Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies

Various Artists

Jem Records

This is the fourth in a series of tribute albums to the greats. John Lennon was the first, Brian Wilson the second, Pete Townsend the third, and now Ray Davies.

All the songs covered here are classics in one way or another, it’s just that as great as the originals are, the covers are somewhat better; by bringing these songs into the present, they’ve modernized a band, the Kinks, that always looked to the past for inspiration.

The most recent song covered, from 1982, is The Midnight Callers doing “Come Dancing,”  the Kinks' last hit. They make a fun pop song into a hard rocker, and a good one too. Lisa Mychols and SUPER 8 make “Days” almost folk/rock. Nick Piunti cranks the amps to 11 and blasts out “Til The End Of The Day,” my all-time favorite Kinks song, with a little of “All Day and All of the Night” at the end. The Weaklings render “Lola” even more iconic, an anthem for trans people everywhere.

This is a wonderful tribute from start to finish and well worth picking up. Then seek out the Kinks, starting with their 60s output. You won’t regret that either.

Andrea Weiss