NEW YORK, NY (KOCH Records) - KOCH Records announces the triumphant return of Dave Davies, founding member of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legends, The Kinks. "Kinked," a collection of Dave Davies' finest studio recordings and live tracks from 1997 - 2006, includes the brand new track (recorded in January 2006), "God In My Brain," which was inspired by Davies' recovery from a serious stroke he suffered in 2004.
Thanks in no small measure to the sound of the Olympian thunderbolts cast by Dave's guitar, the Kinks' sound has inspired and influenced generations of rockers including The Ramones, Van Halen, and Green Day, and helped give birth to punk, metal and modern guitar rock. In the ten years since the band's last public performance, Dave has released four official albums on Velvel & KOCH Records, in addition to three live albums, two albums of demos and an electronic music collaboration released through his website.
On 30 June 2004, while at the BBC to promote the UK release of his solo album "Bug," Dave Davies collapsed as a result of what was later determined to be a stroke. Though details were scarce at the time, the legendary guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer would be sidelined for a year and a half before returning to the limelight with the release of this record.
"God In My Brain," recorded in mid-January 2006, returns to the theme of unfinished business and new beginnings. Within a day of entering the hospital, with difficulty speaking and unable to use the right side of his body, Dave was already beginning to restart the creative engine.
"It's not God as in the grey-haired old man sitting in the sky, but the person in my head who while the stroke was happening was sitting back and observing," according to Dave. Within a week, a guitar was in his hands, and as he strummed his first chords, the incredible rhythm of this song emerged. The lyrics were completed last November and December, when Dave agreed to return to the studio to complete this album.
The result is a jubilant tour-de-force, which Dave wrote, arranged and produced, while singing and playing all instruments including guitars, bass, piano and organ. The album's cover art features an original painting by Davies, created in August 2004 as part of his therapy at the London Neurological Hospital.
The rest of this album focuses mainly on Dave's compositions, as featured on the four solo albums recorded during Davies' past ten years as a KOCH/Velvel artist. A mixture of gem-like new studio recordings of songs from his 'first' and 'second' solo careers in the 60s and 80s, live recordings of some of his favorite Kinks tunes, plus originals from "Bug" and "Unfinished Business," this album is (mostly) not about 'those chords' that first made him famous. Here is Dave Davies - he of the thoughtful ballads and heartfelt love songs, the ringing acoustic and the lyrical electric guitars, the achingly beautiful vocals... and themes of hope and optimism.
"Unfinished Business," which opens this album, was inspired by the untimely death of John Lennon, who had so much more to give the world. Today, it's hard to listen to this lush, Beatlesque gem without thinking it somehow nearly prophetic of Dave's own stroke event. Among the other originals is "Fortis Green," a childhood remembrance that easily ranks right up there with brother Ray's classic-period gems.
Also featured are "live" versions of Dave's classic "Living on a Thin Line" (the original Kinks version was unforgettably featured in the dramatic "University Episode" of HBO's "The Sopranos"), a spirited version of "Picture Book" (recently featured in the wildly popular television spots for HP's Digital Photo products), along with Dave's studio tribute to The Beatles' George Harrison on "Give Me Love, (Give Me Peace on Earth.")
THE TRACK LISTING:
1. Unfinished Business
2. Living on a Thin Line (live)
3. Picture Book (live)
4. Fortis Green
5. Love Gets You
6. This Man He Weeps Tonight
7. Death of a Clown
8. Suzannah's Still Alive
9. Hold My Hand
10. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
11. Strangers (live)
12. Too Much On My Mind (live)
13. When The Wind Blows (Emergency)
14. God In My Brain
15. Rock Me, Rock You
