RECORDINGS Quick Spins
RECORDINGS Quick Spins
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
WORKING MAN'S CAFE
Ray Davies
After more than 40 years of conjuring up some of the most memorable characters in rock, from cross-dressing Lola to the sister who mourns her razed local dance hall in "Come Dancing," ex-Kink Ray Davies finally has something to write about. For the first time on record, he deals with his January 2004 pursuit of a New Orleans purse snatcher, which resulted in a bullet in the leg and a stay in the intensive-care unit. Also for the first time on record, he deals with Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans after he moved away.
With all this reality seeping into his work, the 63-year-old singer-songwriter fills his electric-guitar-heavy fourth solo album with pathos and warmth rather than the coy sarcasm that defines Kinks masterpieces like "The Village Green Preservation Society" and "Father Christmas." That's not to say he's gone happy. "No One Listen," inspired by the response to Katrina, carries this conclusion: "Call the D.A., call the National Guard, call the President/Call anyone in the land of the free/'Cause they ain't gonna listen to me."
The album feels deeper, less impish than usual, for Davies, particularly on "Morphine Song," the only track about his 2004 shooting. Rather than contemplating purses and bullets, the songwriter focuses on the aftermath, warmly recalling a nurse named Starr, a coughing alcoholic named Brenda, the comfort of strangers and a steady heartbeat. In "You're Asking Me," he wonders if wisdom is really enough in the end. Who knows? But it's nice to hear him eloquently working through the question instead of making like contemporaries Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton, who merely plow through old songs.
-- Steve Knopper
DOWNLOAD THESE:"You're Asking Me," "Morphine Song"
THE NEW CRYSTAL SILENCE
Chick Corea and Gary Burton
