who's heard it? I know Jess has, but I doubt she'll say much about it (although I welcome her comments). I suspect I'll get a chance to hear it soon. I'm excited. I just found this review:

Ray Davies
Other People's Lives
(V2)
Rating: 9
US release date: 7 February 2006
UK release date: 6 February 2006
by Will Layman


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This is a brilliant album—a collection of smart, funny, catchy, soulful, touching songs that come from a pen you might have forgotten over the years. But how many rockers can make a chorus of the phrase, “Is there life after breakfast? Yes there is!”?

One: Ray Davies.

Pop songwriting can be so many things—and it usually isn’t. A great pop song is a condensed gem that can swing from love to tragedy in eight bars—or from the horrible to the hilarious, from the hopeful to the wistful. Terrific pop songwriting simultanesouly entertains and reveals, and it does it in the name of increasing your pulse and swishing your hips back and forth. When it’s done right, it’s genius. But how often is that?

Mr. Ray Davies has done it more than almost any other man in rock, and Other People’s Lives is as a good a collection as you’re going to hear in 2006. “You Really Got Me” and “Lola” made Mr. Davies’ band, The Kinks, the rawest and weirdest of the British Invasion bands. When they were a mop-topped garage band, The Kinks were the scrappiest. When they adopted British folkisms, The Kinks did it without preciousness. When Mr. Davies wrote linked song cycles, they were the smartest. And when the 1970s and punk dared him to mature, he found ways confound critics with a minor masterpiece (Sleepwalker, the band’s 1977 Arista debut) and a deeply ironic hit song ("A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” from 1978’s Misfits).

So how can it be that one of the greatest rock songwriters is only now releasing an album of spanking new material?

Well, you could get analytic about it, but Other People’s Lives will quickly end your discussion. Now long-released from commercial expectations or the directive to write for a narrow “Kinks” identity, Mr. Davies is producing crazy, crafted, witty music—the kind of stuff that reminds us that the best rock writers have always just been good songwriters, regardless of style. Like Elvis Costello, Mr. Davies wears his rock persona easily into middle age, while not being afraid to incorporate the odd saxophone or bossa nova coloring. These are great pop songs put across in fantastic performances.

“Things Are Gonna Change” snaps the album open with organ-and-guitar rock built on heaping doses of melody: a great riff, a bitten-off verse, a rising chorus, and a strong bridge. Mr. Davies sings about “the barrier we cross” as “we crawl outside ourselves”—an optimistic song about the “morning after” something that might be 9/11 but is just as likely a smaller problem—yours or mine. The second song starts to bring the album title to life—the first in a series of character-driven songs: “I just had a really bad fall, and this time it was harder to get up than before.’ Mr. Davies cranks his voice into a nasal overdrive, but still harbors optimism—seeing the moment “after the mist clears” even though the narrator is a “sinner waiting at the travelers’ rest seeking refuge from the storm” who is “falling upwards into the great, wide blue”. The song explodes outward with exuberance on a great Fender power chord.

The quaint side of Ray is in evidence too, though. “Next Door Neighbor” is a classic Village Green Preservation Society-esque story that floats on a bed of horns and a jaunty beat. And the humorous Ray is everywhere: “Is There Life After Breakfast?” doles out feel-good advice with tongue in cheek, and “Stand Up Comic” starts with a culture-mocking monologue suggesting that “Shakespeare is the schmooze of the week and anyone who says different is a fuckin’ antique” and “now the clown does a fart and we all fart back . . . and that’s that.” But as much as anything, we get the best Ray of all—the songwriter who can manage to be sweeping and grand without ever seeming to reach too far toward anthem or bullshit. “Creatures of Little Faith” moves inevitably toward its irresistible chorus, but it does so through lyrics detailing a domestic dispute. “All She Wrote” starts with a break-up letter sung over folk-guitar simplicity, then it explodes into a funky rock that dismisses the “few cute lines to get my goat”. “Over My Head” rises up on heartbreak again, the narrator reaching for optimism by letting negativity fly over his head, powered by a wah-guitar groove punched up by grand piano thump. If you heard this stuff coming from a car window in June, you’d want to push the accelerator down, but you’d listen to the lyrics too.

Some critics will surely want to accuse Mr. Davies of reaching too far beyond his style or audience. “Other People’s Lives” has a Latin rock feel, a female background croon, and references to internet-spread scandals. “The Getawa (Lonesome Train)” is, essentially, an alt-country song with a Neil Young twang. But these tracks aren’t betrayals of some patented “Kinks Sound” as much as further demonstration that Mr. Davies has always been more a songwriter than a “rock songwriter”. Whatever window dressing he may find for each song’s proper style, Ray’s British growl and snarly pout tells each story with humor, affection, and conviction.

This is a great collection of songs from an artist who has not tested our affection with meandering solo material or endless mercenary reunion tours. He’s the real thing: a rocker who’s an artist. And with Other People’s Lives, well, he’s really got you.


http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews..._peoples_lives/

Sounds like Ray has maintained his edge.
I'm looking forward to hearing this, especially since the EP was such a pleasant surprise.

yes, can't wait for this either! I remember seeing him at the Vic back on his Storyteller tour, and remembering talk of this coming out back then! (Was that 2000 or 2001?)

one more thing. There's a Kinks feature in the March Mojo, a Ray interview and a cd of Kinks covers. I'm going to try and pick one up, but I thought I'd make sure others know it exists as well (and in case I don't get it, somebody will surely burn me the cd).

not to be outdone by his big brother, Dave decides to keep on chooglin'


Here's the press release on Dave's new release:



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:



KOCH RECORDS TO RELEASE DAVE DAVIES'

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED KINKED

ON MARCH 7TH, 2006



The triumphant return of legendary KINKS founder Dave Davies featuring ten years of solo classics including new track "God In My Brain," inspired by stroke recovery



February 6, 2006 — New York, NY — KOCH Records announces the triumphant return of Dave Davies, founding member of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legends, The Kinks. Kinked, a collection of Dave Davies' finest studio recordings and live tracks from 1997 – 2006, includes the brand new track (recorded in January 2006), "God In My Brain," which was inspired by Davies' recovery from a serious stroke he suffered in 2004.



Thanks in no small measure to the sound of the Olympian thunderbolts cast by Dave's guitar, the Kinks' sound has inspired and influenced generations of rockers including The Ramones, Van Halen, and Green Day, and helped give birth to punk, metal and modern guitar rock. In the ten years since the band's last public performance, Dave has released four official albums on Velvel & KOCH Records, in addition to three live albums, two albums of demos and an electronic music collaboration released through his website.



On 30 June 2004, while at the BBC to promote the UK release of his solo album "Bug," Dave Davies collapsed as a result of what was later determined to be a stroke. Though details were scarce at the time, the legendary guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer would be sidelined for a year and a half before returning to the limelight with the release of this record.



"God In My Brain," recorded in mid-January 2006, returns to the theme of unfinished business and new beginnings. Within a day of entering the hospital, with difficulty speaking and unable to use the right side of his body, Dave was already beginning to restart the creative engine.



"It's not God as in the grey-haired old man sitting in the sky, but the person in my head who while the stroke was happening was sitting back and observing," according to Dave. Within a week, a guitar was in his hands, and as he strummed his first chords, the incredible rhythm of this song emerged. The lyrics were completed last November and December, when Dave agreed to return to the studio to complete this album.



The result is a jubilant tour-de-force, which Dave wrote, arranged and produced, while singing and playing all instruments including guitars, bass, piano and organ. The album's cover art features an original painting by Davies, created in August 2004 as part of his therapy at the London Neurological Hospital.



The rest of this album focuses mainly on Dave's compositions, as featured on the four solo albums recorded during Davies' past ten years as a KOCH/Velvel artist. A mixture of gem-like new studio recordings of songs from his 'first' and 'second' solo careers in the 60s and 80s, live recordings of some of his favorite Kinks tunes, plus originals from Bug and Unfinished Business, this album is (mostly) not about 'those chords' that first made him famous. Here is Dave Davies—he of the thoughtful ballads and heartfelt love songs, the ringing acoustic and the lyrical electric guitars, the achingly beautiful vocals...and themes of hope and optimism.



"Unfinished Business," which opens this album, was inspired by the untimely death of John Lennon, who had so much more to give the world. Today, it's hard to listen to this lush, Beatlesque gem without thinking it somehow nearly prophetic of Dave's own stroke event. Among the other originals is "Fortis Green," a childhood remembrance that easily ranks right up there with brother Ray's classic-period gems.



Also featured are "live" versions of Dave's classic "Living on a Thin Line" (the original Kinks version was unforgettably featured in one of the dramatic "University Episode" of HBO's The Sopranos), a spirited version of "Picture Book" (recently featured in the wildly popular television spots for HP's Digital Photo products), along with Dave's studio tribute to The Beatles' George Harrison on "Give Me Love, Give Me Peace on Earth."





THE TRACK LISTING:



1. Unfinished Business
2. Living on a Thin Line (live)
3. Picture Book (live)
4. Fortis Green
5. Love Gets You
6. This Man He Weeps Tonight
7. Death of a Clown
8. Suzannah's Still Alive
9. Hold My Hand
10. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
11. Strangers (live)
12. Too Much On My Mind (live)
13. When The Wind Blows (Emergency)
14. God In My Brain
15. Rock Me, Rock You






About KOCH Records

KOCH Records is a division of KOCH Entertainment, the fastest-growing music company and the market leader among independents in North America. The KOCH Entertainment corporate umbrella encompasses the KOCH Records label, KOCH Vision home video, KOCH Music Publishing and KOCH Entertainment Distribution with operations in both the U.S. and Canada. KOCH Records proudly claims the largest number of Billboard charting albums among independents for each of the last five years (2001-2005). For additional info on the KOCH Records label and its roster of artists, please visit www.kochrecords.com

I have this. I can YSI the CD at some point this week.

cool. If I pick it up before you ysi, I'll let ya know (unless others might want). Do you have the Who one as well? Have you heard either? Worth having?

Mojo has been on fire lately.

Last month's Who features (and covers CD) were great as well.


/edit: ^beat me to it.

I could YSI the Who one... /topic

That'd be cool sid. fyi:

RAY DAVIES (ex-KINKS) & Band at Vic Theatre - Saturday & Sunday, 4/1-2. I'm excited by this.

tix on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.

well. I got my tix for Sat night April 1. Here's a review from a show on the other side of the pond. I'm already getting excited:

More rock and pop reviews

Pop

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Davies

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Ian Gittins
Tuesday February 14, 2006
The Guardian


Far from a spent force: Ray Davies

Ray Davies' 40 years in the music industry have not dimmed his enthusiasm. The former Kinks singer takes to the stage like a beat-pop version of Peter Snow, waving his arms and mugging wildly to the reverent audience applause. He may be on such exuberant form because he knows he has a musical ace up his sleeve. At 61 he is a tad long-in-the-tooth for debut solo albums, but Other People's Lives is a masterpiece of wry, observational pop that shows this veteran is far from a spent force.



He looks pretty good, too - dapper, rake-thin and still executing a mean scissor jump. Yet the first part of the show is wilfully obscure, covering the 1966 power-pop B-side I'm Not Like Everybody Else and reviving four tracks from the bucolic 1968 concept album Village Green Preservation Society.
The delicate new material suggests Davies should have started making solo records 20 years ago. The Dylan-esque Next Door Neighbour and Creatures of Little Faith are nostalgic reveries on the nature of human frailty, while the geezerish Stand-Up Comic reaffirms the huge debt owed by Parklife-era Blur.

Inevitably, it's the back catalogue that raises the roof. All Day and All of the Night and You Really Got Me become beery mass singalongs but far more affecting is Days, the nuanced musing on intimations of mortality covered by the late Kirsty MacColl. He encores with Lola and the gorgeous Waterloo Sunset. The flush of youth has long gone but Ray Davies seems poised for a poignant Indian summer.

I'd kill to see Ray Davies live. I remember when he did the very first VH1 Storytellers (VH1 still has to pay him for use of that concept/name, right?) and he did an acoustic version of "See My Friends" which was just complete awesomeness.

Hey, this post just reminded me that the new Ray Davies album is arleady out, so that just gave me something to do after lunch.

probably too late, but you might want to know that amazon lists "Other People's Lives" release date as 2/21. It was originally 2/7, but apparently was pushed back. You'll have to pick it up next week.

I have seen other sources saying 2/7, but I suspect they're outdated.

Well, I'm glad I checkeed this board a second time before heading out. February 21 is fast becoming my favorite day of 2006, thanks to Destroyer, Arctic Monkeys, Eels and now Ray.

from the March 2006 Mojo:

"The Modern Genius of Ray Davies" - Tribute CD

With Steve Wynn, Mark Lanegan, Mudhoney and more...

I almost YSI'd this myself, but I was too disappointed in the extremely variable quality on this compilation to bother. The This Is Where I Belong tribute CD did this sort of thing much better, although it's represented here by Fountains of Wayne's middling version of "Better Things". The only songs that equal or best the Kink's versions are Steve Wynn's "This Strange Effect", Yo La Tengo's "No Return" (which is one of my least favorite Kinks songs from their classic period, so that's not saying much) and Kevin Tihista's version of "Situation Vacant". The Holly Golightly song is pretty good, but I don't know the original to compare.

The Kinks cover story in Mojo is a long one with current interviews with Ray and Dave, but definitely accentuates the negatives in their career (US touring ban and lack of chart success in the 60s, Ray's marriages and breakdowns, Dave's stroke, the whole band fighting, blah, blah, blah). The music is literally treated as a sidebars to the narrative, with blurbs of underappreciated classics from different time periods.

Better from that Mojo issue is the story of about Talk Talk, Mark Hollis and the Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock albums. Fascinating.

There's also a feature article on Ray in this week's Entertainment Weekly.

Ray's going to be interviewed on XRT Sunday night at 9 p.m. I think. He's also on Little Steven's Underground Garage this weekend (broadcast on xrt on Monday Night at 10 p.m.).

Don't forget tonight's Underground Garage. Last night's show was pretty good on xrt. Here's dero's review of the new record:


Flying solo, finally

February 19, 2006

BY JIM DeROGATIS POP MUSIC CRITIC






In the summer of 1996, I reviewed the first of Ray Davies' "Storyteller" concerts at the Jane Street Theater in New York, and was sorely disappointed.

The singer-songwriter played a solo set of Kinks classics introduced with witty anecdotes from his 1995 book, X-Ray: The Unauthorized Autobiography. It was an entertaining evening, to be sure, but I was sad that Davies, like so many legendary musicians from the '60s, seemed content to revel in sweet nostalgia.

Call me a greedy ingrate. But I wasn't ready to write off this brilliant lyricist and powerful tunesmith as an oldies act, even if that was a role he seemed willing to play. I wanted new music as strong as the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" and "A Well Respected Man."

The band that Ray formed with his younger brother Dave in 1963 has not released a collection of new material since "Phobia" (1993). What's more, at age 61, Ray has never released a full solo album of new material. These facts combine to make his new effort, "Other People's Lives," an unexpected and very welcome gift.

By his own admission, Davies thought his days as a creative force were over. "I had lost confidence in my own abilities to make records," he recently told Rolling Stone. But in 2001, the quintessential Londoner moved to New Orleans, and here he reconnected with his muse. "I found I fit in somewhere for the first time since I left Muswell Hill," he said in another recent chat with the Hong Kong Standard.






RAY DAVIES
When: 7:30 p.m. April 1-2
Where: The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield
Tickets: $40
Phone: (312) 559-1212



The fresh surroundings inspired Davies to begin writing new tunes, and to complete others he'd left unfinished. The process of recording kicked into high gear after January 2004, when he was shot in the leg while chasing a mugger who had stolen his girlfriend's purse. "That accident gave me the strength to come back and play," Davies told Rolling Stone.

The result arrives in record stores Tuesday, and the 13 songs on "Other People's Lives" find Davies in peak form. Throughout his career, the artist has been renowned for his abilities as an armchair sociologist, sarcastically skewering the foibles of English society as well as creating unforgettable portraits of distinctly British characters. While some critics are characterizing the new album as his look at life in America, its subjects actually range much wider, and its key themes dig much deeper.

The strongest moments find one of rock's most perceptive artists sharing a lifetime of hard-won insights about relationships, the benefits and shortcomings of fame, the inevitability of aging and the human condition in general.

"This is the morning after / All that went before," Davies sings over a typically effervescent melody on the opening track, "Things Are Gonna Change (The Morning After)," announcing his intention to take stock of the past while moving forward. "All of the sun and laughter / The morning after, get up from the floor / To do it all again."

"All She Wrote" and "Creatures of Little Faith" chart a failed romance -- and Davies has had his share -- from two opposing perspectives. "The Tourist" is both an outsider looking in at his new surroundings, and a man realizing he has never really fit in anywhere. "Stand Up Comic" is a Cockney-accented rumination about the tears of a clown, as well as a reminder that long before Blur or Pulp, let alone the Streets, Davies was the king of sardonic Britpop and streetwise storytelling. And the title track is a devastating critique of empty sensationalism posing as journalism.

"Spread the news / Scandalize / Words cut like a thousand knives," Davies sings. "Playing games with other people's lives ... Feed the reporter!"

Musically, the album offers no surprises: Davies hasn't suddenly invested in samplers or synthesizers. Instead, he relies on jaunty and oddly timeless melodies that clearly originated with his trusty acoustic guitar and which were tastefully fleshed out in the studio with an understated rhythm section, the odd piano or the stray horn section and the occasional burst of fuzz guitar that you can't help comparing to Dave's.





Ray is hinting that a reconciliation with his brother and the rest of his old bandmates may be in the works. "I met them all again last week and we had dinner," he told Rolling Stone. "I got the feeling that there was still something special there."

But for the time being, he'll be supporting his gem of a solo debut on tour (including two dates April 1-2 at the Vic Theatre) with backing musicians Mark Johns, Dick Nolan and Toby Baron. And it's great to have him back.

The two songs I've heard (including the single) off of this are both pretty solid.

Here is Kot's rather mixed review from yesterday's Trib:

After years on hiatus, Davies is stuck in neutral on `Lives'

By Greg Kot
Tribune music critic
Published February 19, 2006

Ray Davies' influence as a songwriter with the Kinks has now spread across at least three generations of British rock bands; it would be impossible to imagine the Pretenders, Blur or even the Arctic Monkeys without him.

But it has been more than a decade since he released a collection of new songs, which makes his first solo album, "Other People's Lives" (V2), out Tuesday, something of an event for connoisseurs of sharply crafted pop tunes.

Those fans will happily gravitate toward character studies such as "Next Door Neighbour," "The Tourist" and "Thanksgiving Day," in which one of the more astute observers of British manners and eccentricities again demonstrates his prowess. There's a broader story at work as well, with Davies weaving these profiles of the everyday through a loose narrative about personal transformation.

The 61-year-old singer has weathered some recent trauma: the demise of the Kinks, a self-described "crisis of confidence," and a shooting during a robbery near his new home in New Orleans. "After the Fall" suggests as much: "There will be wrecks to clear in this war zone."

In "Is There Life After Breakfast?" he gives himself a pep talk, and by "Over My Head," he's on the road to being transformed ("Left it all for a new location, so you could start again").

But for all the apparent urgency in these lyrics, "Other People's Lives" falls flat. The singer's misanthropic streak gets the better of him on the cynical title song, a rant so obvious (against tabloid media) it would seem to be beneath a writer of his caliber. Similarly, "Stand-Up Comic" could be read as a putdown of the singer's audience, complete with thick Cockney accent ("I'm the lowest common denominator").

More troubling is the neutered music. Davies' words are dropped over arrangements that are merely serviceable, the sound of a '70s bar band burrowing toward last call. There are exceptions; "The Getaway (Lonesome Train)" drapes atmosphere thick as a Louisiana swamp over a haunted lament. It's the most distinctive moment on a record that never quite falters, but never quite builds to a knockout punch either. The snappy melodies, cascading ballads and fuzzed-up rockers that characterized the Kinks' best work are lacking.

The predictable, stolid approach may be the point, though. After all these years away from recordmaking, Davies sounds like an icon happy to have regained his footing, but not quite ready to sprint again.

I hate it when I agree more with dero than kot.

so i'm thinking of going to Ray here for $30 at First Ave

anybody know what to expect? setlist? who's in his band?

Here's a review from February 11 at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London:



I found a set list from a show a few days prior:

Where have all the Good times gone
End of the day
London Song
20th century man
Oklahoma USA
Village Green
Picture Book
Johnny Thunder
Sunny afternoon
Dead end street
After the fall
Next door neighbour
Creature of little faith
The tourist
Stand up comic
The morning after
Dedicated follower of fashion
Long way from home
Tired of waiting
Set me free
All the day
Days
You really got me
Waterloo sunset

I'll be at the Vic on Sunday night. Really looking forward to it.

Kinks' Music Komfortable With Kommercials

By Michael Paoletta, Reuters

NEW YORK (March 7) - Sixteen years after they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and 23 years after their last top 10 hit ("Come Dancing"), the Kinks are in the spotlight again -- thanks to a number of TV spots that feature their distinctive pop music.

Despite selling their songs for use in several commercials, the rock legends have so far been spared the "Sell-Out" label.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Video: Watch the Award-Winning HP 'Picture Book' Ad
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A couple of weeks ago, the British band's top 10 hit from 1964, "All Day and All of the Night," helped launch a new Tide campaign. In the coming weeks, the group's "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" will be heard in spots for IBM and Abbott Labs, respectively.

Additional licensing opportunities for the Kinks' music are in the works, says Kenny Ochoa, VP of film/TV licensing at Sanctuary Records Group, which represents the group.

Even though many of the songs used were not big U.S. hits, Ochoa credits this "Kinks renaissance" to the timelessness of the band's music, which has influenced many of today's rock bands.



He says an additional credit must go to Hewlett-Packard, which licensed the Kinks' "Picture Book" for an award-winning 2004 campaign.

"When spots work, they really work," Ochoa says. "The music and visuals drove that spot -- it was a perfect marriage."

Many agree. "The song captured the overall spirit of the spot," says Eric Korte, VP/music director of Saatchi & Saatchi in New York.

The same is true of the new Tide spot, which Korte worked on. While the lyrics of "All Day and All of the Night" cleverly fit in with the detergent's clean-clothes-at-all-times mantra, the song's classic guitar lick is just as powerful.

"You hear that guitar part and your brain starts singing the song's hook," Korte says. "This is helpful in advertising." Which helps to explain why many classic '60s and '70s rock songs, with simple hooks and recognizable riffs, are being championed in campaigns today.

Indeed, those paying close attention will recall that "All Day and All of the Night" has been used during the past couple of years in spots for Kohl's, Saab and GM.

Unfortunately, many of these classic songs, including "All Day and All of the Night" and "Picture Book," are not available at the iTunes Music Store.

What is available at iTunes is the new solo album from Kinks' frontman Ray Davies. Issued Feb. 21 in the United States via V2, "Other People's Lives" arrives at a time when there appears to be a renewed interest in the band Davies helped form. But V2 says it has no plans to connect the dots between the voice heard in all these TV ads and Davies' new album.


03/07/06 06:36 ET

I've had Other People's Lives for a week or so now. I like it a lot. Right now, "Creatures of Little Faith" is a favorite. The only problem I have with the album has to do with the liner notes. Ray does the same thing that another favorite songwriter of mine (Mr. Springsteen) often does - he points out that his songs are "about characters" and explains the characters a little bit and all that. It makes me want to scream. I don't want to know who The Magic Rat may symbolize or be based on. It's the same problem I have with Storytellers. I like hearing about how musicians come up with stuff, but sometimes I do feel the magic being stripped away a little bit. Plus, it sorta reeks of pretentiousness if you explain too much. Authors of novels don't provide Cliff's Notes to their own books, saying stuff like "Holden's young, he's growing up, yet he wants to retain that innocence. This is a theme I revisited later in my work". I love Bruce & Ray to death, but I just wish they'd keep some more secrets.

I swear I remember a Kinks song being in a Jolly Rancher commercial about ten or fifteen years ago.

Can someone please YSI this CD. It would be greatly appreciated!

Dude, we don't YSI unless you have at least 2 posts.

"All Day and All of the Night" was indeed used in a Jolly Rancher commercial at one time.

Cut me some slack. I haven't posted since server crashed and I just re-registered. I posted many times prior to server crash.

Ease up, I was joking.

I don't even have the album.

Here's a review of Ray's Madison show:

Davies soars, gets Kinks out
By Rob Thomas
It looked like another snowy Monday night on Madison's east side. But inside the Barrymore Theatre, a small piece of rock 'n' roll history was being written.


Does that sound like hyperbole? Consider that Monday's show was the first time ever in North America that Ray Davies performed with a band that wasn't the Kinks.

While Davies had done his "Storyteller" solo tour for several years, Monday's show, the kickoff to his 2006 U.S. tour, was the first time that the band behind him wasn't the seminal "British Invasion" band, which broke up a decade ago.

Davies played like a man itching to get back on stage with some new songs under his belt and feel the force of a rock band behind him. Monday's thrilling and joyful show got loud fast and stayed that way for much of its two-hour running time, as if Davies wanted to quickly and thoroughly dispel any speculation that he had mellowed out.


bighassle.com
Ray Davies put on a strong show at the Barrymore.
Sharply dressed in a gray suit and bright red shirt, Davies hit the stage without introduction, and without preamble he and his four-piece band the Other People launched into a noisy version of the Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else."

Davies incited the crowd to sing along with the chorus, and while one wonders if he was privately tickled to hear hundreds of people all chant "I'm not like everybody else" in unison, it was also a gleeful moment that set the tone for the show.

Finishing off that song with an old-school leap into the air on the final note, Davies went on to rather deftly mix classic Kinks songs with material off his new solo album, "Other People's Lives."

Kinks classics like "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" and "20th Century Man" sounded great in the hands of the new band, the latter getting a bit of a honky-tonk spin with some boogie-woogie piano. But so did the new "After the Fall," a tale of battling back against adversity that seems apt for this moment in Davies' second life as a musician.

"I haven't forgotten how to play my scales, you hear that?" a playful Davies joked at one point between songs. "I've been practicing."

He sure sounded like it, with both his voice and guitar in fine form. One of the highlights of the night came when he and guitarist Mark Johns played acoustic duets of several songs from the Kinks' notorious "Village Green Preservation Society" album, including "Johnny Thunder" and the irresistible "Picture Book."

The midsection of the show got a bit flabby with new songs, including "The Tourist" and "Next-Door Neighbour," and he didn't even play the new album's best song, "Is There Life After Breakfast?"

But the show finished very strong with Davies and the band banging out three essential Kinks tunes, "Tired of Waiting For You," "Set Me Free" and "All Day and All of the Night" to build to a delirious climax, with Johns earning his paycheck approximating Dave Davies' raspy guitar chords. (They didn't play "You Really Got Me" but "All Day" is pretty close.)

The encore was just one song, but it was a dilly, "Lola," which gave the audience one last chance to sing along with Ray.

After he finished playing, Davies took a few moments to shake hands and sign autographs for people in the front row.

What the fans said to him couldn't be heard, but it was probably two dozen variations on the same message: Welcome back, old friend.

Ray will be on Fresh Air on npr on Monday. It airs here at 11:00 a.m. I'm not sure if they're a day behind or not though. I think they do archive the shows though in case it's missed.

RAY DAVIES CONFIRMS KINKS REUNION





Veteran rocker RAY DAVIES is planning a summer reunion with his brother and former THE KINKS bandmate DAVE DAVIES to discuss reforming the British band. Former frontman Ray admits his rocky relationship with his brother has improved since Dave suffered a stroke in summer 2004 and they are planning to write new songs together. Ray says, "My brother has been sick for the past year. but I'm going to get together with him and we're going to see if the music is still there. "There's got to be new music. We can't just play the old hits."

Neat. Sadly, these reunions are never as good as they once were

Did you hear the one about Brian Eno and Roxy Music?

Interview With Ray Davies after ACL performance - 13 minutes

i listened to this record last night while reading "Shakey."

GREAT RECORD!!!!!!!

don't have the slightest clue as to the tracks, but i've got to admit i was a little bit surprised as to how much this rocked. who played guitar on this?