The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies / Everybody’s In Show-Biz (Colored Vinyl 6LP + 4CD Box Set) * * *

50th Anniversary Multi-Format Box Set Celebrating Two of The Kinks’ Classic ’70s Albums; Includes Remastered Audio, Bonus Remixes and Previously Unseen Home Movie Plus 52-Page Book

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This colored vinyl 6LP plus 4CD box set celebrates the 50th anniversary of two of The Kinks’ classic ’70s albums! Muswell Hillbillies was the first record the band toured in America while Everybody’s In Show-Biz was written in reflection of the tour. Packaged inside a newly designed two-part box, this deluxe set includes remastered audio from the original album sources. A bonus vinyl disc includes 11 new Ray Davies remixes. The set is rounded out with a previously unseen, digitally restored Ray Davies 1971 home movie narrated by Ray, a”London Roots Map” of all the Kinks landmarks, six glossy photos, a Kinks pin-badge and a 52-page hardback book with rare and unseen band photos and quotes.

This period’s first Kinks album, Muswell Hillbillies, is for many fans their favorite record from the band. It conversely looked back on Ray and Dave Davies’ London roots, telling tales of working-class families migrating from the war-torn and redevelopment-ravaged inner city to the strange, leafy suburbs of North London. Everybody’s in Show-Biz is a double album with one record devoted to stories from the road and another devoted to songs from the road. The album includes Ray Davies’ trademark wit, especially in the woozy beginning of “Unreal Reality” or the tongue-in-cheek “Look a Little on the Sunnyside” and the upbeat classic “Supersonic Rocket Ship.” Aside from the wit, there’s a sense of melancholy running throughout the record, most notably on the album’s hit track “Celluloid Heroes.”