Preservation: Act 1 and Preservation: Act 2 are 1973 concept albums (originally a single rock opera, but the idea was scratched), released as separate albums in 1973 and 1974 by the English rock group The Kinks.
Many hardcore Kinks fans were alienated by Ray Davies’ melodramatic songwriting during the Preservation project era, resulting in albums that played more like the soundtracks to a piece of musical theatre than rock albums.
More recent reviews of Preservation: Act 1 have been more sympathetic to its ambitions. In particular, All Music’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine has declared “Sweet Lady Genevieve” to be the “real candidate for Davies’ forgotten masterpiece”.
The CD reissue of Preservation: Act 1 includes the single versions of “Preservation” and “One of the Survivors”, neither of which are available on the original vinyl release.
Tracklisting:
Preservation Act 1
1. Preservation US Single
2. Morning Song
3. Daylight
4. Sweet Lady Genevieve
5. There’s A Change In The Weather
6. Where Are They Now?
7. One Of The Survivors
8. Cricket
9. Money And Corruption / I Am Your Man
10. Here Comes Flash
11. Sitting In The Midday Sun
12. Demolition
13. One of the Survivors Single Edit
Preservation Act 2
1. Announcement
2. Introduction to Solution
3. When A Solution Comes
4. Money Talks
5. Announcement
6. Shepherds of the Nation
7. Scum of the Earth
8. Second-Hand Car Spiv
9. He’s Evil
10. Mirror of Love
11. Announcement
12. Nobody Gives
13. Oh Where Oh Where is Love?
14. Flash’s Dream (The Final Elbow)
15. Flash’s Confession
16. Nothing Lasts Forever
17. Announcement
18. Artificial Man
19. Scrapheap City
20. Announcement
21. Salvation road
The Kinks – Everybody’s In Show Business
Everybody’s in Show-Biz is a 1972 double album released by the English rock group, The Kinks. The album’s first disc features studio recordings, while the second disc documents a two-night Carnegie Hall stand.
Everybody’s in Show-Biz is often seen as a transition album for The Kinks, marking the change in Ray Davies’ songwriting style toward more theatrical, campy and vaudevillian work, as evidenced by the rock-opera concept albums that followed it.
This album marks Davies’ first explorations of the trials of rock-star life and the monotony of touring (these themes would reappear in future releases like The Kinks Present A Soap Opera, Think Visual and the 1987 live album Live: The Road).
Tracklisting:
1. Here Comes Yet Another Day
2. Maximum Consumption
3. Unreal Reality
4. Hot Potatoes
5. Sitting in My Hotel
6. Motorway
7. You Don’t Know My Name
8. Supersonic Rocket Ship
9. Look A Little On the Sunnyside
10. Celluloid Heroes
11. Top of the Pops
12. Brainwashed
13. Mr. Wonderful
14. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues
15. Holiday
16. Muswell Hillbilly
17. Alcohol
18. Banana Boat Song
19. Skin And Bone
20. Baby Face
21. Lola
22. Till the End of the Day
23. She’s Bought A Hat Like A Princess Marina Live
The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies
Muswell Hillbillies was the band’s first album for RCA Records their prior recordings having been released on Pye Records released in November 1971. The album is named after the Muswell Hill area of North London, where band leader Ray Davies and guitarist Dave Davies grew up and the band formed in the early 1960s
The album centered around themes of poverty and working-class life, as well as the destruction and subdivision of old Victorian neighborhoods that had become commonplace in North London during the 1970s.
The album is a wide-ranging collection of Ray Davies compositions which focus on the frustrations and stresses of modern life, such as poverty, housing development, and subdivision Musical styles range from rock (“20th Century Man”) and country (“Muswell Hillbilly”) to blues (“Here Come the People in Grey”) and theatrical, music-hall inspired numbers (“Alcohol”). The album is notable for the intentional use of dated recording equipment. Ray Davies and engineer Mike Bodak utilized 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.
The front cover picture was taken in The Archway Tavern, a pub more than 2 miles away from Muswell Hill. The back inset picture, showing the band below a signpost giving direction to Muswell Hill, was taken on the small traffic island at the intersection of Castle Yard and Southwood Lane in Highgate.
Tracklistings:
1. Twentieth Century Man
2. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues
3. Holiday
4. Skin And Bone
5. Alcohol Live
6. Complicated Life
7. Here Come The People In Grey
8. Have A Cuppa Tea
9. Holloway Jail
10. Oklahoma USA
11. Uncle Son
12. Muswell Hillbilly
13. Mountain Woman
14. Kentucky Moon
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