My fellow Avids have said so much about Muswell Hillbillies, with great insights. Thinking about the title track & how the protagonist yearns to be in the States reminds me of seeing the fans from the UK the 2 times I went to Memphis to do the Elvis thing. He still probably has a big fan base in the UK & many of his records did better on the UK charts than here in the US. He was probably just as big a symbol of the US like the ones that Ray mentioned in his lyrics, a poor boy that did extremely well. I also want to point out that Ray took a bit from Elvis around this time. Just look as the way he was dressed & how he comported himself on stage in The Kinks At The Rainbow & compare that w/Elvis. The only people who were truly concerned about a lack of a hit single in Muswell Hillbillies were the RCA suits. I don't think that Ray was concerned at all. He wanted to make great album statements, to spread out beyond the "hit single" mentality. To me, Muswell Hillbillies is a great mix of Anglo American musical styles w/lyrics stating the modern human condition in the UK & the efforts to transcend & escape it. As I said before, all the songs have a certain "sing a long ability" to them & I can remember most of them.
It is indeed the brilliant 1972 ‘Kinks At The Rainbow’ BBC film I’ve mentioned a few times on this thread, although the uploader also seems to have appended the ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ performance of ‘Have A Cuppa Tea’ on the top which wasn’t part of the original film. Although it seems to have been made to promote the Muswell album and features some scenes relevant to the theme of the album, the original ‘Kinks At The Rainbow’ film weirdly only features one song (ASPB) from the album, and instead largely features very interesting performances of tracks from earlier records, including unique live clips of ‘Princess Marina’ and ‘Money Go around’. Anyway, a fantastic watch that everyone on this thread should viddy if they haven’t already!
Hmm, I would think the suits would want one but they only released one single . So didn’t try very hard. And I question whether the band was okay with that. As I said above, they’d just been through a desperate-for-a-single phase. I can’t quite accept that they had already forgotten the ups and downs of the business. (See Moneygoround). And the album only hit #48 in the US. No charting in the UK. They must have felt let down by RCA as it’s not as if there weren’t songs to work with and plug.
I was thinking that that there was nothing on this album that would have fit in on AM Radio (in the US) in 1971, but there were a few songs that did have country leanings. These are the Top 20 hits of 1971 in the US: No. Title Artist(s) 1 "Joy to the World" Three Dog Night 2 "Maggie May"/"Reason to Believe" Rod Stewart 3 "It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" Carole King 4 "One Bad Apple" The Osmonds 5 "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" Bee Gees 6 "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" Raiders 7 "Go Away Little Girl" Donny Osmond 8 "Take Me Home, Country Roads" John Denver 9 "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" The Temptations 10 "Knock Three Times" Tony Orlando and Dawn 11 "Me and Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin 12 "Tired of Being Alone" Al Green 13 "Want Ads" Honey Cone 14 "Smiling Faces Sometimes" The Undisputed Truth 15 "Treat Her Like a Lady" Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose 16 "You've Got a Friend" James Taylor 17 "Mr. Big Stuff" Jean Knight 18 "Brown Sugar" The Rolling Stones 19 "Do You Know What I Mean" Lee Michaels 20 "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" Joan Baez
Thanks for looking up the list. ‘Maggie May’, there ya go! But that’s relevant if the alternate pick (other than 20th Century Man which was released) was a track that leaned country. Muswell Hillbillies, probably. Otherwise, as I keep beating to death (apologies!) Complicated Life. There’s enough variety in that list that I think it didn’t have to mirror anything else. Or…release Muswell in the US and Complicated Life in the UK. It’s not my career…and it’s 50 years on, but I’m still pissed at RCA. Viva la Pye!
Muswell Hillbillies only went to #100 on the Billboard Album Chart in Feburary 1972, according to Doug Hinman. Also, this was the era where the "hipper" music was to be found on albums, not singles. More albums were sold than singles since at least 1968 in the US. Led Zeppelin refused in most cases to release any of their songs as singles at least in the UK, although some were released in the US.
I agree about “hipper” but #100 is even worse than what wiki says : “The album was not a commercial success (it failed to chart in the United Kingdom and peaked at #48 in the U.S.” I’m not hung up on the lack of a hit single. But it should have then been pushed/marketed in some manner to get some traction on the album charts. My main issue is that I see this as an inauspicious beginning with RCA. RCA must have appealed to Ray (primarily) in some fashion. Hypothetical by RCA Suit: “Ray, Ray, Ray. Why stick with Pye? We can do a much better job for you and the boys. We’re a bigger label…bigger promotional network. Forget about being a singles band. Albums are where the cred is now. Tie up with us and you won’t have any more Moneygoround issues. Trust me!” And Ray writes up a storm, the band executes perfectly…and RCA does squat.
"Muswell Hillbilly" I already had three pages to read this morning. Excellent posts from everyone as usual. We have Ray wrapping up a brilliant album with a song that is the really the only song that I would consider country on the album. Maybe that is why it gets labeled as a country album because of this title track. I can hear any number of 70s country artists doing this song. "I'm gonna miss her blood shot alcoholic eyes" is a brilliant line and makes me think of songs like "Bloody Mary Morning" or "Sunday Morning Coming Down". Had this song been recorded by a Willie, a Waylon, a Cash, or a Kristofferson it could have surely been a hit. The way Ray introduces the song as Johnny Cash tells us what he was going for on the song. I love the opening riff and the way the song rolls along. It's the perfect song to close the record for many reasons already stated. Once again I come out of this discussion with even a stronger appreciation of an album I already loved. I'd say it ranks neck and neck with Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround and that album ranked neck and neck with Arthur. So I see absolutely no drop off in quality. My top three will likely never change, but these next three could be a three way tie. I would probably rank Muswell as #6 because a few songs on the other albums are among the greatest songs ever. As a complete package though I think Muswell Hillbillies continues an unbelievable streak of albums that could all be considered 10/10. Based on some of the reaction this album received I am feeling nervous about the next few months. The next five albums may not be on this same level, but they are all among the most underrated Kinks albums. It's hard to choose favorite songs from this album, because they all work together and play a part. @Zeki did leave off three of my top candidates if I were to select songs for a playlist. I absolutely love "Holiday" and just recently moved "Uncle Son" up the list. "Skin and Bone" may be the biggest ear worm on the album and I am a sucker for that Bolan boogie. I would then add "Alcohol" and "20th Century Man" to round out my top five. There really isn't a song that wouldn't be welcome on any Kinks playlist. I agree! If this was on the charts there was clearly space for a song from Muswell Hillbillies!
Top 10 lps week of Dec 11, 1971 Billboard 200: Santana Sly & Family Stone Cat Stevens Shaft Soundtrack Led Zeppelin Chicago John Lennon Rod Stewart Carole King Grand Funk Railroad UK (year end. Couldn’t find same week for comparison) 1971: Simon & Garfunkel Rod Stewart Rolling Stones Motown Charts compilation T. Rex Paul/Linda McCartney Carole King Moody Blues Andy Williams James Taylor
Muswell Hillbilly Probably second only for me on the album, just behind 'Oklahoma USA'. This is the one that should have been released as a single. Would it have been a hit? No idea, but it's catchy enough, and the opening lines of the song would certainly pique the interest of the radio listener surely? “Well I said goodbye to Rosie Rooke this morning, I'm gonna miss her bloodshot alcoholic eyes, She wore her Sunday hat so she'd impress me, I'm gonna carry her memory 'til the day I die.” Thankyou Mark for your write up on this track (and indeed all the other tracks), it certainly means I don't have to think off too much to say, as you say it all so well.
Muswell Hillbilly @ARL and @Fortuleo have both seemed to channel my inner thoughts this morning about how Ray continues to come up with these incredible closing songs on albums, and how I always did compare this to Arthur's title track for exactly the reasons @ARL lists here: I've long loved this song, but I never realized how related this song is, lyric-wise, and how well it ties into Here Come the People in Gray. In Muswell Hillbilly, they have arrived. I never truly appreciated the plot that runs through a few of these songs very clearly, and how based in reality it is. That intro riff is just so great, so many great little quick licks in what I think seems like a simple riff. So good. Lyrically, what I love about this: Cos I'm a Muswell Hillbilly boy, But my heart lies in old West Virginia, Never seen New Orleans, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Still I dream of the Black Hills that I ain't never seen. and then the variation in the next chorus: Cos I'm a Muswell Hillbilly boy, But my heart lies in Old West Virginia, Though my hills, they're not green, I've seen them in my dreams, Take me back to those Black Hills, That I ain't never seen. His heart lies in these places that he's never seen. They've been in those dreams, and he wants to be "taken back" there. Taken back to those dreams. Away from reality. And perhaps, just perhaps, "though my hills, they're not green" is an acceptance that the Village Green was not as great as he thinks it was. And "Photographs and souvenirs are all I've got" seems to harken back to the feelings of Village Green and Picture Book. This idea though of this countryish/western themed song that mentions West Virginia, New Orleans, Oklahoma and Tennessee... and you would think that makes sense. But, he's singing in this US/country/western style about NEVER BEING to those places. It's just a wonderful songwriting trick! It's a bit similar to the song Never Did No Wanderin' by the Folksman (Spinal Tap's folk alter ego of Christopher Guest, Michael McKeon, Harry Shearer) from the movie A Mighty Wind. That whole song is essentially a parody of wanderin' folk songs and all their staples -- hopping on a southbound freight with the telephone poles whizzing by, climbing mountains, raging rivers.... but singing about NOT ever doing those things: Never heard the whistle of a southbound freight, Or the singing of it's driving wheel, No I, never did not wanderin' Never seen the dance of the telephone poles, As they go whizzin' by, No I, never did no wanderin' Now a sailor's life is a life for him, But it never was for me, And I never soared where the hawk may soar, Or see what the hawk might see, Never hiked to heaven on a mountain trail, Never rode on a river's rage... No I, never did no wanderin'... Never did no wanderin'... Never did no wanderin' after all. Here's great footage of them performing this song on their 2009 tour (which I attended in NYC back then!). I could ALMOST imagine Ray doing a song like this on Muswell Hillbillies. Maybe he did.
Should’ve posted this earlier: truncated live 1977 video from the first of two Old Grey Whistle Test specials the band recorded that year: EDIT: goddamn, embedding not allowed! Direct link here: https://youtu.be/AO3JXaKsTpU
Really accelerated, at breakneck speed! Note: Ray absolutely clearly introduces his brother as Dave “Davis”.
It was more like this: RCA: "Here's a $500,000.00 advance (not sure of the exact figure right now, but it was a good one; it was used to set up Konk Studios). You're going to be w/Elvis, David Bowie & Lou Reed, who are or will be superstars. You can use our global resources to do what you fancy." Ray: OK As for Pye Records, as I said before, they really had nothing after the Kinks left them. They really didn't do anything to promote their new albums anyway. All they did was to put out many compilations of their work, as well as the other 60s acts they had, which were also no longer with them (Donovan, the Searchers, Pet Clark). They were basically out of business by 1983. Again, the Kinks should had probably stayed w/WB Reprise, but for around the world. Stan Corwyn & his merry band probably could have figured out a way to continue sell the Kinks to the US market at least, probably pitching them in the middle between Capt. Beefheart & the Doobie Brothers.
Forgive me if this quote has been posted before: "I don't think there are any singles on Hillbillies. It's a comedy album. 'Complicated Life', 'Alcohol' and 'Acute Schizophrenia' are comedy songs. They are not serious social comment, but I think I have made a more definite statement on this LP than ever before....That life is complicated is what I am really trying to say."- Ray Davies, Melody Maker Dec 25, 1971, from Uncut Ultimate Music Guide While MH is not my album because the country/roots sound is not my style (despite being a lifelong Texan), I could see finding some of these songs easier to take on their own in a random playlist, as sort of comic relief. Whereas on Lola Vs.. for instance, there are songs like "Denmark Street" that work best in the context of the album for me, and I think that may be the case for the next couple of albums.
Okay. My only quibble is with “You can use our global resources to do what you fancy." I would think it would be “We will use our global resources …” etc. Marketing and promotion is RCA’s job. Then Ray says “ok.” But I will drop this line of thinking (or just think quietly ). I don’t think Ray is in the poor house.
You're right about that. Ray wanted to make a movie based on the next album that would be funded by RCA, but didn't. There's another promo thingie coming up that has me miffed towards RCA, but that's another few albums down the line. As I said before, Ray hasn't had to do a day job since 1964.
I'm just impressed that there's a song with this title I will find a way to weave that gem into everyday conversation. That's really something I love about the last song. The irony is as thick as treacle! We have been digging in a rich stream of gemstones the past few months, expecting to turn up a diamond at every turn. For the next few albums there will be as many rocks as gems but we will also find some beautiful diamonds which shine all the more brightly because they are harder to find.
