Ray Davies, the leader of legendary London outfit the Kinks, has teamed up with friends Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, the Killers and Lucinda Williams in order to re-record some of the British Invasion rockers’ famous tunes for a brand new release.
The knighted 65-year-old musician, who’s responsible for penning classics such as “You Really Got Me” and “All Day And All Of The Night”, has enlisted the big names for a new solo album, which is due out in late 2010. The idea for the collaborations was first sparked off back in October 2009, when the Kinks were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A concert was held at Madison Square Garden, Davies taking to the stage with Metallica (also rumoured to appear on the disc) as a backing band.
Now tracks like “Better Things” (taken from 1981’s Give the People What They Want LP) have been laid down with guest Springsteen, while “Celluloid Heroes” (from Everybody’s In Show-Biz) features Bon Jovi. Davies says he’s also finally looking at a live Kinks reunion, now that his younger brother, Dave, has recovered enough from a 2004 stroke to play.