Muswell Hillbillies

Release type:What's this?
studio album
First released:
Nov 1971

Overview Edit

Muswell Hillbillies is an album by the English rock group The Kinks, released in November 1971. 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 album centered on themes of poverty and working-class life, as well as the destruction and subdivision of old Victorian neighborhoods—a practice that had become commonplace in North London during the 1970s.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muswell_Hillbillies. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
VEL-SC-79801
Release dates:
  • Aug 24 2004

Genres

Classic Rock, Country Rock, Pop Rock, Rock, Roots, Singer-Songwriter. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars Uniquely British Rock
Following the international success of "Lola", RCA signed the Kinks to a record deal, anticipating more smash hit singles. What they got was something quite different.

Ray Davies had already produced some fine concept albums ("Village Green Preservation Society" and "Arthur") in the late 60s, and "Muswell Hillbillies" returns to some of those themes: the ordinary man or woman, caught up in forces beyond their control "Holloway Jail", "Uncle Son"; the good old days before technology ("Twentieth …
Written by C. S. Junker "soul_survivor"
3 stars it's generic Kinks' music!
I would not rank that album as part of the Kinks' best albums, but it's a nice addition though, if you're a Kinks' completist!

I'd say half the songs are worth it but the music is far too generic and a bit dull (plus, I'm not a big fan of that type of slide guitar). They are no Creedence clearwater revival.

But when they go Vaudeville, like in "Alcohol", they just sound excellent.

Overall, it's not a bad attempt to match American music with their englishness but it could have been so much exc…
Written by A. William "Syd"

Track listing Edit

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Other versions Edit

12 tracks format: 1 x vinyl
record label: RCA Victor
catalog number: LSP-4644
release dates: Nov 1971 in United States
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Muswell Hillbillies 14 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Velvel Records
catalog number: VEL-SC-79801
release dates: Aug 24 2004
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Muswell Hillbillies 14 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Velvel Records
release dates: Jul 14 1998
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