Ray Davies - 'See My Friends'

After a more-than-usual frustrating day at work I popped into HMV on the way home to get a couple of new records - 'See My Friends' by Ray Davies and friends and 'The Lady Killer' by Cee Lo Green. When I handed them over at the counter there was a momentary flicker across the face of the lad at the till almost as if he was thinking I was getting Ray because I'm old and was getting Cee Lo for my children, again, because I'm old. As Cee Lo would say, 'Fuck You' but I, of course, wouldn't be so verbal.

I think it's quite brave of Ray to release an album of cover versions of his own songs so soon after releasing a previous record of 'covers' in 'The Kinks Choral Collection'. I was rather dubious about the choral record but was won over to the new versions after a couple of listens, especially after being lucky enough to see most of them performed live last year.

Part of the risk with this album is that, with a few exceptions, we're all used to hearing Ray's voice in the lead, lending his north London accent to the songs and making them real for us. The arrangement of the music might alter or there might be a choir in the background but it's still Ray singing. This album is different in that he shares singing duties with his friends, so that top-line sound is very different and, on a first listen, I'm not sure it always works. For example, Jon Bon Jovi's contribution to 'Celluloid Heroes' is negligible and his singing style detracts from the carefully crafted words with his warbling (but I like the guitar work).

At the same time, some of the songs instantly work and add a new texture and flavour to the songs we're used to. In this category I'd pick out 'Lola' with Paloma Faith which works for me and it's nice to hear a woman singing a song about a Soho transsexual with her voice reflecting and complementing Ray's voice. I've also got a sneaking liking for 'You Really Got Me' with (and please forgive me for this) Metallica, 'Waterloo Sunset' with Jackson Browne and 'Dead End Street' with Amy MacDonald. I also like the version of 'All Day And All Of The Night/Destroyer' with Billy Corgan in which Ray does a re-telling of the story of 'Lola' in a rather fun way that you need to listen to to understand.

I think it'll take a couple more listens to firm up my opinion of the record but it's definitely in thumbs up territory. Well done Ray for taking the risk - now all you've got to do is get all your friends together at the same time for a gig! No pressure then!

I think this is one of those records with different tracklists for different releases and I vaguely think I've seen somewhere quoting slightly different songs on the European and American versions of the CD so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled on iTunes for 'bonus' tracks or whatever.