See My Friends

Ray Davies - one of the UK's finest songwriters - releases 'See My Friends', an album of classic Kinks songs turned into unique collaborations.

On this one of a kind album, Ray collaborates with a formidable selection of artists on tracks from his incredible songwriting career, revisiting his back catalogue and crafting new versions of his classic songs. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Metallica features on this diverse collection of material.

Highlights include 'Days'/'This Time Tomorrow' with Mumford & Sons, 'Better Things' with Bruce Springsteen, 'You Really Got Me' with Metallica and 'Tired of Waiting For You' with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody. "This project came about almost by accident," says Davies of the project, which was kick-started when he recorded a version of 'Till The End Of The Day' in the summer of 2009, with the late, great Big Star singer Alex Chilton.

"With some tracks I had to appreciate the style of the other artists, otherwise it would have sounded unbalanced. And I wanted the album to work as an entire listening experience but each track had a life of its own," explains Ray.

Ray was happy to go where the music took him, in every sense: Oslo via Denmark, Germany and Belgium to record with Metallica, New York to record with Jon Bon Jovi, New Jersey for Bruce Springsteen, Chicago for Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins and his own north London base, the legendary KONK studios, for much of the rest. "This record is well-travelled already," explains Ray.