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Product Description
Review
Following on from 2009’s The Kinks Choral Collection, on which Ray Davies rearranged his back catalogue with the Crouch End Festival Chorus, See My Friends finds him sifting through his songbook once again, only this time he’s brought Bon Jovi along.
Yes, it’s a duets album, of the type that veteran artists produce when they’ve nothing left to prove. Such ventures seldom serve much point beyond flattering the star with attention from fellow musicians, who in turn are honoured by association. Plus they sell well.
Ray Davies doesn’t need to record a soporific version of Tired of Waiting with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, any more than Bruce Springsteen needs to trample the bittersweet Better Things with his wholly unsuitable bombast. But both were doubtless thrilled by the opportunity to record with Davies. And that’s just it: these all-star gatherings are more fun for the artists than they are for the listener.
Try as one might, it’s impossible to resist comparing these duets against the hallowed originals, especially when their arrangements barely differ. The likes of This is Where I Belong with Frank Black (billed as Black Francis) and Long Way From Home with Lucinda Williams are pleasant recordings of wonderful songs, but what is their point? Jackson Browne may be in simpatico with Davies’ unweathered voice on Waterloo Sunset, but will anyone ever reach for this version over the magical original? Will they even remember it exists?
For better or downright ghastly, the most memorable tracks are those on which the guests imprint themselves. The undoubted highlights are Mumford & Sons’ folk-gospel medley, Days / This Time Tomorrow, its arrangement madly ambitious compared with its companions, and Spoon’s shoegazing treatment of the proto-psychedelic title-track. The late Alex Chilton sounds genuinely enthused on ‘Til the End of the Day, a song his old band Big Star covered during the Third/Sister Lovers sessions. Recorded in 2009, it was the spur for these sessions.
But the tenderness and wit of Davies’ songs and singing is smothered by his blunter collaborators. However sincere, Springsteen’s bellowing simply doesn’t work. Paloma Faith’s Lola is a wretched, over-sung X Factor throwaway. Metallica’s drilling of You Really Got Me is bar-band bad. And Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora’s overwrought stadium-rock assault on Celluloid Heroes is a laughable abomination.
It’s testament to Davies’ legacy that he emerges from this inessential project with his dignity intact.
CD Description
Ray Davies, singer and songwriter of The Kinks, has revisited his remarkable repertoire of songs and recorded an album of collaborations with a diverse set of artists from Jon Bon Jovi, Metallica and Bruce Springsteen to Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol and Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, as well as Mumford & Sons and Paloma Faith. The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. They were in the forefront of the British Invasion along with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and are recognised as one of the most important rock acts of the era, influencing everything from heavy metal to Britpop. The album also features the last known recording by Big Star’s Alex Chilton
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As a die hard Kinks fan having read some of the negative reviews, especially those about never bettering the originals I really wondered if these interpretations might just spoil my admiration for the great man that is Ray Davies, I need not have feared because I now realise that a good song is like a work of art,if you look at it from a different angle or in a different light, it takes on a whole new life of its own , not necessarily better than the original but dare I say as good as the original. I loved all of the tracks & especially enjoyed tracks like 'This Time Tomorrow' & 'This Is Where I belong' because these are basically forgotten, dare I say obscure album tracks from the 60's that need to be brought to the attention of a new generation, other stand out tracks for me are, 'Long Way From Home','Dead End Street', 'See My Friends','David Watts'and finally 'All The Day And All The Night/Destroyer'.
I hope we get a follow up where we perhaps re-visit the Arista & London years of the 80's.
(2)
Having read some more negative reviews I just had to re-visit my review today 11/12/2010, I really don't know what these moaners are talking about the more I listen to this album the more I like it, these really are different interpretations and the voices of the different artists really do suit the tracks chosen as well as complimenting Rays voice. I would go as far as saying that this is one of my favourite albums of the year if not the decade.
P.S I don't just live in the past have many contemporory albums by current artists.
I hope we get a follow up where we perhaps re-visit the Arista & London years of the 80's.
(2)
Having read some more negative reviews I just had to re-visit my review today 11/12/2010, I really don't know what these moaners are talking about the more I listen to this album the more I like it, these really are different interpretations and the voices of the different artists really do suit the tracks chosen as well as complimenting Rays voice. I would go as far as saying that this is one of my favourite albums of the year if not the decade.
P.S I don't just live in the past have many contemporory albums by current artists.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Ray Davies is surely among the best song writers of his generation ( or indeed of any generation). The problem here is that the original versions of these songs are so good that they are very hard to beat.Ray has let the other artists interpret his Kinks songs their own way and as a result the results are stylistically quite mixed with some songs working better than others.To my ears some work very well indeed notably the Mumford and Sons collaboration on Days/ This Time tomorrow and the mix of Destroyer/All Day and All of the Night both of which add something to the original versions. Ray's recent solo albums ,Other Peoples Lives and Working Mans Cafe are excellent and show that he is capable of great things long after the Kinks stopped working together.
Martin Edwards
Martin Edwards
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have read the reviews to-date but as I listen to my CD, I'm enjoying the versions and the collabrations which are mighty fine.
Have a listen on-line and then buy and enjoy
Ray ... Clark, Perth W.A.
Have a listen on-line and then buy and enjoy
Ray ... Clark, Perth W.A.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
great c.d.
loved this c.d. can't find a thing wrong only that a two disc set would have been nice i think the kink's were the best band of the 1960's and when you hear the c.d. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Mr. Nicholas R. Muller
ray davies in duet with his friends
I didn't know either the Kinks nor Davies before purchasing this item
It's a rather nice first contact; The track which attracted me first was : "Better things" with Bruce... Read more
It's a rather nice first contact; The track which attracted me first was : "Better things" with Bruce... Read more
Published 4 months ago by DUMONT
Good Revival
Some great versions of Kinks favourite numbers in particular Lola with Paloma Faith and Waterloo Sunset with Jackson Browne one or two where the original much better but a great... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Keith
Has the BBC reviewer got a soul?
There's lots to be delighted by on this album - and, for me, the recording of Long Way from Home with Lucinda Williams is just heartbreakingly wonderful. Read more
Published 9 months ago by A. Palmer
damaged case
The cd was disappointing although i had heard some tracks before i bought the cd.When i received the package the plastic case was broken down one side so fortunately it wasnt a... Read more
Published 11 months ago by kinks fan
Covering himself
With reconstructed versions of some Kinks hits this at least shows some imagination.Think Bob Dylan who is a master at this kind of thing. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Richard
Only bought it for the Bruce Springsteen track
I Only bought this for the Bruce Springsteen track but really loved the other tracks - I had forgotten the songs of Ray Davis and enjoyed hearing them again. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. V. Dixon
Jackson Browne fan
I bought this CD because I like Ray Davies' voice and I am a huge Jackson Browne fan. I had pre-viewed his version of Waterloo Sunset, which is beautiful. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Karen
Very good !!
This and "This is Where I Belong" are two Ray Davies/ The Kinks songs collection sung or performed by other artists. Both are similar because they cover most of the same songs. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Luile
the human being lawnmower dublin
Great fun from start to finish. Sounds to me like Rays having a ball and why not? Some suggestions for Son of See My Friends......
... Read more
... Read more
Published 15 months ago by David Mc Cormack
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