Dave Davies

Decade Red River Entertainment

Where’s Dave’s Knighthood?

It’s amazing what you can find under the bed: crumpled Kleenex, dead birds… Or a whole cache of unheard Dave Davies, of Kinks fame, recordings, here restored by his sons Simon and Martin.

Spanning 1971-78, the songs have stirring period qualities, and once the syrupy, spiritual Cradle To The Crave (which sounds remarkably like Family) lands, Davies fans ought to be purring. We always knew he had a great and underrated voice, that he wrote killer material (Death Of A Clown, Susannah’s Still Alive), but his solo career has tended to be termed ‘reticent’. In fact the best moments here, Islands and the country blues If You Are Leaving, would easily have settled on contemporary Kinks albums. The latter, featuring Kinks drummer Mick Avory, was recorded in 1971 at Morgan studios, the rest at The Kinks’ Konk, which helps the album sound like a coherent project. And it goes without saying that the guitar playing is terrific, notably on the West Coast-influenced Mystic Woman and the spacey, Zep-tinged Same Old Blues.

Good to hear the quiet one speaking up again.