Last year RAY DAVIES brought us his ‘Kinks Choral Collection’, so the idea of a second re-working of his back catalogue only twelve months on might seem a tad excessive on paper.
Thing is, though, Davies’ back catalogue is so utterly formidable that it’s a pleasure to dig into it at any time. Besides, ‘See My Friends’ gathers such a breathtaking array of guest stars together under one roof that it’s impossible not to doff your cap in respect to the great man.
In effect, ‘See My Friends’ is a ‘duets’-style re-working of 14 Kinks klassics. It’ll please the record company because many of Davies’ career-shaping hits are here, but there’s also room for a few discerning diversions into lesser-known back catalogue territory and most of these prove to be very satisfying indeed.
There are a few really pleasant surprises. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN brings a throatily emotional edge to a grandstanding version of ‘Better Things’, allowing the album to open in a burst of positivity. PALOMA FAITH supplies a super-camp turn on Tranny classic ‘Lola’, while a sassy version of ‘Dead End Street’ featuring AMY MACDONALD seems especially resonant (“out of work and got no money/ a Sunday joint of bread and honey”) in these horrific, recessionary times.
As a rule, anything involving a ‘medley’ is enough to make my flesh creep, but I can’t deny that two such outings provide highlights here and they come from opposing ends of the spectrum. MUMFORD & SONS join Ray for an acapella-style intro to ‘Days’ before segueing beautifully into a wistful take of ‘This Time Tomorrow’, one of ‘Lola Versus Powerman”s lesser-celebrated highlights. BILLY CORGAN, meanwhile, turns up the amps as expected on ‘All Day & All of the Night’, but it’s when it veers into snatches of ‘Destroyer’ (from the under-rated ‘Low Budget’ LP) and Ray continues the ‘Lola’ story that it really takes off.
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It’s to Davies’ credit that his ‘hands on’ approach always seems to get the best out of his collaborators. For differing reasons, I’d usually baulk at anything featuring either JON BON JOVI or GARY LIGHTBODY, but the former’s impassioned turn on ‘Celluloid Heroes’ (always a potential lighter waver anyway) and the latter’s winningly fragile vocal on ‘Tired of Waiting for You’ both work beautifully.
Nothing really misfires, though METALLICA’S blood and guts pummelling of ‘You Really Got Me’ adds little save to remind us Dave Davies’ guitar sound inadvertently bequeathed us Heavy Metal. Texan Alt. Rockers SPOON are also up against it taking on ‘See My Friends’. Their version is adequate enough, but it can’t hope to compete with the neo-psychedelic mysticism Ray and the boys tapped into in 1965.
‘See My Friends’, then, is a bit of a treat. It’s not your first port of call if you’re devoid of The Kinks in your life and wish to rectify that situation (you do, believe me), but if you’ve already got a grasp of Ray Davies’ colossal catalogue, this will certainly remind you why he’s often shortlisted as one of the greatest song-writers straddling the 20th and 21st centuries.
Ray Davies See My Friends website
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