Dave Davies’ Rippin Up Time isn’t the Kinks reunion album that everyone has wanted for so long, but rather a tribute — and maybe a requiem — for what was. Perhaps that’s reading too much into things, since this David Nolte co-produced album is arriving so near a new Essential Kinks retrospective, and yet another seemingly failed detente with his brother Ray Davies.
But listen closely, and you find Dave Davies often in a deeply introspective mood, returning on “Front Room” to the period when he ripped a little green amp on the way to rock history and, on the title track and “Nosey Neighbours,” to riffs instantly familiar to anyone who thrilled to “All Day and All of the Night” way back when.
“In the Old Days” was, in fact, an attempt at reconciliation with Ray, but was ultimately finished with Dave’s son Russ. A 13-stop U.S. tour in support of Rippin Up Time, set to begin on November 11, 2014, finds Davies appearing as a solo act. He promises a clutch of songs from his new album, but will focus — perhaps inevitably — on legendary work in the Kinks with his brother, as well.
Not that everything is so firmly rooted in nostalgia on Rippin Up Time, due today (October 28, 2014) via Sony RED-Red River and recorded quickly over a six-week period in Los Angeles this summer. “Mindwash” and “Semblance of Sanity,” for instance, speak to Davies’ more recent forays into philosophical teachings like the Kabbalah. Russ returns for “Through My Window,” perhaps pointing to a new era of familial collaboration. Then there’s the fun “King of Karaoke,” which speaks for itself.
But the overall feel is one of reminiscence, for a time and a place now perhaps irretrievably gone. You’re forgiven for recalling, all at once, that Ray Davies also has a solo song titled “Back in the Front Room,” and yet somehow these two couldn’t be further away from these shared memories.
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Rock + Pop): Death Cab for Cutie, Joe Jackson, Toto + Others - January 18, 2016
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Blues, Jazz + R&B): Boz Scaggs, Gavin Harrison, Alabama Shakes - January 10, 2016
- Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2015 (Reissues + Live): John Oates, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Faces + others - January 7, 2016
