Pitchfork

Muswell Hillbillies came out in 1971, and it was the Kinks' first release on RCA. This explains why you haven't been able to find the little bastard for years, but the good kids at Velvel know what's up; They've reissued this 1971 album (and are filling in the gaps for everything up until 1984). Muswell Hillbillies may very well be the best Kinks album you never heard, a scathing but witty take on urban renewal. No, it's not quite a concept album, more like an idea album-- a buncha songs that are a bit downbeat in theme but lively in execution.

What's a Muswell Hillbilly? Well, Muswell Hill was a community in England that the Davies family had to move to after their neighborhood in North London was razed and gentrified. You do the math, kiddo.

Muswell Hillbillies features Ray Davies at his whipcracking best, rolling out lyrics like "The milkman's a spy and the grocer keeps on following me/ And the woman next door's an undercover for the KGB." It's a pretty simple sound, and one that's more folk and country based than any album they'd ever done. A wonderful brass band turns up on two of the album's best tracks "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" and "Alcohol" (oh, there's a good combination). "Here Comes the People In Gray" is a bluesy stomp about a man whose house is being torn down by the city. "Oklahoma USA" is a pretty ballad about living in a fantasy world "with Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae." But other than the insidiously catchy chorus of "Have A Cuppa Tea" (you may be driven to murder if you listen to it too long), I can't find much to complain about with these Hillbillies.