This old Kinks fan thinks that Muswell Hillbillies was the last absolutely undeniable classic the band released. I loved the way this kooky concept album compared the British working class to the rural poor of Appalachia, and used blues and New Orleans jazz as an elegy for their displacement and the death of their culture and identity.
I haven't kept up with all the deluxe releases of Muswell Hillbillies, but I just recently learned that there's an amazing outtake called "Lavender Lane" that chronicles the way urban renewal sent characters like Rosie Rooke far from their old stomping grounds to realize some city planner's short-sighted vision. Note the echo of the "Waterloo Sunset" melody in the accompaniment to the cynical description of the community's disintegration.
Lavender Lane is one of my favorite Kinks songs of all… has one of my favorite Ray lines and delivery with “they look down their noses and they puff their cigars. instead of off they say orf, instead of yeah they say yah”
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u/Existenz_1229 14d ago
This old Kinks fan thinks that Muswell Hillbillies was the last absolutely undeniable classic the band released. I loved the way this kooky concept album compared the British working class to the rural poor of Appalachia, and used blues and New Orleans jazz as an elegy for their displacement and the death of their culture and identity.
I haven't kept up with all the deluxe releases of Muswell Hillbillies, but I just recently learned that there's an amazing outtake called "Lavender Lane" that chronicles the way urban renewal sent characters like Rosie Rooke far from their old stomping grounds to realize some city planner's short-sighted vision. Note the echo of the "Waterloo Sunset" melody in the accompaniment to the cynical description of the community's disintegration.