Musical Styles
The album is a wide-ranging collection of Ray Davies compositions which focus on the tensions and frustrations of modern life. In the opening song, the singer declares: "I'm a 20th century man, but I don't want to be here." The album introduces us to the lives of a number of working class figures, and the stresses they must contend with. As one critic notes: "Various characters get militantly angry, delve into escapism, or simply go mad. It is important to note that no matter what, even in the album’s closing track, where the titular characters are being relocated to 'identical little boxes', there isn’t a hint of complacency or resignation; they instead pledge defiance by refusing to change." Musical styles range from rock ("20th Century Man") and country ("Muswell Hillbilly") to music-hall inspired numbers ("Alcohol").
Ray Davies and engineer Mike Bobak used 10 year old microphones on many of the tracks to give the record an antiquated feel. Muswell Hillbillies was also the first of The Kinks' records featuring their new brass section, The Mike Cotton Sound, which included Mike Cotton on trumpet, John Beecham on trombone and tuba, and Alan Holmes on clarinet.
Read more about this topic: Muswell Hillbillies
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