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Ray Davies Talks Through His New Album
Ray Davies, one of the UK’s finest songwriters, releases ‘See My Friends’, an album of classic Kinks songs turned into unique collaborations on Universal on November 8th.
On this one of a kind album, Ray collaborates with a formidable selection of artists on tracks from his incredible songwriting career, revisiting his back catalogue and crafting new versions of his classic songs. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Metallica features on this diverse collection of material.
Highlights include ‘Days’/’This Time Tomorrow’ with Mumford & Sons, ‘Better Things’ with Bruce Springsteen, ‘You Really Got Me’ with Metallica and ‘Tired of Waiting For You’ with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody.
“This project came about almost by accident,” says Davies of the project, which was kick-started when he recorded a version of ‘Till The End Of The Day’ in the summer of 2009, with the late, great Big Star singer Alex Chilton.
“With some tracks I had to appreciate the style of the other artists, otherwise it would have sounded unbalanced. And I wanted the album to work as an entire listening experience but each track had a life of its own,” explains Ray.
Ray was happy to go where the music took him, in every sense: Oslo via Denmark, Germany and Belgium to record with Metallica, New York to record with Jon Bon Jovi, New Jersey for Bruce Springsteen, Chicago for Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins and his own north London base, the legendary KONK studios, for much of the rest. “This record is well-travelled already,” explains Ray.
Paloma Faith, Jackson Browne, Black Francis of the Pixies, Lucinda Williams, Amy Macdonald and Spoon also feature on the record, which follows Ray’s acclaimed tour of North America and the UK plus a stand out set on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage this summer.
The tracklisting for ‘See My Friends’ is:
1. Better Things – Ray Davies & Bruce Springsteen
2. Celluloid Heroes – Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora
3. Days/This Time Tomorrow – Ray Davies & Mumford & Sons
4. Long Way From Home – Ray Davies, Lucinda Williams & The 88
5. You Really Got Me – Ray Davies & Metallica
6. Lola – Ray Davies & Paloma Faith
7. Waterloo Sunset – Ray Davies & Jackson Browne
8. 'Til The End of The Day – Ray Davies, Alex Chilton & The 88
9. Dead End Street – Ray Davies & Amy Macdonald
10. See My Friends Ray Davies & Spoon
11. This Is Where I Belong – Ray Davies & Black Francis
12. David Watts – Ray Davies & The 88
13. Tired Of Waiting – Ray Davies & Gary Lightbody
14. All Day And All Of The Night/Destroyer – Ray Davies & Billy Corgan