something else A Tribute to The KINKS

While this track is named after a concert promoter from Rutland who worked with The Kinks in 1966, David Watts sees Ray Davies reaching back to his school days and casting envious looks in the direction of a former head boy. The Jam’s muscular cover of this tune in 1978 emphasised its venomous lyrics. In contrast to this, acclaimed St Louis-based indierockers American Wrestlers deliver a version that is packed with a sense of yearning. The Kinks touring schedule was always arduous, while perceived mismanagement led to Dave Davies to cast himself in the role of a circus clown on this tune. The pathos of the original is underlined by the irrespresible Wreckless Eric – himself a national treasure – whose acerbic rendition begins with canned laughter, possibly culled from a ’70s quiz show. What follows is a sneering reading of a track that Dave issued as a solo single prior to the album’s release. It is not hard to decode the story of Sylvilla and Percilla, two contrasting sisters. The first is single, fancy-free; the second, married with responsibilities. Substitute Dave and Ray’s names into the narrative of sibling jealousy and you arrive at the track’s inspiration. The song’s kitchen-sink angst is evident on this fine version by French duo, Les Limiñanas, who enlist Brian Jonestown Massacre’s mainman to crank up the tension. A sophisticated, worldly-wise songwriter from the very start of The Kinks’ career, Ray Davies drew on the then-vogueish bossa nova sound for inspiration on No Return. In a bid to return the track to its Brazilian roots, MOJO asked Goiâna’s psychedelic outfit Boogarins – named after a popular flower grown in their homeland - to try their hand at the number. The result is a fantastically woozy version of the tune, its ebb and flow proving both seductive and hypnotic. Twenty-eight year-old Dutch musical adventurer Jacco Gardner has released two albums of finely dappled sun-kissed psychedelia, making him the ideal candidate to tackle this mellotron-soaked, ragainspired tune. While there can be no escape from the heaviness of the lyrics – “When I am dead and gone/ Your light will shine eternally,” writes Ray – Gardner creates a swirling musical backdrop where Sgt. Pepper vibes collide with a definite sense of escapism. A very British ritual – as outlined in the song’s title – is employed by Ray to once again deliver a story where nostalgia cloaks a sense of loss, in this case abandonment by a girl named Donna. In many respects, this makes Afternoon Tea the archetypal Ray “love” song, its all pervasive sense of quotidian failure echoing through this version, sung with a sense of jaunty sophistication by acclaimed Des Moines songwriter Max Jury. While the band’s own internal mythology suggests that Dave Davies enjoyed the freedom that came with stardom, his previous two contributions to Something Else tell a different story. So too does this track where the guitarist can’t hide his yearning for an old flame, encasing his emotions in a medical allegory. Former Bad Seed and esteemed solo artist Mick Harvey allows the lyricism on this bittersweet tune to ring out fully, confirming the deeply personal nature of this oft-overlooked gem. Bird-song introduces what is ostensibly another of Ray’s love songs. And yet the lampooning, semi-crooned vocal soon ushers in what transpires to be a political commentary. The musical warmth of the original is maintained on this burnished version by much-loved New York alternative types Nada Surf (themselves celebrating 25 years of active service). Indeed, frontman Matthew Caws delivers a vocal performance that adds to the wistful element of the original.

IT IS HARD TO OVERSTATE THE IMPORTANCE OF Something Else in The Kinks’ cannon. In many respects it is their first bona fide classic album, yet it failed to dent the UK Top 30 when released in September 1967. Five decades on, it boasts some of the band’s most enduring songs – David Watts, Waterloo Sunset and Death Of A Clown (largely penned by guitarist Dave Davies). The album also saw principal composer Ray Davies assume greater control over the band’s sound in the studio, and move into more complex, observational writing. Indeed, the emotions contained in the album’s lyrics still resonate, as is clear from this reworking of all 13 tracks. Each participating artist was hand-picked by MOJO with a particular song in mind, then given the freedom to reinterpret it as they saw fit. As with every MOJO covers project, the result is a fresh perspective on familiar material. As such we invite you check out the work of the artists, and revisit the genius of the original album which is reissued in the The Kinks Mono Collection box set which has just emerged on vinyl. If No Return exhibits a sense of exoticism, then the nicotine-stained Harry Rag is Ray Davies drawing on something closer to home, namely the vaudeville and music hall influences encountered first-hand thanks to his father. Modern Studies amplify the original track’s sense of nostalgia, as they translate it into a remarkable baroque, neo-folk piece that is rich in texture and detail. Like Ray himself, the Glasgow-viaYorkshire four-piece appear to hear an olde world. Having just turned 18, Hertfordshireborn songwriter Declan McKenna is an old head on a young body. With a clutch of EPs and singles to his name, he is working on his debut album with producer James Ford and interrupts doing so to contribute this rousing version of Tin Soldier Man to our collection. It proves that great things clearly beckon for an artist who, less than two years ago, decided to forego his A levels in favour of a career in music. Along with Terry and Julie (see track 13), the protagonists of this song, Suzy and Johnny, were part of cast of characters that inhabited material in which Ray shattered romantic idealism with a large dose of everyday reality. Indeed, Johnny’s attempt to please his mother-in-law and his “little mama” simply lead to his unemployment. Fellow American storyteller Chuck Prophet keeps the original’s bleakness intact on a spirited version, resplendent with its mid-’70s Kinks-styled guitar solo. Another tune written by Dave Davies, Love Me Till The Sun Shines again appears to reflect the vacuous sensations bred by pop stardom, disillusionment rippling through the lyrics. Surfing between psychedelia, electronic music and avant-pop, UK duo Alexander Tucker and Daniel O’Sullivan add to the original’s barely submerged sense of ennui by giving it an ’80s-styled makeover. The result sounds akin to Godley & Creme trying their hand at a Kinks number. Having covered The Kinks’ 1965 classic, Till The End Of The Day, with his heavy garage-rock combo, Fuzz, back in in 2014, Ty Segall is entrusted with the band’s greatest composition. The ever-prolific, 29-year-old Californian brings his Bolan-inspired vocals to bear on Ray’s observational masterpiece and delivers a version of the song that remains faithful, but which also delivers a decidedly impish charm. Unlike other acts formed in the ’60s, The Kinks were never disowned by subsequent generations of musicians, influencing punk, New Wave and then Britpop. This tune is emotionally rooted in the band’s first decade but was issued on 1970’s Lola Versus Powerman… album, and is covered here to fine effect by Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes. Morever, it confirms the evergreen nature of Ray Davies’s songwriting.