Ray Davies reworks the tribute concept

There have been a couple of tribute albums celebrating the music of the Kinks and their chief songwriter Ray Davies which despite the good intentions of all involved have been patchy affairs. Selecting a slate of worthy participants whose personalized submissions will make sense when sequenced together on a single album is every bit as big a challenge as choosing the appropriate song for each to cover. Even hugely gifted artists don't always make great interpretive stylists.
Perhaps to take some of the guesswork out of the whole tribute process or maybe simply to exert more control over the choices of who would be involved, what songs they'd sing and how they'd sing them, Davies decided to assemble See My Friends (Universal) himself not unlike Van Morrison did with 1994's No Prima Donna. Unfortunately, Davies' auto-tribute gambit hasn't worked out much better and his decision to one-up Van by contributing vocals and guitar to most tracks doesn't seem to have helped.
Whereas Morrison's self-produced homage suffered from overly reverential renditions by people Morrison wanted to hear interpreting his stuff (i.e. Liam Neeson, Brian Kennedy, Phil Coulter, Marianne Faithfull, etc) rather than refreshing new takes by rising stars of the day who might've helped bring Morrison's music to a whole different audience, Davies' version suffers from the competing selection criteria of inviting artists he admires (Alex Chilton, Lucinda Williams, Paloma Faith, Frank Black) while not offending celebrity acquaintances asking to be involved (Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi & Ritchie Sambora, Jackson Browne) and placating the label brass by including a few younger names who might help goose sales with the under-50 demographic (Billy Corgan, Amy Macdonald, Spoon, Mumford & Sons).
It wouldn't be at all surprising to learn that a number of Davies' ideas for collaborative pairings came about by mere coincidence – a meeting in a coffee shop, a festival billing, a shared hair stylist – whatever. That would make more sense than Davies' seeking out Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody in hopes of convincing him to remake Tired Of Waiting as it really should be done or pleading with 23-year-old Amy Macdonald to use her life experience to bring some realism to Dead End Street.
If Davies had any prior experience with Lucinda Williams, who isn't overly comfortable in a studio setting when recording her own songs, he probably would've known better than to ask her to sing something she was unfamiliar with like Long Way From Home. Hearing her performance – apparently the best of four takes after having learned the lyrics the night before – it's painfully obvious that she's out of her element.
The head-scratching cast of characters on See My Friends naturally leads to a confusing hodge-podge of an album which veers from full-on metal onslaught one moment to a somber vocal duet backed by gently strummed acoustic guitars the next. Incidentally, the beautifully understated acoustic version of Waterloo Sunset sung by Jackson Browne with Davies on backing vocals is easily the best thing here. Why anyone thought Springsteen growling Better Things or Bon Jovi bellowing Celluloid Heroes would be a better idea when hamfistedly backed by Paul Shaffer and the rest of David Letterman's Late Show Band is beyond me.
In retrospect, Davies would've saved lots of time and money – and likely gotten more enjoyable results – if he'd have simply taken his acoustic guitar to the home of each artist and recorded right there in their kitchen.    
While it could be argued that the drastic stylistic variation from track to track on See My Friends offers an accurate representation of the multi-faceted nature of Davies' writing, nevertheless, it doesn't make for a coherent listen. But then again, in the iTunes era, who listens to albums anyway? 

See My Friends (Universal)

1.  Better Things – Ray Davies & Bruce Springsteen w/ The Late Show Band
2.  Celluloid Heroes – Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora w/ The Late Show Band
3.  Days/This Time Tomorrow – Ray Davies & Mumford & Sons
4.  Long Way From Home – Ray Davies & Lucinda Williams
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 
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


Ray Davies pitches See My Friends


Days / This Time Tomorrow by Ray Davies with Mumford & Sons