smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Holmes Online <bholmes_fm@msn.com> |
| Subject | Ray Davies duets album |
| Date | Sun, 16 Jan 2011 12:56:39 -0500 |
[Part 1 text/plain windows-1252 (2.7 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
I'm a Kinks fan *and* a tribute fan and was looking forward to this
album, but this UK review is pretty brutal - ouch! Hopefully the truth
lies in the middle.
---
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.
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.