Ray Davies – Working Man’s Café

9/10

Best Track – “No One Listen”

Worst Track – “Peace in Our Time”

Talk about a paradigm shift. The most English of all the British Invasion-era songwriters is singing about the plight of the American working class. Best part is Ray Davies is singing it better than any American has since Reagan was in office.

Ray Davies is the mastermind who led the pioneering British Invasion band The Kinks, which is technically still around since the band never officially broke up. Their song “Well-Respected Man” appeared on the Juno soundtrack. Now, The Kinks frontman has put out his second solo album Working Man’s Café.

Working Man’s Café follows the theme the album title lets on to with precision. The opening track “Vietnam Cowboys” puts together the best anti-globalization lyrics ever heard. The following track “You’re Asking Me” distances the role of a singer-songwriter from that of demigod with all the answers to that of a simple observer of world affairs. In these two tracks Davies cranks out more meaningful lyrics than most bands put into a whole album.

Davies’ wit and wisdom play a heavy role in the music and lyrics in Working Man’s Café. Sure some tracks like “Peace in Our Time” get a bit too preachy, but they’re well intended. Davies’ classic wit and penchant for imagery come to fruition in “The Morphine Song,” which is the happiest song about drug addiction since The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown.”

What makes the lyrics in Working Man’s Café truly stand out is the blues-influenced guitar artfully combined with The Kinks’ core sound and British sensibilities. The music glides out of the speakers with the true highlight of the album being “No One Listen.” “No One Listen” channels the sound and anger of late-era Kinks in a fantastic way to give the album a shot of adrenaline needed to carry it through.

Working Man’s Café is simply what an album by a classic singer-songwriter should sound like. Perfect lyricism combines with artful song construction in a way that the younger generation should pay attention to. This is how music should be done.

-- Garrett Lyons