The Kinks‘ chief songwriter Ray Davies always seemed to be a bit out of step with the prevailing trends in the world of rock and roll, which is part of why his band’s music stood out from the pack. On the band’s classic 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies, Davies took an honest look at the kind of routine, workaday lives that most rock songwriters ignored.
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Like a few others of The Kinks’ so-called “concept albums,” Muswell Hillbillies didn’t do well upon its release. But it’s since been deservedly recognized as a brilliant record full of insight and warmth. Here are the five best songs from the batch.
5. “Alcohol”
Muswell Hillbillies wouldn’t have worked as well as it did if Davies had attempted to over-romanticize his characters. He clearly took the time to present them as three-dimensional human beings who have their charms as well as their foibles. On “Alcohol,” the litany of troubles that take the main character from a solid life to utter squalor and degradation can all be traced back to booze. The music hall-style instrumentation might make it seem like an antiquated tale. But the anguish in Davies’ vocals as he sings the chorus drops this saga right in the here and now.
4. “Holloway Jail”
What’s striking about Muswell Hillbillies when you listen from start to finish is how many different styles of music The Kinks manage to tackle. Ray Davies gets a lot of the credit for his writing, but the band’s versatility to handle all the changes shouldn’t be forgotten. (On this album, the band consisted of Ray, his brother Dave Davies on guitar, John Dalton on bass, Mick Avory on drums, and John Gosling on keyboards.) On “Holloway Jail,” they’re utterly convincing while playing a hollowed-out folk blues to accompany the narrator’s sad tale of his incarcerated lover.
3. “Oklahoma U.S.A.”
One of the themes you’ll find running through Ray Davies’ work is escape; his characters are looking for something external into which to disappear to escape the problems of their lives. In the case of “Oklahoma U.S.A.,” an achingly pretty ballad, he’s talking about a character who wants to be in Hollywood musicals, even though it’s likely she’ll never escape her dreary circumstances. Future Kinks songs like “Celluloid Heroes” and “Rock and Roll Fantasy” expand on this notion further, but they don’t capture the subtlety and innocence of this beauty.
2. “20th Century Man”
Another one of Ray’s prevailing themes is the relentless incursion of modernity, and how that tends to make simple pleasures, ones that were rich and profound, somewhat obsolete. “20th Century Man” deals with that subject with such sharp-minded acumen that it stays relevant year after year. It helps that it’s such an engaging song in terms of its music, which bruises along with a fierceness that’s somewhat atypical of the defeated tone of much of the rest of the record. With that foundation, Davies points out how frustration can lead to stagnation (Ain’t go no ambition / I’m just disillusioned).
1. “Muswell Hillbilly”
It’s the catchiest song on the record, with the propulsive churn of the rhythm, the sing-along quality of the melody, and Dave Davies’ flickering guitar licks carrying it a long way. You’re already on board with this thing before you even hear a word. The title comes from the childhood neighborhood of Ray and Dave Davies, as the song warns about how changing locations and changing times often lead to an individual’s potential loss of self. As the last song on the record, it leaves us on a ringing note of defiance: They’re gonna try and make me change my way of living / But they’ll never make me something that I’m not.
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