Ray Davies encouraged by Dave's insults, says Kinks writing new songs...
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Artist:The Nonce (featuring Rookie Phenom)
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Album:.
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Track:Roadie for the Kinks
"He's getting well enough to shout at me. That's a good sign."
Ray Davies says Kinks writing new material
NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Kinks are writing songs for a potential reunion album, frontman Ray Davies told BBC News, even though his estranged brother and bandmate seems to want no part of it.
"We've started a little bit of this and that," Davies told the broadcaster in remarks posted Wednesday on its Web site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7710458.stm). But it is too early to judge the quality, he said.
"It depends if there's good music. We want good new music. I'd like to do it as a more collaborative thing than we used to do."
The Kinks disbanded in 1996 after a 30-plus year reign as one of the most influential bands in rock history. Davies' brother/Kinks guitarist Dave Davies suffered a stroke in 2004 but has returned to music in recent years, opening the door for Kinks activity.
The problem: Dave Davies seems to want no part of a reunion, having posted on his Web site earlier this year that "it would be like a poor remake of 'Night of the Livin (sic) Dead' " and declaring that Ray has been doing "Karaoke Kinks shows since 1996." Ray's response to Billboard at the time: "He's getting well enough to shout at me. That's a good sign."
According to the BBC, Davies has several other projects on tap, including an album with a choir and another album he hopes will include collaborations with members of Snow Patrol, Razorlight and ... Chuck Berry.
"I've never met the man but he was one of my heroes as a lyricist," he said. We'll see how it works out -- a mixture of Snow Patrol and Chuck Berry. It should be an interesting record."
Ray's raised our hopes more than once over the past twelve years. Maybe this time, though...
"Karaoke Kinks shows" ... Ouch.
Comments (2)
From what I remember, Dave's said particularly scathing things about touring with Ray, and no doubt quite a few of those problems would stem from things that would also occur in the studio (I think "control freak" would be a real polite term for how Dave has described Ray's process in working with the band.)
On a totally different subject that I thought you'd care about, I work in a copy shop in Berkeley and today someone came in making copies of Country Joe flyers, including one for a show a few years back that I'm pretty sure you've posted about (the festival if not the specific show). I forget the name of the festival, but at the bottom of the flyer it mentioned that tickets were on sale at fairportconvention.com, and the gig was in the UK, then I recognized the name of the festival but I've forgotten already. I didn't ask why these old flyers were being copied today, so maybe it's not that interesting, but who else would I tell?
Well, considering that one of the politer terms i'd pick to describe Dave, from most accounts, is "loose cannon", it might well be necessary for Ray to come the "control freak" to get anything done.
Also note that Dave apparently *isn't* saying "I'd never work with the bastard who stabbed me with his fork" (Woman i knew was present at that momentous breakfast; she worked for the label in those days.) These two items may say something about the overall relationship between the Battling Davies.
If tickets were at fairportconvention.com, it would pretty much have to be Fairport's annual Cropredy Festival.
Damn - i saw Gary Brooker and Robert Plant there, but i'd rather see Country Jo with FC.