See My Friends

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.

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

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.