2006 continues! Of course, Ray Davies has been around a little longer than Muse, but until this album he had never released a proper solo album. Two years prior to the album, Ray was shot in the leg in New Orleans following an attempted mugging. Later in the year his brother suffered a stroke. So Ray had issues, to say the least, and channeled the feeling into this album. The result is a sold singer-songwriter effort, not interested in launching or riding any musical trends, but wryly documenting a world gone a little bit wonky. He also manages to make it sound as un-Kinks as possible, though in the interest of full disclosure I haven't heard a Kinks song released after 1984, nor a full album of Kinks songs released after 1973. I appreciate that Ray wisely avoids dragging his solo albums out to the 75+ minute mark just because a CD can hold that much music. Too often artists will compensate for lost time by releasing unnecessarily long albums, which tire the ears by the final tracks.
If you like this one, the following album, 2007's Workingman's Cafe, is also worth tracking down. Like its predecessor, it won't whisk you back to the glory days of the Kinks. In 2010, he released See My Friends, in which is collaborated with various famous artists (Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, and more) on re-recordings of classic Kinks songs. That one is not quite as satisfying, even though it's nice to know Ray is a "well respected man" in the world of musicians.
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