Ray Davies - Working Man's Cafe Album

Ray Davies - Working Man's Cafe Album

Artist: Raymond Douglas Davies
Born: June 21, 1944 (age 63)
Origin: Fortis Green, London England
Music Genre: Rock / Rock 'n' Roll
Occupation: Singer-songwriter
Albums:

• Return to Waterloo (1985)
• The Storyteller (1998)
• Other People's Lives (2006)
• Working Man's Café (2007)

You can take the boy out of Britain—and, apparently, a good deal of Britain out of the boy. Ray Davies, the once (and future?) Kinks frontman, has long been among rock's most strident social commentators, with a decidedly British flip to his characters and observations. But on his second proper solo album, Davies drops any sense of U.K. jive and draws on a residential tenure in New Orleans earlier this decade for what is decidedly the most "American" work of his more than four decades of recording. "Vietnam Cowboys" bursts forward with a gritty shuffle and ruminations about the impact of the global economy on these shores. "Hymn for a New Age" is an Americana-styled anthem calling for spiritual overhaul, while "Imaginary Man" has a rootsy richness that echoes Muscle Shoals. The net result is smart, personal and potent.

Working Man's Cafe Track List:

1. Vietnam Cowboys
2. You're Asking Me
3. Working Man's Café
4. Morphine Song
5. In A Moment
6. Peace In Our Time
7. No One Listen
8. Imaginary Man
9. One More Time
10. The Voodoo Walk
11. Hymn For A New Age (bonus track)
12. The Real World (bonus track)