Every Party Has Some Pooperz

The first thing you’ve gotta understand about See My Friends by Ray Davies is the most obvious thing: Every track on the elpee is a reworked version of an original track from The Kinks, and THE ORIGINAL KINKS TRACKS CANNOT BE IMPROVED UPON. Kinks tracks are golden. Anyone reading this wanna see Chuck Close redo some Picassos? No. So why even bother with this exercise?

The story goes something like this, and if I’ve got some part of it wrong, shoot me: Davies had been planning a kind of Kinks “tribute” elpee for some time, one where he would collaborate with a variety of artists, some more established than others. It started more or less when Davies teamed up with the late Memphis legend Alex Chilton on a Chilton-ized “Til The End Of The Day” and the idea evolved from there. Davies, in keeping with his magnanimous reputation, graciously shares these songs with guests, even taking a back seat at times and allowing for some reinterpretation.

That’s a good thing when it works, and a bad thing when it doesn’t.

If anyone in the ROCK BIZ deserves to throw himself a party, it’s Ray Davies. He is a brilliant songwriter and after all this time STILL delivers the good BRAND NEW goods. If you haven’t heard 2006’s Other People’s Lives or 2007’s Working Man’s Café, you’ve missed some truly stellar songwriting. “Stand Up Comic,”a funny, talky, and impossibly loveable tune from Other People’s Lives, is the primary example of how relevant Davies still is. Knowing that he still writes great new topical material, to hear Ray Davies engaged in this “tribute” stuff seems like a retreat of sorts, (and to be blunt, a bad idea… do these things ever yield positive results?) but hey… it’s his bash.

Is it a fun party? Let’s break it down track by track…

Better Things – Ray Davies & Bruce Springsteen – The opening strains have E Street written all over them, even without Clarence Clemons wailing the daylights out of a horn. Davies opens up the track with that perfectly intact, resplendent voice, and then comes Bruce, sounding gruff and constipated by comparison. They make a weird pair. Merely OK.

Celluloid Heroes – Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora – Overwrought Hair-Metal version of a Kinks classic. The subtle melancholy of the original is completely obliterated by squealing guitar solos (right on cue!) and the entire “bigger-is better” sound aesthetic Bon Jovi & Sambora are known for. Davies is as out of place as pickled herring on pancakes. Oh my God, I fucking hate it.

Days/This Time Tomorrow – Ray Davies & Mumford & Sons – Do you like The Mumford and The Mumford’s Sons? Seems people either really love them or really hate them. Personally, I am indifferent. If I never hear “Little Lion Man” again, I’m pretty sure I won’t notice. They’ve been around, what, about ten minutes? Yeah. Having said that, they sound great with Davies on this track. The Beach Boys hogged all the credit for brilliant vocal arrangements back in the day, but The Kinks were no slouches in the choral department either. The Mumfords successfully (and affectionately) remind the listener of that fact. Good job Mumfords!

A Long Way From Home – Ray Davies, Lucinda Williams & The 88 – The strength of original track from Lola vs. the Powerman and the Moneygoround is in the passionate vocal performance. Lucinda takes this song and turns it into road-worn country classic. As you listen, you can sense Davies stepping back and letting her take it over.

You Really Got Me – Ray Davies & Metallica – And then Metallica barges in and makes a mess of things. See the comment in the comic. Barf.

Lola – Ray Davies & Paloma Faith – Does anyone want to hear a remade “Lola”? Does anyone want to hear the original anymore? This one has been rubbed into the dirt for so long by FM radio, people know the intricacies of this track as well as they know their own body parts. I have no idea who or what Paloma Faith is, but Paloma Faith seems unaware that “Lola” is a funny song. Fail.

Waterloo Sunset – Ray Davies & Jackson Browne – Davies does a duet with a living dead guy. Lifeless, pointless.

Til The End Of The Day – Ray Davies, Alex Chilton & The 88 – Doesn’t beat the original, but matches it, no kidding. High energy abounds, and it has that crisp and soulful Ardent studio sound. Chilton is singing all the way from the bottom of his shoes on this one. Too bad they didn’t do more together, because this sounds really good.

Dead End Street – Ray Davies & Amy Macdonald – No one wrote songs about the indignities of life in the lower working class of 1960’s England as well as Ray Davies. The desperation of Davies’ lyrics are masked by the silly-party musical arrangement and the shout-and-response chorus. Amy McDonald has a strong voice, and the arrangement has more of a New Orleans jazz vibe than the original’s wacky British Music Hall sound. This one turns out to be quite alright.

See My Friends – Ray Davies & Spoon – In 1965, the way-cool thing to do was to make yer guitar sound like a sitar, cuz lots of young people stopped shaving and started smoking lots of hash and reading about Eastern mysticism. The Kinks employed this guitar technique on the original version of this song, stamping a manufacturing date on it forever, much like Autotune does at the moment. Spoon does away with this completely, slows the tempo down a bit, and comes up with a fresh reinterpretation. Well done, Spoon! Might even be an improvement on the original.

This Is Where I Belong – Ray Davies & Black Francis – This is the pick of the litter, kids. Simple, beautiful, it could be a Frank Black And The Catholics cover of The Kinks, with Davies thrown in as a bonus. Best harmonizing with Davies on this record. Wait, make that a tie with Chilton.

David Watts – Ray Davies & The 88 – Well let’s give the L.A. rock quartet The 88 some propers. They drive the very fine tracks with Alex Chilton and Lucinda Williams, and they do a faithful version of this tricky Kinks classic. Not as great as the original, but this has to be a difficult song to play (the buoyant tempo and harmonies are a good kind of “how’d-they-ever-come-up-with-that” weird) but they play it well, so bravo (!).

Tired Of Waiting – Ray Davies & Gary Lightbody – I got tired of waiting for this track to end. Gary Lightbody has a quivery voice that doesn’t match well with Davies. This is miles from the original.

All Day And All Of The Night/Destroyer – Ray Davies & Billy Corgan – Ray Davies might be the last motherfucker on earth that cares about Billy Corgan. This is a mash-up, a natural one, since “Destroyer” is built on the same seminal guitar lick that fuels “All Day And All Of The Night” and that makes it a curiosity. Sadly, it all goes wrong as soon as Corgan opens up his gaping maw and the tragic sound of a fat sack of tasered cats comes out. Even Davies sounds exhausted in this one.

So there you have it. Some gems, some junk. Now as for the comic, yer probably wondering, “Why Paul Westerberg?”.Well, I’ll tell ya why. To my ears, Paul Westerberg was as influenced by The Kinks as any of the people performing on See My Friends… certainly more than that howling bald fuck Corgan. Christ, Paul even used to dress like Ray in those goofy plaid suits. But lyrical tenderness, that’s what Westerberg really has in common with him. It seems like a no-brainer, I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but whatever. I’d like to hear ‘em do “Pressure” together. Maybe next time.

Scratch that. I hope Davies goes back to writing and recording new, solid, occasionally brilliant solo elpeez. I’ll settle for a Westerberg “Pressure” bonus track.