The Kinks - Everybody's in Show-Biz (Deluxe 2022 Remaster) (1972/2022) (Hi-Res) FLAC/MP3

The 1970s were not kind to the Kinks. While the band had already transitioned gracefully from their mod-ish British Invasion origins (and the heavy production thumb of Shel Talmy) into something more adventurous and artful with 1968's The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, that masterpiece's two iconic follow-ups (Arthur and Lola) found Ray Davies' weird twin penchants for acidic lyricism and music hall song structures becoming more and more dominant in the group's sound. By the time the 1971 soundtrack to Percy rolled around, U.S. audiences had all but forgotten about the band, who soon found themselves facing the same fate in their native England.

And although Davies would delve further and further into high-concept theatricality (and deeper commercial irrelevance) with a series of four albums in the mid-70s, there was a brief interregnum in 1971 and 1972 when it looked as if the Kinks had seized upon a creatively successful way to synthesize all of their influences. While 1971's Muswell Hillbillies is more often notched into various "Best Of…" lists, there's a strong case to be made that its follow-up, Everybody's In Show-Biz, does a much better job at showing off the band's strengths at the time. To be sure, like nearly every Kinks album, this one has a couple of bafflingly dumb songs; "Maximum Consumption" is another list-of-foods song that is the mirror image of the equally stupid "Skin and Bone" (originally on Muswell, but also here in a live version), and "Motorway" is a song about … driving (with its own short list of foods one may eat while driving). While these dumb-but-lovely tunes are par for the course for a Kinks album, the more typical Kinks tunes here—"Supersonic Rocket Ship," "Hot Potatoes" (someone please feed Ray Davies!)—are deceptively breezy, as their easy-rocking structures are played as wryly as their lyrics. A cut like "You Don't Know My Name" shouldn't be as good as it is, and it definitely shouldn't be kicked into an even higher gear by an unexpectedly perfect flute solo in the bridge. Given the relatively higher level that most of the material here is working at, it shouldn't be surprising that Show-Biz's high points are some of the best songs the Kinks ever put to vinyl. And while the emotionally note-perfect sentimentality of "Celluloid Heroes" justifiably gets the lion's share of attention, the sly and subtle "Sitting In My Hotel" is nearly as effective. Two reissues mark the album's 50th anniversary. The Deluxe 2022 Remaster version is relatively spare when it comes to extras; of course the live set from the Muswell Hillbillies tour that was included in the original vinyl version appears intact, but beyond that, the bonus material is limited to just a couple of new mixes of "Celluloid Heroes." The Legacy Edition features previously unreleased studio outtakes and more live cuts from their two-night stand at Carnegie Hall in March 1972. Still, this is an album that deserves to stand on its own, and does so remarkably well, even half a century later.

1. Here Comes Yet Another Day (2022 Remaster) (3:55)
2. Maximum Consumption (2022 Remaster) (4:06)
3. Unreal Reality (2022 Remaster) (3:34)
4. Hot Potatoes (2022 Remaster) (3:28)
5. Sitting in My Hotel (2022 Remaster) (3:24)
6. Motorway (2022 Remaster) (3:32)
7. You Don't Know My Name (2022 Remaster) (2:36)
8. Supersonic Rocket Ship (2022 Remaster) (3:32)
9. Look a Little on the Sunny Side (2022 Remaster) (2:51)
10. Celluloid Heroes (2022 Remaster) (6:24)
11. Top of the Pops (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (4:35)
12. Brainwashed (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (2:58)
13. Mr. Wonderful (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (0:43)
14. Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (4:00)
15. Holiday (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (3:55)
16. Muswell Hillbilly (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (3:09)
17. Alcohol (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (5:21)
18. Banana Boat Song (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (1:41)
19. Skin and Bone (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (3:55)
20. Baby Face (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (1:56)
21. Lola (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 3rd March 1972)[2022 Remaster] (1:44)
22. Celluloid Heroes (2022 Mix) (6:31)
23. Celluloid Heroes (US Single Version 2022 Edit) (3:39)