Consumer Guide Album

The Kinks: Everybody's in Showbiz [RCA Victor, 1972]
A few of the new songs here are as strident as anything Ray Davies has done since before he started playing the recluse in London in the late '60s. They're tight; they have a firm beat; they're, you know, rock and roll. Unfortunately, they're still self-pitying--the reformed recluse doth reflect overmuch these days on the travails of the touring superstar. But for only an extra dollar you get a live album worth at least that, featuring the antics of a reborn showman who has turned stage fright into a way of life and thus rendered his self-pity somewhat more palatable. B+