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Current & Upcoming Kinks/Ray/Dave Tour Dates

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• 2 Feb, 2024: The Wharf , Canal Road, Tavistock, PL19 8AT. Tickets available here .
• 3 Feb, 2024: The Regent , 51 High St, Christchurch BH23 1AS
• 10 Feb, 2024: Melksham Assembly Hall , Market Pl, Melksham, Wiltshire SN12 6ES. Tickets available here .
• Cancelled: 24 Feb, 2024: St. Peter's Church , Belper, Derbyshire DE56 1FD
• 25 Feb, 2024: Arlington Arts , Newbury RG14 3BQ
• 1 Mar, 2024: Half Moon , 93 Lower Richmond Rd, Putney SW15 1EU
• 2 Mar, 2024: Half Moon , 93 Lower Richmond Rd, Putney SW15 1EU
• 8 Mar, 2024: Key Theatre , Embankment Road, Peterborough PE1 1RS
• 9 Mar, 2024: The Stables , Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes, MK17 8LU
• 15 Mar, 2024: Shaftesbury Arts Centre , 11-13 Bell Street, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8AR
• 16 Mar, 2024: Assembly Hall Theatre , Crescent Road, Tunbridge Wells TN1 2LU
• 30 Mar, 2024: The Apex , 1 Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP31 3PX
• 20 Apr, 2024: The Mick Jagger Centre , Shepherds Lane, Dartford, Kent DA1 2JZ
• 10 May, 2024: Norden Farm Centre for the Arts , Altwood Road, Maidenhead, SL6 4PF
• 18 May, 2024: The Factory Live , Worthing BN14 8BX
• 25 May, 2024: Malthouse Theatre , Malthouse Road, Canterbury, CT2 7JA
• 14 Jun, 2024: Witham Public Hall , Collingwood Road, Witham, CM8 2DY
• 15 Jun, 2024: CryerArts Centre , 39 High St, Carshalton SM5 3BB
• 28 Jun, 2024: Swan Theatre , The Moors, Worcester WR1 3ED. Tickets available here .
• 29 Jun, 2024: Norman Bragg Studio, Exchange St, Aylesbury HP20 1UG. Tickets available here .
• 13 Sep, 2024: Chequer Mead Theatre , De La Warr Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 3BS
• 4 Oct, 2024: Teignmouth Pavilion , The Den Crescent, Teignmouth, TQ14 8BG
• 5 Oct, 2024: Salisbury Arts Centre , Bedwin St, Salisbury SP1 3UT
• 19 Oct, 2024: Mill Arts , Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 3JG
• 1 Nov, 2024: The Harlington , 236 Fleet Road, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 4BY
• 24 Nov, 2024: The Official Kinks Fan Club, The Dome (Boston Arms) , Tufnell Park, London, NW5 1HL
• 28 Nov, 2024: Exmouth Pavilion , The Esplanade, Exmouth EX8 2AZ
• 29 Nov, 2024: Regal Theatre , 10-16 The Avenue, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 5AZ
• 30 Nov, 2024: Ropetackle Arts Centre , Little High Street, Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5EG
• 6 Dec, 2024: The Half Moon, Putney , 93 Lower Richmond Rd., London SW15 1EU
• 7 Dec, 2024: The Half Moon, Putney , 93 Lower Richmond Rd., London SW15 1EU
• 22 Feb, 2025: Shanklin Theatre , Prospect Rd, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, PO37 6AJ
• 28 Mar, 2025: Tivoli Theatre , 19 West Borough, Wimborne BH21 1LT
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The Kinks’ Ray Davies on the song he wants played at his funeral

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Since the 1980s, Ray Davies has intermittently led a seminar for aspiring songwriters through England’s Arvon Foundation — a side hustle he landed, of course, as a result of the dozens of classic tunes he penned as frontman of the Kinks, including “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Tired of Waiting for You,” “Stop Your Sobbing,” “Sunny Afternoon,” “Waterloo Sunset,” “Lola” and “Come Dancing,” among many others.

Yet ask Davies, 78, which of these was the first to make him feel like he was a real songwriter, and he’ll tell you he’s not sure he’s one even now.

“What I usually say to the students before I start the course is, ‘I can’t teach you anything,’” he says, chuckling dryly, over Zoom from his home in the U.K. “‘Real songwriter’ gives me an image of a guy from Tin Pan Alley or the Brill Building — like Neil Sedaka. I think I’m still trying to find out if I’m that good.”

Caveat thus offered, Davies agreed to look back at — and to classify — some of the high points of his career with the Kinks, which he formed in 1963 with his younger brother Dave Davies on guitar and which became one of the key acts of the British Invasion (at least until they were temporarily banned from entering the U.S. in 1965 amid a dispute with the American musicians’ union).

Though never as popular as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, the Kinks covered no less musical ground, blending elements of rock, folk, pop, country, R&B and British music hall in detailed songs about the lives of English people; the band, rounded out at the beginning by drummer Mick Avory and bassist Pete Quaife, also helped lay the groundwork for garage rock and heavy metal, thanks in large part to Dave’s blistering guitar work. Among their punk successors were the Buzzcocks and most famously the Jam; later inheritors include Yo La Tengo, Fountains of Wayne and any number of acts associated with the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s.

The Kinks, who broke up in 1996 but who seem always on the verge of reuniting, collect 36 of their songs on a new compilation titled “The Journey — Part 1.” A second volume is due later this year.

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The most British song in the Kinks’ catalog: “A Well Respected Man” (1965)

In an era when many of his peers had their sights set on America, Davies wrote with remarkable sympathy about working-class Brits — about their goals and their resentments and about the sometimes-crushing weight of the country’s traditions. “While lots of bands sang in American accents, we were singing in London accents,” he says. He could also rail against the U.K.’s upper crust, as in this crisp but savage portrait of a privileged guy eager to “grab his father’s loot when pater passes on.”

The song that makes Davies think of his mother: “Waterloo Sunset” (1967)

“Unlike many other rockers, I always cared what my parents thought of my music,” says Davies, who adds that, even as a younger man, “I was writing songs for older people.” He recalls playing “Waterloo Sunset” — a gently psychedelic pop tune in which the narrator watches two lovers cross a bridge over the River Thames — for his mother and his older sister Rose and being buoyed by their enthusiasm. The song, which paints a modest scene in almost unbearably pretty colors, “says a lot about people of [my mother’s] postwar generation living in austerity in London. I was a strange kid, not very sociable, but I think with this song she finally understood me a bit.”

The song that makes him think of his father: “ Alcohol ” (1971) A “true Kinkophile,” the singer says, Davies’ father “would have related to this tale of the decline of a philanderer” from the Kinks’ bluesy-rootsy “Muswell Hillbillies” album, which was inspired by the North London neighborhood in which the Davies brothers grew up.

The song that most rips off one of Davies’ heroes: “ So Mystifying ” (1964) To Davies’ ears, this propulsive cut from the Kinks’ self-titled debut makes clear the debt he and his brother owed Chuck Berry, whom he calls “one of the underrated poets in American culture.”

The most depressing song he ever wrote: “Dead End Street” (1966)

“What are we living for? / Two-roomed apartment on the second floor,” Davies sings in this stark hard-times lament. “Yet it’s not actually meant to be depressing,” he clarifies, adding that he thinks of the song as “musical journalism: You’re conveying the bleakness of a real situation through an art form.”

The most misanthropic song he ever wrote: “ 20th Century Man ” (1971) Davies came up with “Muswell Hillbillies’” stomping opener — “I’m a 20th century man but I don’t wanna die here,” he sings — while pondering the “breakdown of community,” as he puts it, that led to London’s bombardment during World War II. “Communities are still breaking down now but for other reasons,” he says. “You go into a restaurant expecting to see people having dinner with one another and they’re all looking at their iPhones.” He laughs. “That’s me being a bit grumpy.”

The best riff Davies ever created: “You Really Got Me” (1964)

“Gotta be that one, right?” he says of the indelible two-note figure — composed by Ray on piano before Dave brought it to guitar — that not only took the Kinks to No. 1 on the British singles chart but also launched the career of Van Halen when the L.A. band covered “You Really Got Me” a decade and a half later.

The easiest song he ever wrote: “You Really Got Me” (1964) “As a songwriter, I’d probably write more lyrics today,” Davies says. “What’s it saying? She’s really got him going, and he’s crazy about her. Very unsubtle in many respects. But that’s the whole point. I didn’t think about the lyrics. I just made them up and sang them.”

The song he never expected to become a hit: “ Tired of Waiting for You ” (1965) Davies remembers having a severe chest cold the day he recorded the vocal for this wistful chart-topper. “So I went in thinking I’d just satisfy the commitment to the record label,” he says. “But I’m pleased with the performance, don’t get me wrong. If I’d tried too hard, maybe it would’ve gone over the top.”

The song he thought would be a hit but wasn’t: “Ev’rybody’s Gonna Be Happy” (1965)

The Kinks modeled this spirited dance number on the music of Motown’s house band, the Funk Brothers, and in particular the intricate drumming of Uriel Jones, who’d become friendly with the Kinks’ Avory. “I told Mick it should be written around this drum pattern like Uriel would do,” Davies says. “He could somehow make a drum part into a hook. So we tried to get Mick to do it, but he couldn’t.” The single, released as the follow-up to “Tired of Waiting for You,” stalled out at No. 17 on the British chart. Says Davies: “Maybe it was too intricate a pattern for rock ’n’ roll. It’s not Mick’s fault — I wrote the bloody song.”

The cover of a Kinks song he loves the most: Peggy Lee’s “ I Go to Sleep ” (1965) Davies likes Van Halen’s take on “You Really Got Me,” and he admires “Stop Your Sobbing” by the Pretenders, whose Chrissie Hynde he went on to have a child with. His favorite cover of one of his tunes, though, is Lee’s jazzy version of “I Go to Sleep,” which “made me feel kind of warm inside,” he says, not least because it impressed one of his sisters, who was a huge fan of the pre-rock pop star.

The song he’d like played at his funeral: “Days” (1968)

“Thank you for the days, those endless days / Those sacred days you gave me,” Davies sings in this chiming farewell that he wrote for (but ultimately cut from) the first of the Kinks’ several concept albums, “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.” “But that’s only if I have to pick one of my songs,” he says. “If not, I choose ‘SOS’ by ABBA.”

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The Kinks on 60 years of sibling rivalry: “We’re just different animals”

One of Britain’s greatest bands are back with a sprawling compilation. As they tease new material, could this be the start of another chapter?

“It’s a difficult thing to talk about,” Ray Davies admits of the shooting that hospitalised him in New Orleans in 2004.

He and a friend were walking home from dinner when a mugger attacked them both, threatening the woman with a gun before taking her handbag and piling into a getaway car. In a moment of madness, Ray chased after the assailant, who turned, aimed the gun and shot him in the leg at point-blank range.

Davies recounted the tale in his elegiac 2013 memoir Americana: the Kinks, the Road and the Perfect Riff . Asked how it felt to relive the terrifying incident in prose, he replies slowly and deliberately.

It was “cathartic,” he says, because he “didn’t feel like the good guy” when he replayed the scene on the page. “Just before he shot me, he looked afraid – and he had a gun. You know, I was thinking of the world he came from, the challenges in his life…” When NME suggests not many people have seen that look, he says quietly: “It’s utter desperation.”

Ray Davies has been weaving novelistic narratives steeped in empathy for six decades now. Usually, though, his medium is the four-minute rock song. As chief songwriter with The Kinks , the band he formed north London in 1963 with his younger brother Dave on guitar, he’s captured teenage lust (landmark breakthrough single ‘You Really Got Me’), wistful nostalgia (‘Waterloo Sunset’) and the sexual liberation of the swinging ‘60s (‘Lola’).

These classic tracks and many – many – more appear on ‘The Journey’, an innovative compilation released in two parts this year, marking The Kinks’ 60th anniversary (‘Part 2’ is due this week). Rather than being arranged in simple chronological order, each album is split into chapters that represent different themes, with the remastered songs grouped accordingly. It charts the Davies’ rise from working-class, postwar London to the spoils of rock stardom, speaking to The Kinks’ status as one of the most revered British bands ever, icons of the ‘60s who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

It’s also a reminder of their eclectic style, which morphed from spit-and-sawdust R&B to complex concept albums, a shift that began with 1968’s ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’. The record sold poorly upon release and Dave thought it would be their last, but it went on to be considered their masterpiece. By the 1980s, they were filling arenas with bombastic hard rock. What was it like to revisit such a formidable back catalogue?

“It was great,” Dave tells NME . “At first, when Ray suggested it, I thought: ‘Oh no – not this .’ [But] when you hear the songs again, you’re kind of there in the moment. It’s amazing… like watching a film about a period of time – you’re reliving that moment. You think, wow – this really happened ?”

A lot has, indeed, happened since 1963. The Kinks continued to knock out albums together until 1993’s ‘Phobia’, when the group drifted apart. The Davies’ have been the only consistent members of the band, though drummer Mick Avory served the second-longest from 1964 to 1984, when he left under a cloud.

Acrimony has long defined the Kinks: the brothers’ inter-band sibling rivalry predated Liam and Noel by some three decades. Avory, meanwhile, notoriously nearly killed Dave with a drum pedal in an onstage bust-up in 1965. All three members, now in their late seventies, contributed to a track-by-track breakdown on the new albums’ liner notes, so it seems tempers have cooled. Perhaps notably, though, NME chats to the trio over three separate phone calls: first Dave, then Ray and finally Mick.

In his 2022 memoir Living on a Thin Line , Dave described the latter as “a third brother”. Asked if it felt that way to him, Avory chuckles: “In the fact that we’re always arguing, yeah… It’s mellowed down, but back then it was so volatile, you know? Things could really go off like a flipping balloon going up at a moment’s notice… I was the brother in between. You couldn’t agree with one too much or else you’d lose face with the other.

The Kinks cast a long shadow over Britpop, with their observational style a strong influence on Damon Albarn . “[‘There were] similarities with Blur around that time,” notes Ray, “and it’s nice to be cited for writing certain music.”

Arguably the most obvious nod, though, came from Oasis , whose 2005 track ‘The Importance of Being Idle’ bears more than a passing resemblance to The Kinks’ ‘Dead End Street’. They even imitated its black-and-white music video, which sees the band carry a coffin through cobbled backstreets. Surprisingly, Ray hasn’t ever chanced upon the Oasis track or seen its video. When we break down the similarities, his jokey response is succinct: “Cheeky bastards!”

Ray has kept up with more recent music, though, and told Channel 4 in 2018: “I love grime.” Today, he explains: “[Rap] is spoken-word. The way the dialogue can take over… if you’ve got something to say, it’s a great medium. It depends where you come from. You’ve got your voice and your background and where you come from.”

This is in stark contrast to the Stones’ swashbuckling guitar pirate Keith Richards, who recently sassed : “I don’t really like to hear people yelling at me and telling me it’s music – AKA rap.” Ray laughs: “And he works with Mick Jagger!?” He sympathises with Keef’s opinion, but gently disagrees: “You’ve got to have a voice so that you can struggle to get yourself out [of your situation]. So it reflects society, really… It’s part of the world, part of history.”

It’s no surprise that Ray Davies identifies with artists who evoke their era: the Kinks did the job so well that they closed the NME Awards (then known as the NME Poll Winners Concert) in 1965. This was just over a year after the release of their debut single, a bluesy take on Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’. Unfortunately, they were preceded on the bill that night by a band with a slightly bigger following: the Fab Four.

“It mucked it up for us, really,” remembers Mick, still sounding crushed by the experience 58 years later. “We were still cutting our teeth on stage shows and we had to go on after the Beatles so that they could leave the building without getting pulled to pieces… Half the sound system wasn’t working because all the sound guys thought that was the end of the concert. Which it should have been! It was awful.” Of the Kinks’ live inexperience, he notes ruefully: “We could have done with a run in Hamburg for about eight months.”

Avory chats to NME the day after the release of the Beatles’ ‘final’, AI-assisted single ‘Now and Then’ . While he might not be blown away by the tune (“It’s alright, but it’s nothing really different for them”), there does seem to be something of a ‘60s revival underway. Just look at the Stones, who recently sashayed to Number One with their comeback album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ .

Ray approves of ‘Angry’, its lead single, while talk of the band leads Dave to recall his friendship with their founding member Brian Jones, who died in 1969: “He had an innate ability… I think he was a bit of a magician, pulling a flower out of a hat. I think that being a writer and musician is like being a magician.”

Dave speaks of creativity with childlike wonder. “What’s amazing about writing,” he says, “[is that] you don’t always know what you’re writing about. Am I writing about the future? Am I writing about the past? What am I writing about? And I think Ray has always had a knack of pulling things through time. And that’s so weird – but life’s weird!”

Jagger and the gang made a massive return to UK stadiums in 2018, when Ray was promoting his solo album ‘Our Country: Americana Act 2’. In the aforementioned Channel 4 interview, he claimed to be in the process of reforming the Kinks, “inspired by the Rolling Stones”. There was even talk of new material, which caused something of a stir among fans. And then… tumbleweed. What happened?

Ray, who can be cryptic at the best of times, squirms around the topic as if we’re asking for the keycode to his safe deposit box. “Well,” he says, “it got shelved because of… other issues. But there’s still material there. When I get time.” By-by-bit, gnomically, he reveals that he’s been recording the “home demos” in question since the ‘90s. Mick and Dave have contributed to the tracks, too (the drummer later describes them as a mixture of their “punchy” arena rock and “mid-tempo rock ballads”). The songs are “in bits”, Ray says: “We’ve got loads of songs there in pieces.”

How many songs?

“…About 20.”

He seems to be enjoying the game: “Yeaaaah!”

And how close to completion are the new Kinks tracks?

“There are about two or three songs I want to finish,” he says, “and when they’re finished, I’ll put the whole thing together.”

A full reunion, insists the elder Kink, remains “in the lap of the gods”. Dave suffered a near-catastrophic stroke in 2004, the year that Ray was shot, and it prevented him from releasing music for almost a decade. The band last played Glastonbury together in 1993 (though Ray performed the Legends Slot in 2010); but it would be so sweet to see both brothers crunching out ‘You Really Got Me’ on Worthy Farm. Ray doesn’t balk at the prospect, but says it would hinge on “getting a show that gives us the credit we deserve”.

Before we can get our change.org petitions going, though, Ray needs to “persuade [Dave] to come on”. In his conversation with NME , the guitarist explains that the two intend to meet very soon, and entertains the possibility of working on new music. But Ray’s wary: “You’ve gotta be careful because he’ll run off in one direction and I’ll [run] in mine… He’s like that. He stays in control.” You can imagine the twinkle in his eye when he adds: “I’m just a well-meaning big brother.”

The Davies’ dispute is a puzzle. Look at footage of Liam and Noel in the ‘90s and you can see how they might wind each other up, but Ray and Dave seem so genial. What gets between them? “We’re just different animals,” sighs Dave. “We found ourselves at a very young age being in each other’s faces. And we had to work with it somehow.”

After all they’ve been through, it would be glorious for the Kinks to close one chapter with ‘The Journey’, only to start another. As Dave observed, when he remembered thinking ‘…The Village Green Preservation Society’ would be the end of the band: “It was an ending, but as with all endings, they are also beginnings.”

The Kinks’ ‘The Journey Part 2’ is out November 17

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The Kinks Kick Off 60th Anniversary With ‘The Journey’ Anthology

By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

The Kinks will mark their 60th anniversary as a band with a two-year celebration that kicks off this March with The Journey – Part 1 , a two-disc compilation featuring songs handpicked by the surviving members.

Boasting tracks from the Rock Hall-inducted group’s first singles in 1964 to their 1975 concept albums, each side of The Journey – Part 1 — curated by Ray and Dave Davies and Mick Avery — follows a narrative arc, ranging from “Songs about becoming a man, the search for adventure, finding an identity and a girl” to “Days and nights of a lost soul, songs of regret and reflection of happier times.”

“Ask yourself the question, is this journey really necessary?…….Yes!”  Ray Davies said in a statement, while Dave Davies added, “I’m delighted with what I think is an inspiring selection of timeless and magical Kinks music.”

60 years ago, a group of North London lads got a band together…today they're one of the greatest bands in British history. #TheKinks are launching a 60th Anniversary Celebration of their vital importance to popular music. Follow along here and join us in celebrating #TheKinks60 pic.twitter.com/DMzwerts8n — The Kinks (@TheKinks) February 15, 2023

The Journey – Part 1 — due out March 24 on 2LP and 2CD — spans from those first singles to similarly iconic tracks plucked from Kinks classics like The Village Green Preservation Society , Face to Face , Arthur and Lola Versus Powerman . The anthology also includes personal track-by-track notes about the songs penned by the Davies and Avory, who happens to be celebrating his 78th birthday today.

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The Journey – Part 1 Track List

Side 1 Songs about becoming a man, the search for adventure, finding an identity and a girl: 1. You Really Got Me (UK#1, 1964) 2. All Day And All Of The Night (UK#2, 1964) 3. It’s All Right (1964) 4. Who’ll Be The Next In Line (1965) 5. Tired Of Waiting For You (UK#1, 1965) 6. She’s Got Everything (1968) 7.  Just Can’t Go To Sleep (1964) 8. Stop Your Sobbing (1964) 9. Wait Till The Summer Comes Along (1965) 10. So Long (1965)

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Side 3 Days and nights of a lost soul, songs of regret and reflection of happier times: 1. Too Much On My Mind (1966) 2. Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl (1965) 3. Days (UK#2, 1968) 4. Where Have All The Good Times Gone (1965) 5. Strangers (1970) 6. It’s Too Late (1965) 7. Sitting In The Midday Sun (1973)

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CURRENT JAYHAWKS NEWS

Older jayhawks news.

The Jayhawks – XOXO

“It was time to open things up,” says Gary Louris. “The Jayhawks are a true band, one where everyone’s an equal, and we wanted to make a record that really reflected that.”

Featuring writing and lead vocal contributions from all four members, The Jayhawks’ extraordinary new album, XOXO , is the most diverse and wide-ranging in the group’s storied history. Rather than marking a sonic departure, though, the collection signals a sharpening of focus for the band, an elevation in understanding of who they are and what they do best. In classic Jayhawks fashion, the songs here mix the influence of American roots music with British invasion and jangly power-pop, but there’s a newfound vitality at play, as well, an invigoration of confidence and energy that could only come with the injection of fresh blood. The result is an album that, much like the band’s lush harmonies, brings multiple distinctive voices together into a singular whole, a collection that, ironically enough, finds unity in individuality and identity in reinvention.

“This album feels like a new lease on life for us,” explains Louris. “I don’t know what the future holds, but this band is full of great songwriters who deserve to be heard, and my only regret is that we didn’t do something like this sooner.”

One of the most enduring and beloved groups of the last thirty years, The Jayhawks first emerged from Minneapolis in the mid-1980’s, though their commercial and critical breakthrough didn’t arrive until the release of their 1992 masterpiece, Hollywood Town Hall . Over the ensuing decades, the band would go on to record a series of highly influential albums and tour the world countless times over, sharing stages with everyone from Bob Dylan and Tom Petty to Lucinda Williams and Wilco along the way. Following an extended hiatus in the mid-2000’s, Louris and his long-time bandmates—bassist Marc Perlman, drummer Tim O’Reagan, and keyboardist Karen Grotberg—returned to the studio, most recently releasing the acclaimed Paging Mr. Proust and Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

“Touring those records the last few years, I never felt like I was getting to hear enough of Karen or Tim singing lead vocals,” says Louris. “I know they write great songs, as does Marc, who’s co-written plenty of Jayhawks songs over the years, so I decided to widen the circle and let go of a little bit of control.”

Beginning in the spring of 2019, Louris began making monthly trips from North Carolina back to his native Minnesota, where he and the band would gather for weeklong rehearsal and writing sessions in their St. Paul practice space. All four members would bring song ideas to the table in various states of completion. There were no quotas or egos at play in the process, only a quest for the best Jayhawks tunes possible, wherever they may come from.

“Some songs we molded together from scratch, but others had been fully written by one or the other of us,” says Perlman, who, along with his bandmates, bounced between instruments depending on the needs of each track. “We didn’t worry too much about who penned what, because after all these years of playing together, everything we do just naturally comes out sounding like a Jayhawks song.”

When it came time to record, the band returned to the secluded Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN. There, they holed up for roughly two weeks of tracking, living and working in close quarters 24-hours-a-day. The group later continued the sessions at Flowers Studio – founded by the band’s friend and Minneapolis music stalwart, the late Ed Ackerson.

“At Pachyderm, we all shared this big old house on the grounds, so we cooked our meals, drank wine, listened to records, and walked down to the studio every morning together,” says Louris. “We forged a new bond during those sessions, and I think we came out of it tighter as friends than we’d ever been before.”

That camaraderie is the heart and soul of XOXO , which opens with the easygoing “This Forgotten Town”. Written jointly by Louris and Perlman, the track finds Louris and O’Reagan trading off lead vocals, with Grotberg coming in on harmonies, and it sets the stage perfectly for an album fueled by chemistry and trust.

“Because of the added closeness we were all feeling, I think everyone was more comfortable taking chances on this record,” reflects Grotberg. “The more we collaborated, the more ideas we were able to spark off each other, and the more new and unexpected directions we were able to take things.”

For his part, Louris found himself tackling more topical lyrics than he was used to writing. The Harry Nilsson-esque “Living In A Bubble”, for instance, laments the problematic nature of our ratings-driven news cycle, while the transportive “Homecoming” grapples with climate change and the long-term costs of our shortsighted environmental destruction, and the trippy “Illuminate” (a co-write with Perlman and O’Reagan) is an abstract exploration of idol worship that feels particularly relevant to the present political landscape. Grotberg, on the other hand, reached back into her catalog for more timeless tunes, channeling Christine McVie with her deep, breathy vocals on the elegant “Ruby” and hinting at the southern magnetism of Emmylou on the pedal steel-laden “Across My Field”.

“Karen’s always been a very poetic writer, but it was amazing to watch her confidence as an artist grow throughout this process,” says Louris, who invited each bandmember to take ownership of their particular tunes when it came to production and mixing choices. “It was a really empowering experience for her, and for everyone, I think.”

Like Grotberg, O’Reagan spends more time in the spotlight here than on any previous Jayhawks album, taking lead on a trio of tunes that balance the old and the new. The driving “Dogtown Days” is a lean and muscular rocker in the best tradition of Big Star, while the dreamy “Looking Up Your Number” trades the power chords for fingerpicked acoustics and dreamy falsettos, and the minimalist “Society Pages” calls to mind Guided By Voices and Pavement. Perlman rounds out the collection by contributing writing to a number of tracks and stepping center stage on the waltzing “Down To The Farm”, which draws on a mix of British and American folk traditions in its storytelling.

Despite all the different writers and voices at play, XOXO remains a thoroughly cohesive record, both sonically and emotionally. While that’s due in no small part to the densely layered harmonies and impeccable musicianship that color each and every track, it’s clear that the deepened personal bonds between bandmates played a significant role in binding the collection, as well.

“Arriving at a consensus these days isn’t as tough as it used to be,” says O’Reagan. “I think the sound and dynamic of the band will evolve positively with everyone having an outlet for their ideas and songs”

Indeed, far from altering The Jayhawks’ DNA, opening up the writing process seems to have amplified it, and the end result is a group more inspired, more close-knit, more itself than ever before.

“At the end of the day, this album is just an extension of who we’ve always been,” says Grotberg. “We’re the same band, but it feels like we’ve stepped into a new era.”

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Ray Davies (born June 21, 1944) is one of Britain's most distinguished and distinctive songwriters, known as the beloved lead singer of the Kinks, he was born in Muswell Hill, London, UK.

Having formed one of the most important and influential rock/pop band of the British Invasion, Ray Davies’ the Kinks crafted their distinctively British sound for over two decades. Having influenced hosts of subsequent pop/rock artists, the Kinks had nine charting albums within the Top 40, 17 Top 20 singles, and earned multiple honours including the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Service to British Music" and being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Prior to the band’s separation in 1996, Davies released the solo album “Return to Waterloo” in 1985, which served as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, also written by Davies.

10 years later in 1995, Davies released the semi-fictional memoir “X-Ray”, shedding light on the his experiences with the Kinks in an unorthodox yet literary way. In support of the book, the singer performed a series of concerts entitled “Storyteller”, which featured classic Kinks songs, passages from the book, old stories, and new songs. The album “The Storyteller” was subsequently released in 1998, charting at No. 105 on the UK Albums Chart.

In aid of New Orleans musical education programs, Davies released the benefit EP “Thankgivings Day” towards the tail-end of 2005, in anticipation of his official debut solo album. The full-length “Other People’s Lives” arrived in February 2006, peaking at No. 36 on the UK Albums Chart – Davies’ first album to reached the Top 40 since the 1960s. Earning strong reviews from the musical press, the album once again showcases Davies’ enviable songwriting talent with his seemingly effortless introduction of narratives and characters. The album “Working Man’s Cafe” followed in 2008, featuring a less polished and pined over sound than its predecessor, however remained a tactful, witty release.

A choral collection of Kinks songs, recorded in collaboration with the Crouch End Festival Chorus, entitled “The Kinks Choral Collection”, was released in 2009. Proving popular amongst listeners, the album charted at No. 28 on the UK Albums Chart. The collection of high-profile collaborations “See My Friends” was issued by Universal in November 2010. Featuring the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Mumford & Songs, Spoon, and Jackson Browne, the album peaked at No. 12 in the UK Albums Chart.

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I just along to this web site, I guess that can happen when you type Ray Davies name into google. I also caught the kinks at the

Capital center outside DC during what I looked at as there third make over doing givening them what they want ie. Commercial

Rockers and put some cash in the till. Alway great writing songs much strong than intended like catch me now I'm falling. Great concert but no comparison to the music

from after being kicked out of the US. And despite the reviews everybody's in show business fabulous stuff. F a t flabby Anne

Wss incredibly big now she looks like skin n

Bone- very strong

Mehr erfahren

Als unangemessenen melden

I saw Ray with the kink in Memphis in 1976

At I medium size venue. It was unbelievable

They played I must be wrong. I remember like most of kinks kronicles all of everybody's in show business and get this they came back and

Played another whole album some sort of rock opera

That wasn't very good ducks ducks ducks on the wall I love u baby but I can't ball

But I can still remember that cause my

Grandma had the three duck in mid flight on the wall.It was really privilege to see Ray

Davies perform and I hope to God that they

Come back to America and do it again. Some

Thing only happen once in history.

A live show from Ray Davies is like no other artist! Apart from his brother Dave who I also highly recommend.

They truly aren't like everybody else. A night of good tunes, storytelling and laughter is for sure guaranteed.

A true legend!

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Songkick erfährt als Erster von neuen Tourankündigungen und Konzertinformationen. Wenn also deine Lieblingskünstler momentan nicht in deiner Region spielen, tritt einfach Songkick bei, um Ray Davies zu folgen. Du erhältst dann Konzertbenachrichtigungen, wenn Auftritte in deiner Nähe geplant sind, wie 21655 andere Fans von Ray Davies.

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• Aber wir hoffen wirklich, dass du uns liebst.

Pop genius and frontman of the original 1960s Britpop band The Kinks now performing solo with a mix of new material and classic hits.

Official website raydavies.info

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Past Events

Here are the most recent UK tour dates we had listed for Ray Davies. Were you there?

• Oct 13 2018 Stowmarket, John Peel Centre for Creative Arts Ray Davies
• 2015 Aug 29 Aug 30 2015 Portsmouth, Southsea Seafront Victorious Festival Flaming Lips, Tinie Tempah, Primal Scream, Laura Mvula, The Fratellis…
• Aug 08 2015 Glastonbury Abbey Ray Davies
• Aug 07 2015 Brecon Market Hall Ray Davies
• Jul 24 2015 London, Old Royal Naval College Ray Davies, Hugh Cornwell, Hazel O'Connor
• Jul 21 2015 Bristol Beacon Ray Davies
• Apr 24 2015 Southampton, Nuffield Theatre Ray Davies
• Apr 17 2015 London, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre Ray Davies, Jude Kelly
• Sep 09 2014 London, Royal Festival Hall Ray Davies
• Sep 08 2014 Southend-on-Sea, Cliffs Pavilion Ray Davies

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• Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Best of Moscow by high speed train

By shuguley , February 15, 2014 in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.

Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?

My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

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If you are considering this on the 2015 June Baltic cruise on Voyager; my suggestion is don't. There is so much to do in St. Petersburg and although a train is one of my favorite ways to travel the time would be far better spent in St. P.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, this would be on the Voyager during the 2015 season but not yet sure exactly which cruise.

We did the Moscow excursion "on a different luxury line", but from your brief description it sounds very much like the same trip, so I will operate on that assumption. It is a VERY long day! We left the ship at 5:30 AM and returned at 12:30 AM. The highspeed train trip is comfortable, and while they call it "Business Class" it does not compare well to the equivalent class on say Rail Europe. When we did it in 2011, we did have highspeed both ways, and the trip back seemed much longer as the adrenaline and excitement had worn off!:D

Moscow itself is not that terribly different from any other big city in the world, but this Cold War kid never thought he would ever stand in Red Square, never mind walk the grounds of The Kremlin, or tour The Kremlin Palace, or see (but not visit) Lenin's Tomb, or visit The Armoury. But he did, and he loved every minute of it! Yes, it is a long day, and you barely scratch a scratch on the surface, but it is worth it. There is a tremendous amount to see in St. Petersburg, but every Baltic cruise goes to St. Petersburg, so you can go back if you choose to. Not every cruiseline offers you the chance to see Moscow.

I have not personally done this tour, but our last time in St Petersburg, the private guide that we hired for a day was leading the regent tour to Moscow on the high speed train the next day. He said it was way better than the previous alternative, which was flying to Moscow and back. He said that you actually got to Moscow faster because you didn't have to deal with airline checkin etc. it did seem like a very long day to me, and there is so much to see and do in st. Petersburg that I didn't consider doing it.

countflorida

We toured to Moscow from St. Petersburg via the hi-speed SAPSAN train last September, from a Baltic cruise on the Oceania Marina. You need to have a two-night, three day port call in St. Petersburg to take this tour because the tour typically leaves the ship around 5:00 - 5:30 AM and doesn't return until after midnight the next day. We didn't take the ship's tour; we made private arrangements with TravelAllRussia for three days of touring, the first and third days in St. Petersburg and the second day the tour to Moscow by train. Our cost for the private tour for three days was about the same as what the ship charged for the excursion to Moscow alone. There are a number of private tour agencies that operate in St. Petersburg and offer the Moscow train tours; we would strongly recommend them over the ship's tours.

All three days had private guides with car and driver. The second day, the driver picked us up at the ship and took us to the train, but we were alone on the train, and met in Moscow by the guide on the station platform. After our tour and dinner, we were brought back to the train and after the return train trip met by the driver and taken back to the ship. Because you are alone on the train you must have your own Russian visas.

If this is your first visit to St. Petersburg, I would agree there is much more to see there. We found Moscow somewhat a disappointment, particularly Red Square. The Kremlin and the cathedral in Red Square were also worth seeing. But the best thing we saw was the Moscow subway! I worked for the Washington Metro system back in the 1980s as it grew from 40 to 80 miles and although I was in the computer area, I learned a lot about the challenges of running a subway system. We used the Moscow system to get across the city from where we had dinner to the train station, and I was amazed at the cleanliness', speed of operation, the short headways maintained, and the courtesy of everyone involved. A very impressive experience!

We had been to St. Petersburg before, and so had the time to take a day and go to Moscow. Also, I really like trains, and the SAPSAN is a German train set running on Russian rails. Seats are like first class domestic air, spacious but not too plush or comfortable, but with enough room. Not too much recline, and almost 8 hours on the train in two shots is a lot for an old man. They come through and sell drinks, candy, etc. but the sellers don't speak English and no one around us helped, so we had just poor coffee once coming, and brought stuff with us for the trip back. Not too much to see from the train either, particularly on the return when it is night the whole way.

If you decide to go, take a private tour and avoid the overly expensive ship's tour. I'm glad we did it, but wouldn't bother to repeat the tour; we've seen Moscow.

Thanks so much to all of you for the thorough and thought insight. Yhe information you have provided is most helpful.

countflorida: Your detailed post is very helpful. We are not quite ready for a Baltic cruise but should do so within a year. Time enough to do our pre travel research, bookings and visa gathering.:) Thank you!

Emperor Norton

Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.   Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?   My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

I did this on Seabourn. IMO DONT. Take Aeroflop (er Aeroflot). The train has non folding seats where you are literally knee to knee with your fellow passenger (facing each other). Further they don't believe in air conditioning. It's also the worlds slowed bullet train. I think I would have found more enjoyment wandering around the St. Petersburg and Moscow airports.

Countflorida,

This is a little off topic,, however we had planned a river cruise in Russia but decided we would rather stay on land and have booked about two weeks with Travel-All-Russia using the private guide and driver. I'm curious as to how you found them as a tour company.

The guides they provided were fine. We had a different guide each of the days in St. Petersburg, but both were flexible, pleasant, knowledgeable and spoke English very well, as did the guide in Moscow, incidentally. She was a bit aloof, distant, not too friendly, but otherwise fine. In fact, she was the one who suggested taking the Metro, which unexpectedly became one of the highlights of the Moscow excursion. If I have a complaint with AllTravelRussia, it is with their plan and its execution (more later).

I had requested emphasis on World War II (in Russia, the Great Patriotic War) sites and info. In scheduling us, they weren't careful about dates and a couple of the sites we wanted to see were scheduled on the third day, after we'd been to Moscow. But both sites were closed that day of the week, and that info was readily available, right on web sites describing them. Also, the included meals (lunches in St. Pete, dinner in Moscow) were not what we asked for: light meals with some choices, so we could avoid things we didn't like and choose things we did like. My request was ignored; we were given full Russian meals with a fixed menu, no choice. On the first day, a fish dish was the entre, but I am allergic to fish. Fortunately, I had the e-mail I'd sent with me and showed it to the guide, and she was able to change my entre to chicken, which was very good actually. But we didn't want a 3-4 course lunches or dinner (in Moscow). We had the guide drop the lunch the third day, although we never got any credit or refund. But, particularly in contrast to the ship's tours, the prices were so reasonable we didn't worry too much about it.

The people who were on the ship's tour to Moscow saw us boarding the same train for which they were forced to queue up and wait on the way back, and asked us what we had done. I was candid and open so they were not happy when I explained what we had arranged and particularly what it had cost. Also, when we returned to the ship, we found they had laid on a late supper for those who had gone to Moscow, so up we went and had something. Well, it turns out the late supper was supposed to be just for those on the ship's tour, but we and others on 'independent' tours, there were a dozen or more of us, crashed the party, actually got there first, and they didn't realize it until the larger group arrived and there weren't enough tables/places set. By that time, the 'independents' had all gotten served and were eating; what could they do?

A couple from the larger group sat down with us and asked us about our tour, and they were the ones I told about our arrangement and its cost. They turned to others who’d been with them and announced the details, loudly enough so the whole room heard, which started a lot of bitching and complaining. I gathered they weren't very happy with the ship's tour to begin with, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. We finished up and beat it out of there, but overheard later that one of the excursion staff came to check on something and ran into a real mess. I caught a cold on the trip, which forced me to bed the second day following in Tallinn, so by the time we reappeared we heard about the contretemps' but apparently no one recalled who started it, thankfully.

Because of what happened to us, I would probably not use AllTravelRussia if I were to go again, or if I did, I would be sure to get confirmation of every detail of the tour. They do have good reviews generally, and we were certainly helped by their visa department and liked the guides and drivers. Their weakness, I say now with full 20:20 hindsight, is that once the sales person who plans the tour, sells it to you and collects your money, he (or she) transfers the plan to their Russia office for implementation; there is no follow-up to make sure it gets done right. And that is where our problems arose; we paid for a custom tour but got a standard package with a few destinations switched, and no one checked them out, even to see when they were open the day we were scheduled to go. If you check every detail that’s important to you, it should be OK, but that’s a hell of a way to have to do business, in my opinion.

Thank you for the 20/20 hindsight observation on your Russian tour operator, and better priced than the ship's excursion cost.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

We had the same experience as you so far as price. We originally booked a Viking Cruise but, hearing some things about the river cruises that made us unhappy, looked into other options. T-A-R cost the same or less than a cruise and had us in hotels for 11 days. We opted for the private tour. They have three tour levels, based on hotels. We originally opted for the four star as it did not cost much more than the three star hotels. Finally we decided to throw it all in and upgraded to five star. In Moscow we will be at the newly opened Kempinsky which is two blocks from Red Square. In St. Petersburg it is the Grand Hotel Europe, one of the most vaunted luxury hotels in Russia. Location is important for us as the tours use up only part of the day so being in the center of everything for our independent touring is important. As with many other cities, the less you pay, the farther out of the center of town you are.

We have been working with our salesman in D.C. and he seems to get back to us with the changes we want. He recently returned from Russia so is up on everything. When I asked they said they paid the full TA commission if I wanted so I got my usual TA on board so he is watching our back and giving us that extra level of comfort. He also set up our air, which I know pays him little or nothing, and got us business class for much less than T-A-R wanted for economy, though it took working for a while with a consolidator. He's happy to get his 10 percent on this trip without having booked it. He also took care of the trip insurance. We've been doing a lot of research on the CC sister site Trip Advisor and will write a report there. We will, I guess, become a source of info for CC members after having spent 5 days in Moscow and 6 in SP.

• 4 months later...

scubacruiserx2

Anybody considering a day trip to Moscow from St. Petersburg on the Sapsan may want to look at our travelogue filled with pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1927687

Very informative. Thanks dor sharing. Jeff

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