Originally published by L.S. Media. November 9th 2010.

Ray Davies has been cited by a multitude of musicians as being one of the main inspirations in their life. He has seen the likes of The Jam, The Stranglers and Kirsty MacColl cover his songs to great critical acclaim and has been responsible for some of the great pop songs of the last five decades. His distinctive style has won over a legion of fans worldwide and his delivery and genuine love of music makes him stand out as one of the godfathers of several genres.

Surely there is no other man, aside from George Martin, who can assemble so many talented musicians and differing styles of vocals to sing his own songs on one album.

See My Friends is the new collaboration between the former Kinks front man and such diverse acts as Bruce Springsteen, Paloma Faith and Metallica.

For the majority of fans that know Ray from his early days with the Kinks, the songs that are showcased on this album will come as no surprise in how good they sound, however to the next generation of music lovers who may only know the legend from his appearance at Glastonbury the collection of songs will see Ray at his best and hopefully encourage them to seek out his back catalogue with more gusto.

One of the more interesting songs on the album is Ray’s duet with Paloma Faith on the song Lola. This ode to a transvestite struck a chord with its simple, yet convincing lyrics when it first released, now with Paloma Faith’s added depth of range it comes across as a role reversal with Paloma taking the lead as the gender blurring subject of the song. Paloma’s voice is as smooth as the silk that Lola would be wearing.

Amongst the tracks on this immense album to get a modern makeover is a tremendous version of the classic song Waterloo Sunset, aided wonderfully by Jackson Browne and All Day and All of the Night/Destroyer with Billy Corgan, front man of the Smashing Pumpkins.

See My Friends should be counted as one of the finest collaboration albums to have been recorded and Ray Davies deserves to be considered, quite rightly, as one of the finest songwriters this country has produced.

Ian D. Hall