Without Ray Davies, Britpop would have looked different today. After all, with his band The Kinks, this Londoner was one of the first to let go of the American-oriented rhythm & blues in the sixties and to apply influences from vaudeville and ballroom music. In addition, he also began to sing about typically English matters (such as the Victorian heritage) with a lot of irony. The name Kinks is
… therefore still very cool in the biography of every contemporary Britpop band. In turn, Davies seems to have listened carefully to his followers at Working Man's Café and he mainly sounds heavy guitars in a dozen sharp songs. The guiding principle of his songs remains lazily ironically sung lyrics. These are full of angels, social criticism and sharp observations and that simply requires strong support. At the same time Davies proves, unlike many of his contemporaries, that he is still on edge. (MR)more
