ALBUM REVIEW: The Kinks - Everybody's in Show-Biz

    What brief restoration of popularity had in 1970 with the "comeback" of Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround was immediately squandered with the poor sales of Muswell Hillbillies the following year, even if Muswell got all the critical praise and love. I can imagine being frustrated if I were Ray with the failure, and there was newfound pressure in touring with their ability do so restored in the United States after a 5-year performance ban. Everybody's in Show-Biz is a bizarre middle ground in The Kinks catalog - the halfway point between recluse Ray Davies and theatrical and eccentric Ray Davies that will be found throughout their next era (gulp). Say what you will, Everybody's in Show-Biz is certainly going out with a bang, least of all because this is the group's first double LP. The end product of Show-Biz is one part a far more patronizing retread of ideas on Lola Versus Powerman and another part uninspired live disc with only a few bright performances throughout - it doesn't help that they castrate a third of Muswell on that live disc. I've seen people call this the final album in The Kinks' Golden Age - I have to ask, are we hearing the same album?

    As I'm sure you've gathered at this point, The Kinks were rather fond of their concept albums at this point, and Everybody's in Show-Biz continues that Kinks tradition, although if you're looking for the anachronistic themes of their finest works like Village Green or Arthur or Muswell, you best look for another album. Show-Biz, rather predictably, continues on themes of disillusionment of the music industry from Lola Versus Powerman, but this is not Celluloid Heroes Versus Maximum Consumption and the Unreal Reality or anything like that - this album showcases Ray's disdain for touring! Most of the ideas on this record about the tedium of the rock-star life, touring, and slight themes of consumerism have not only been done far better on previous Kinks albums, but they have never sounded so patronizing as they do on this album. Prime example is the "takedown" of music criticism on "Look a Little on the Sunny Side," where Ray laments that no matter what you do, sometimes the critics just won't get it! Give me a fucking break. At least the humor's here, right? Well you're not entirely wrong - "Maximum Consumption" is both catchy and mildly entertaining. Here's a gold star, Ray! Only a handful of moments can recapture the magic of what was on previous albums, whether that's the roaring opener of "Here Comes Yet Another Day," the obligatory Dave Davies song in "You Don't Know My Name," and two lovely ballads in "Sitting in My Hotel" and "Celluloid Heroes," the latter being a great ode to the movie stars of yesteryear. Even still, some of these moments feel over-hyped - are we really going to pretend that "Supersonic Rocket Ship" is that good of a song?

    Another common thing I've seen about this album is that the studio disc is where all the good material is, and that the live disc at Carnegie Hall is a big ol' letdown - to that I say no. I don't say that because I was already disappointed by the studio disc, although I certainly could say that's why, but really because this is not at all a bad set of performances. Now, as I say this, I remember that this live disc contains about half of Muswell Hillbillies and only the punching performance of "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" really manages to impress, meanwhile you have to sit through an overly theatrical and pestilent versions of "Alcohol" that fails to do much other than make me want to scream at Ray Davies through my computer screen and headphones. No, in spite of that, most of this live disc is just fine - nothing special, although I don't find it nearly as patronizing or as repetitive as the first disc. I also don't find it to have the same high points, though, and frankly some renditions are explicitly disappointing - "Lola" and "Skin and Bone" are the worst culprits, but where's the harmonies on "Brainwashed," man? As a brief sidenote, I've seen one complaint of this live disc being that casual fans would only be familiar with a few tunes on it - I see no issue with this, and frankly the idea that a lot of this was deeper cuts made me excited to hear it. Now if only it were more exciting...

     T.S. Elliot once famously declared "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper." Such is not the case with music, and if you can say anything about The Kinks, it's that they knew how to end with a fucking bang, and that's exactly what Everybody's in Show-Biz. From start to finish, there is such a thick layer of bitterness and anger and theatricality that feels like a bastard chimera of different Kinks eras thrown into a Magic Bullet. The end result is, despite my negative descriptions, not without merit. The concept is executed well enough, the live portion contains some fun moments, and the studio disc has some real gems that live up to what was before. Even with all that in mind, I can't shake the fact that something about Everybody's in Show-Biz is just incredibly annoying, and it's hard to see this as anything but a step-down in quality at best and a major fuck-up at worst. Will what follows be worse than this? I guess that's for me to find out in the future, but as it stands this is their worst album since their debut that isn't named Percy - some things never change, eh?

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Everybody's in Show-Biz.

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