Ladies and Gentleman.... THE KINKS!!

It boggles my own mind that I've made it this far without mentioning The Kinks. In my opinion it's astounding The Kinks aren't widely put in the same category as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Their entire catalog is filled with absolutely AMAZING records. One of my favorite records of all time is their 1971 release 'Muswell Hillbillies'. A little back story goes with my introduction to this record, and I'd like to share it with you.

Thanksgiving day is usually spent with my own family boozing and eating delicious food, but Thanksgiving night is spent with some of my closest friends at a buddy Jake's house. His family has the most amazing record collection I've ever seen, which is nice when sitting around telling stories with friends. One Thanksgiving around 5 or 6 years ago (good lord I'm getting old), I completely zoned out of the conversation because of a record in the background. The record, of course, was Muswell Hillbillies. It's a beautiful mix of rock, country and blues... more on the description to come. Anyhow, I was so excited to buy this record when I returned to my home at the time, Pittsburgh. It was difficult to find unfortunately, but I finally found a website where it could be purchased and I even paid the extra few bucks for next day shipping. Days passed and it still hadn't arrived. I learned to find that someone in my apartment building fucking signed for my record! Weeks and many hateful notes above the mailboxes passed, but I eventually found it in an old used CD store...I will NEVER forgive whoever signed for it the first time around.

Like I said, ROCK, COUNTRY and BLUES! Three of my favorite things in the world! This record is an absolute masterpiece, personally I think the Davies' brothers best. I love the way the entire record has a theme of modern life. There's so many records out there with no theme or thread of continuity, but I like getting a message. Let me share with you a verse from one of my favorite tracks, 'Complicated Life'.

Well I cut down women I cut out booze,
I stopped ironing my shirts, cleaning my shoes,
I stopped going to work, reading the news,
Im sitting twiddling my thumbs cos I got nothing to do,
Minimal exercise,
To help uncomplicate my life,
Gotta stand and face it life is so complicated,
Ladi dah di dahdah, ladi dah di dah dah,
Got to get away from the complicated life son,
Life is overated, life is complicated,
Must aleviate this, complicated life.

So simple and yet so beautiful. Everyone has stresses and complications in modern life, but this album gives an almost uplifting feel to it all. This record kind of got lost since it followed up their megahit 'Lola', and it's a damn shame. There's even mention of West Virginia in the closing track 'Muswell Hillbilly'! Doesn't get much better than that.

I'm a designer and I've been throwing around the idea of writing and designing a Top 100 Albums of All Time book, especially after looking at the strange choices in the Top 100 book laying behind my toilet. (Love the book Krista, but that guy has it all wrong.) This album, without a doubt would rank in my Top 10. That's a bold statement, and I will stand behind it until the day my complicated life ends.

*If you EVER see a copy of this on vinyl, please pick it up for me and I will pay you double what you paid + the shipping!