Kinks, The - Everybody's In Show Biz

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Mobile Fidelity
Catalog Number: 2010
Format: CD
Total Time: 72:17:00

Everybody's In Showbiz was not one of the most memorable Kinks albums but it was very entertaining. One half is studio recordings and the other live. It did yield ?Celluloid Heroes,? which was one of their most popular tunes. The studio portion of the album told stories of emotions that lead singer Ray Davies was going through while on the road. Even though it was all made light of onstage, it came from a darker place inside the writer's heart. People found Ray's onstage character aloof and amusing. He obviously felt comfortable with acting out all those feelings at the time, otherwise putting it across onstage would have been impossible. This was not a good period in Ray's personal life so he turned to the music to give it a satirical spin.

Things would change for the better soon as the band was on the brink of breaking it big in the U.S. Album oriented rock would become the standard soon and The Kinks were in perfect position to become one of the leaders of that phase in music, and they did.

There are many great Kinks albums that are worthy of the original master recording Ultradisc UHR (Gain 2) treatment, and I am not sure why this particular album was chosen. It is a fair album in comparison to some of the other work the band produced prior to and after 1972. Irregardless of my opinion, it is good rock 'n' roll that sounds better than it did before, and after all that is what converting an album's format for a better listening experience is all about. Kinks fans that like to hear a more distinct separation of the music will be pleased but in the same token may be disappointed that a more significant album from the band's catalog was not the choice for this pristine format. I have never had the pleasure of seeing this band in concert and found it fascinating listening to what they sounded like in the early '70s.

Released originally in 1972 by RCA (6065); most recently released (though not as the Mofi version) in 208 by JVC Japan (64251) and Velvel (LP, 79836)

Tracklisting:
Here Comes Yet Another Day (3:30) / Maximum Consumption (4:06) / Unreal Reality (3:34) / Hot Potatoes (3:28) / Sitting In My Hotel (3:23) / Motorway (3:30) / You Don't Know My Name (2:36) / Supersonic Rocket Ship (3:32) / Look A Little On The Sunny Side (2:51) / Celluloid Heroes (6:21) / Top Of The Pops (4:07) / Brainwashed (2:31) / Wonderful (0 :43) / Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues (4:02) / Holiday (3:34) / Muswell Hillbilly (3:03) / Alcohol (5:12) / The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) (1:41) / Skin & Bone (3:53) / Baby Face (1:56) / Lola (1:41) / Til The End Of The Day (1:59) / She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina (3:04)

Musicians:
Dave Davies - guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals
Davy Jones - baritone sax, winds
Ray Davies - guitar, vocals
Mick Avory - drums
John Beecham - tuba, horn
Michael Cotton - trumpet
John Dalton - bass
John Gosling - keyboards
Alan Holmes - flute, horn, baritone sax

Discography:
Kinda Kinks (1965/2001*)
You Really Got Me (1965)
Kinks-Size (1965)
Kinkdom (1965)
The Kink Kontroversy (1965/2001*)
Face To Face (1966)
The Kinks' Greatest Hits (1966)
Something Else By The Kinks (1967/2003**)
Live At Kelvin Hall (1968)
The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire (1969)
Lola Vs. The Powerman & The Money-Go-Round, Pt 1 (1970)
Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
Everybody's In Show-Biz (1972/2003)
Preservation: Act 1 (1973)
The Great Lost Kinks Album (1973)
Preservation: Act 2 (1974)
The Kinks Present Schoolboys In Disgrace (1975)
The Kinks Present A Soap Opera (1975)
Sleepwalker (1977)
Misfits (1978)
Low Budget (1979/2003)
One For The Road (1980)
Give The People What They Want (1981)
State Of Confusion (1983)
Word Of Mouth (1984)
Think Visual (1986)
Road (1988)
Phobia (1993)
To The Bone (1994, UK)
To The Bone (1996, US)

plus numerous compilations/best ofs (see allmusic.com)

Genre: Rock

Origin UK

Added: July 7th 2003
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website: www.kinks.org
Hits: 2210
Language: english