Ray Davies' first studio solo album, "Other People's Lives"

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One is reminded of the Paul Westerberg crack, "They've all been solo albums," but anyway... Heard? Great? Londoners going to the show this weekend?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

I'm waiting for the porn musical he's supposedly working on.

― darin (darin), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

It's pretty good.

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

By that I mean better than Lou Reed's last 5 solo albums combined.

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

he's playing mpls coming up i'm thinking of going...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

i would have been excited about this...in 1968.

― obligatory skeptical remark (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

One is reminded of the Paul Westerberg crack, "They've all been solo albums,"

one is reminded that paul westerberg has clearly been smoking crack for a long time.

as for ray's album, it's a slightly better-than-average late-career singer/songwriter album. starts slow, ends slow, has some nice kinksy pop tunes in the middle, including "is there life after breakfast?," which coulda been one of the better songs on, say, soap opera. i prefer recent go-betweens records myself.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 10 February 2006 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

They've all been solo albums
Don't tell that to Dave.

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Friday, 10 February 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't mean to dis Dave (and saw them exchange grimaces and middle fingers in the '80s).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 10 February 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I was seriously disappointed by this record. It even makes his late '70s and early '80s work look better in comparison.

The man built a career on melody and hooks and clever lines this record has none of the above.

― NY Johnny, Friday, 10 February 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

Fuuuuck that, this album is way, waaay better than it "deserves" to be, considering how long in the making a Ray solo record has been.

It's better than the new McCartney, and THAT album was way better than any McCartney had released in years.

Check out "Things Are Gonna Change (The Morning After)" and "Creatures of Little Faith", good tunes.

That all having been said, The Kinks are my favourite band, but I was still expecting this album to suck ass.

― Erock LAzron, Friday, 10 February 2006 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

It's not terrible - lyrically not too dissimilar from the last couple of Kinks albums like Phobia, UK Jive, etc. It's kinda plain sounding though... could have benefitted from having an actual band backing him up than some studio guys (if that is in fact the case).

― The Equator Lounge (Chris Barrus), Friday, 10 February 2006 22:43 (nineteen years ago)

could have benefitted from having yo la tengo back him, surely. (did they ever actually go into the studio together, or did they just play those couple of shows a few years back and go their separate ways?)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 10 February 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

The bootleg of one of those shows is great.

― Dave will do (dave225.3), Saturday, 11 February 2006 02:01 (nineteen years ago)

Sounds a lot like Tom Petty.

― Eric, Saturday, 11 February 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

It IS an actual band, he's been playing with them for awhile now.

But holy shit, the Yo La Tengo back up must sound amazing !

Anyone know where I can find this ?

― Erock LAzron, Saturday, 11 February 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think Ray did any recording with YLT.

Anyway, I'll be picking this one up at some point given the split verdict ... sure as hell not seeing him in New York: SIXTY-FIVE BUCKS!?!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

I went to the show Saturday night.

― blackmail (blackmail.is.my.life), Monday, 27 March 2006 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

i saw him tonight, and i've got no real complaints. he rocked out pretty convincingly on "you really got me" and "all day" and seemed like a nice guy all around. i don't think i'll be buying the new album, but he did a great job of drawing the audience into each of the unfamiliar songs.

it was kinda jarring when he made the switch from the seemingly consciously over-the-top corny "showman" persona ("lemme hear you clap your hands! you're a great audience!") of the first few songs to the gentle next-door-neighbor satirist of "village green." like a sudden reminder that there were really two bands called the kinks, and they didn't have too much in common.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 20 July 2006 04:45 (nineteen years ago)

You know, that's a good point. There ought to be one word for the 1966-1969 Kinks that separates them from both their garage rock and arena rock sounds. There probably already is a word or phrase but I'm ignorant of it if there is one.

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 20 July 2006 07:14 (nineteen years ago)

£3 in Fopp, you guys.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 20 July 2006 07:48 (nineteen years ago)

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