies

The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies Audio CD

A fair review of the The Kinks "Muswell Hillbillies" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Kinks reviews here, or go back to the The Kinks tabs.

Band: The Kinks
Title: Muswell Hillbillies
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-07-14
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 20th Century Man 2: Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues 3: Holiday 4: Skin & Bone 5: Alcohol 6: Complicated Life 7: Here Come the People in Grey 8: Have a Cuppa Tea 9: Holloway Jail 10: Oklahoma U.S.A. 11: Uncle Son 12: Muswell Hillbilly 13: Mountain Woman [#][*] 14: Kentucky Moon [#][*]

This album alone could be The Kinks Greatest Hits
Ray Davies makes you FEEL his lyrics through his drunken cry. The Kinks finest album. Nothing hits harder than listening to "Alcohol" the morning after a night of one too many drinks. Overall the album has a much more bluesy/folksy/southern rock feel to it than their other albums, but Dave Davies guitar playing is much more raw, almost flawed, which just adds to the amazing atmosphere this album contains.

Never gonna kill my cockney pride...
This collection of songs stems from a theme that Ray Davies often returned to time and again - the loss of innocence due to economic or technological progress. `Muswell Hillbillies' has been called the last great Kinks album and although that may not be true it is definitely the last of their great LP run of 1966-1971. In `MH', he seems to rail against the injustices done to the working class of which he and his brother Dave were born into. The album was the first of their new RCA contract and was expected to be a successful follow up to `Lola', but Ray had no intention of returning to hit singles and `Muswell' has no obvious hits. It does boast another diverse collection of country jazz and blues inflected songs that all seem to fit this celebration of the working class. Favorites include "20th Century Man" (I was born into a welfare state), the title track, "Acute Schizo. . . . Blues", "Have a Cuppa Tea" and the hauntingly beautiful "Oklahoma USA". A brass band known as the Mike Cotton Sound accompanied the band on "Acute" and the super depressing "Alcohol". "Muswell" and "Skin and Bone" are very country in there sounds. The rest of the decade would have Ray continuing to indulge in his writing against the lack of commercial acceptance that the band received. They certainly didn't take the safe and easy route.

A Different Approach, Great Result : Kinks Unplugged
'Muswell Hillbillies' is the last of the Klassic period in my book, but is a great album. Like a couple of other reviewers, I have every Kinks LP ever released and have replaced many with CD-all up to this one, then Misfits, Low Budget, their 'Come Dancing Greatest Hits' and 'To the Bone'. I would rate it four and a half stars if I could, having rated the previous six LPs five stars (maybe overrating Kinks Kontroversy a bit). The band hit it big in 1970 with 'Lola vs Powerman and the Moneygoround' and true to form, did a U turn. This album was as different from that as 'Lola' had been from 'Arthur'; a turn away from rocking, commercial, keyboard-featured music. We get, for the most part, acoustic, slide guitars, country and folkish music. There is a barroom feel to some of the tunes, and the concept for this album is clearly to create a homespun, rockabilly music. And for the most part, it works to perfection.
"20th Century Man" starts quiet for a couple of verses, bringing in instruments gradually until halfway and then hammers its message home with the full band powering home another Klassic. "Holiday" is a catchy confection that takes several listenings to get through Ray's enunciation of the lyrics, "Skin and Bone" and "Alcohol" are such well-crafted songs that they seem like you have known them all your life the first time you hear them. "Muswell Hillbilly" is a great piece of rockabilly wistfullness excuted by the band with tight precision, "Here Come the People in Grey" is a Chuck Berry-style rocker that echoes the sentiments of "20th Century Man" and, like "Complicated Life" highlights Dave Davies' acoustic slide guitar. Not everything works as well as the best tunes here; "Acute Paranoid Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" uses a dixieland horn arrangement that scrambles the sound, and "Holloway Jail" doesn't really stand out. The twelve tunes hold up very well, especially given the stylistic turnabout of the band. There are great tunes here that many non-Kinks fans are unaware of: "People in Grey", "20th Century Man" and "Holiday" among them. This is a must-have for any Kinks music fan and the last great album by this band for several years to follow.

For Christ sake have a cuppa tea
I went by automobile to a birthday party on Saturday and listened to the entire thing on the journey and because I don't actually drive myself I was able to devote my full attention to each individual track and here immediately are the first two things I want to say about that: (1) There isn't even one tiny thing I don't like about this album and, (2) It sounds smashing on a good car stereo. I've owned this utterly farking brilliant record for over seven or eight years now and I still can't bleeding get over how good it is. Even the sad songs make me happy--the accordion on Oklahoma USA gets me by the throat every time. Ray Davies doesn't just know how to write great lyrics, he knows exactly how to sing them too. Not to mention the band behind him who roll out any number of electric and friendly tunes. There are other albums by The Kinks that are better known but none for my money are actually better than Muswell Hillbillies. I've owned this utterly farking brilliant record at two distinct addresses now and if I ever move again I'm taking the bleeding thing with me.

Second Level Kink Greatness
The music here is very fine, if unoriginal, but I think Ray's voice is too affected, as if this was a camp offering. Can't really preach against the choir and say this is not a good album, but IMO it's in the second level of Kink greatness, after Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society, two of the greatest albums of the era. The opening track is great, and Uncle Son is a favorite, but if you're not a Kink Completist, you might try one of their mid- to late- 60s albums to sample their very best work. .

You can see a complete list of all The Kinks discography, or go back to the The Kinks tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.