A Well-Respected Man

I had the opportunity last night to see one of my absolute favorite singer/songwriters from one of my absolute favorite bands of all time in concert: Ray Davies, formerly of The Kinks, at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. (The Kinks and I date from when I was 13 in 1981 and Give the People What They Want came out and never left my tape deck. In the late 1990s, all 22 of The Kinks albums from 1964 to 1984 were remastered and reissued on CD and the record companies that did them did a great job.) Last month, Ray released his first ever solo album called Other People's Lives and it is a terrific album. It hasn't left my CD player (or iPod, depending where I am) in about a month.

Last night, he did a good mix of old chestnuts and tracks from the new record (which sound great live). The highlight for me was a set of acoustic versions of songs from my favorite Kinks album (which, as Ray pointed out, was the most unsuccessful album ever released)--1968's Village Green Preservation Society). The inclusion of "20th Century Man"--though a favorite song of mine--was a bit odd, what with it being the 21st century and all, but then again many of the lines from the song ("This is the age of machinery/A mechanical nightmare/The wonderful world of technology/...This is the 20th century/Too much aggravation/This is the age of insanity...") ring even more true now than in the last century.

In terms of performance and my enjoyment thereof, it's one of the best concerts I've been to--even if the audience was massively annoying, even by rock concert standards.

A Boston Globe review can be found here. There's very little in the review I disagree with, although I am more charitable to the new songs--particularly "After the Fall" and "The Morning After," even if "Next Door Neighbour" doesn't quite rise to the level of Ray's past character portraits/satires like "A Well Respected Man" or "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (and raises the question of how you can have three next door neighbors--a minor, picayune point, I suppose...).

The set list as I recall it was as follows:

I'm Not Like Everybody Else (B side to the "Sunny Afternoon" single, 1966)
Where Have all the Good Times Gone? (The Kink Kontroversy, 1965)
'Till the End of the Day (The Kink Kontroversy, 1965)
After the Fall (Other People's Lives, 2006)
Next Door Neighbour (Other People's Lives, 2006)
Creatures of Little Faith (Other People's Lives, 2006)
20th Century Man (Muswell Hillbillies, 1971)
Oklahoma USA (Muswell Hillbillies, 1971)
Village Green (Village Green Preservation Society, 1968)
Animal Farm (Village Green Preservation Society, 1968)
Picture Book (Village Green Preservation Society, 1968)
Johnny Thunder (Village Green Preservation Society, 1968)
Sunny Afternoon (Face to Face, 1966)
Dead End Street (1966 single)
Over My Head (Other People's Lives, 2006)
The Tourist (Other People's Lives, 2006)
Low Budget (Low Budget, 1979)
That's That (The Stand Up Comic) (Other People's Lives, 2006)
The Morning After (Things Are Gonna Change) (Other People's Lives, 2006)
A Long Way From Home (Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, 1970)
The Getaway (Lonesome Train) (Other People's Lives, 2006)
Tired of Waiting for You (Kinda Kinks, 1965)
Set Me Free (Kinda Kinks, 1965)
All Day and All of the Night (1964 single)
You Really Got Me (1964 single)
Lola (Lola vs. Powerman and the Money-Go-Round, 1970)