Album Reviews |

Dave Davies

I Will Be Me 8 ( 2015 )
Little Green Amp / Livin' In The Past / The Healing Boy / Midnight In L.A. / When I First Saw You / The Actress / Erotic Neurotic / You Can Break My Heart / Walker Through The Worlds / Remember The Future / Cote Du Rhone (I Will Be Me)

66 year old former Kinks co-founder and brother of Ray doesn't get to even give his albums away free with national newspapers, as did Ray as few years back. Acclaimed for co-writing and singing 'Death Of A Clown', Dave contributed several very important Kinks Klassics. Opening this set with the guitar filled 'Little Green Amp' is certainly fun - it was Dave, rather than Ray after all that put the heavy into The Kinks, and arguably Dave, rather than Ray, that ensured that The Kinks had commercial success in the US during the Seventies and early Eighties. 'The Healing Boy', third track in, smartly follows two opening heavy guitar numbers. This is reflective and perhaps, or not, written in the aftermath of Dave's stroke in 2004. Featuring strings and good production, Dave stretches his vocal chords in true Davies fashion and comes up with something of a minor Kinks Klassic, should The Kinks still actually exist as an ongoing concern, of course. I always felt The Kinks needed a better send-off than 'Phobia', and both Brothers seem to be writing well these days, if not actually getting along with each other - naturally.

'In The Mainframe' opens with a guitar riff that sees Dave auditioning for AC/DC whilst 'Energy Fields' is a dirge, heavy but lacking a tune or a reason to exist. A word for 'When I First Saw You' however. This is an acoustic piece, observational and dare I say it, a 'Ray' type of song. He sings a verse, a female singer joins him for the verses in-between and if a duet by Ray and Dave would melt the heartstrings even more than it does here. One for the ages, I thing. Well, the thought in an imaginary perfect world of Ray and Dave singing 'and that funny crooked smile' to each other makes me grin. Not sure what 'Walker Through The Woods' is, other than it features some electronic, modern production and is actually quite atmospheric and works well. Dave's weary vocal fits this perfectly. What else? Well, this is a sometimes frustrating album hinting at former glories, with a few throwaway songs chucked in for good measure. It is however far, far better than I’d had any right to expect. It isn't a modern 'Muswell Hillbillies' of course, but if Ray and Dave got together in glorious disharmony, you wouldn't put it past them creating such a thing - moments here and there hint at such a thing.

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this page last updated 27/03/16