RAY DAVIES - Other People’s Lives

Ray Davies is one of the great, truly great names that the reckless machine of the record industry (with the guilty complicity of a press too often incompetent) has let slip into oblivion. His Kinks were among the most important exponents of rock music's biggest boom period, helping to write the coordinates of an entire genre, pop-rock. Swept aside by the passing years, overshadowed by that boulder of a name, Beatles, and having drifted away from the whole scene (Davies has so far put out precious little under his own name, and his output can hardly even be called a solo "career"), they've ended up becoming a name not all that well known to the general public.

So it happens that the comeback album from the now sixty-two-year-old Davies, "Other People's Lives", comes out on a minor label and doesn't get any of the publicity and fanfare afforded to his near-exact contemporary McCartney, nor the heavyweight production help the ex-Beatle was able to call on (Nigel Godrich). And that's a real shame for both parties. And for the major labels too, given that the record has genuinely impressive chart potential, catchy and (I'll risk instant backlash here, but it's really true) just mildly banal enough, very Eagle-Eye Cherry if you catch my drift, stuffed with radio-friendly power ballads. And a shame for Mr. Davies himself, who, with no wizards behind the boards, comes up with a sound that's really quite impersonal and unremarkable, far, far too derivative.

The album is split evenly between British impulses (how could it not be) and American pop-rock (now and then a trace of Lou Reed peeks through, though the main reference points are far more prosaic). The opening belongs to this second strand: a nice killer bass line (albeit well-worn) drives the pop-rock of "Things Are Gonna Change (The Morning After)", which slides all too easily into a melody decidedly unworthy of its composer. "After the Fall" and "All She Wrote" are two stock numbers of the genre, the former evocative with its raw vocal, the latter more carefree; while "Run Away From Time" shows its Reed-like debt in an urban boogie underscored by organ stabs.

These are tracks arranged with grace and competence, but mediocre ones, where the backbone is only apparent, lacking any real substance. The only one to redeem this side of the coin is "The Getaway (Lonesome Train)", which makes use of a gentle, sweet guitar arpeggio (also well-worn, but never mind) to stage a long performance with country shadings.

The English side of things doesn't fare much better. It's true there's "Next Door Neighbour", a tender caress with a Merseybeat gait and a lovely horn arrangement; and "Stand Up Comic", a deeply Kinks-like vaudeville built on plucked guitar and funky bass, punctuated by sax and bursts of electric guitar, capable of conjuring up old ghosts. But it's equally true that it forces us to sit through the whining of "Is There Life After Breakfast?", where the trademark sound slips all too easily into the pathetic; and the melancholic and utterly predictable "Creatures of Little Faith", complete with the obligatory sax solo at the close.

All that's left, then, is to confirm it: the average quality of the tracks on "Other People's Lives" is, precisely, mediocrity. The class is there, but it spins its wheels, and the considerable cunning on display lets Davies fool only the most naive listeners. A perfect example is the otherwise pleasant title track, melodic and faintly Spanish-tinged, backed by a female voice and polished with real craft: the most crowd-pleasing song on the record. Any listener with equal cunning, though, will understand perfectly well how this album can end up forgotten with a simple shrug, given that Davies has barely managed half a memorable song (as opposed to merely nice or amiably radio-friendly ones). That's exactly why, when all is said and done, the final verdict turns out so harsh.

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17/12/2006