Ray Davies
Our Country - V2 - 2018  Tracks: 1. Our Country / 2. The Invaders / 3. Back in the Day / 4. Oklahoma U.S.A. / 5. Bringing Up Baby / 6. The Getaway / 7. The Take / 8. We Will Get There / 9. The Real World / 10. A Street Called Hope / 11. The Empty Room / 12. Calling Home / 13. Louisiana Sky / 14. March of the Zombies / 15. The Big Weird / 16. Tony and Bob / 17. The Big Guy / 18. Epilogue / 19. Muswell Kills Comments:As a big fan of the Kinks for many years, I have, of course, followed Ray Davies' career after the last Kinks album "To the Bone", which was released 25 years ago.
Ray's first albums after the dissolution of the Kinks; "Other People's Lives" and "Working Man's Cafe" were really nice and in many ways very Kink-like. The subsequent album “Americana” from 2017 was very different. It is an album on which he explores his lifelong fascination with the music of America, and his experiences of touring and living there. The album features contributions from members of the Jayhawks.
There were nice tracks on this album, but I was probably overall a little disappointed. Some numbers such as "Poetry," however, were joyful encouragements.
From the same sessions as “Americana” the numbers on this follow-up album “Our Country” are taken. The album appears to an even greater degree than its predecessor as a musical narrative and if you have hopes of finding music reminiscent of a Kinks album, you will probably be disappointed.
Perhaps most of the strongest material was used on “Americana” and there are only a few really memorable songs on “Our Country”. Highlights are the beautiful tribute to Tony and Bob "The Big Guy". "The Getaway" is one of the few tracks with a Kinks feel. Also strong is the remake of the "Muswell Hillbillies" song "Oklahoma USA". Davies comes, during 61 minutes the albums plays, around many different musical genres, which some will surely find a strength while others will find it annoying and contributing to a lack of consistency.
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