https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/dave-davies-stays-optimistic-about-kinks-reunion/ Seems that there's been talk of it for ages!
Usually that “talk” coincides with a new book (Dave has one out) or re-issues (Everyone’s in Showbiz and Muswell Hill out soon) Cynical? Me? Never!
Love the guys, but it is hard to see 80 year old Ray, and post heartattack Dave being able to punch out a tour at this stage of the game. Sadly I never got a chance to see them, so I'd love to be wrong, but it seems unlikely. I'd love the guys to record something together though.
I would welcome a medium-subdued Kinks reunion record, befitting their advanced ages. And we know Ray can write quieter songs all day.
This came up on our Kinks thread, and the so very human and observational style of Ray's writing, I'd love him to write some form of autobiographical song/album that ties into the changing times from 1963 to 2022.... if he was inspired and interested it could be a truly poignant transcendent thing.... but we'll see what happens
It would great to hear where the Kinks would be at this stage in their lives. It would need that good balance of Ray and Dave. I’m hopeful.
Those feuding Davies/"it's pronounced Davis" bros left a lot of cash and joy (for their fans at least) on the table for last 25 years. It is a genuine shame.
For "artists we never got to see live", The Kinks are at the top of my wish pile. For my money, from roughly 1977 through their demise, few bands match the ass kicking intensity of a live Kinks show. Say what you want about the later albums, but as a live band those recordings always make me perk up and headbang uncontrollably I would have to adjust my expectations for a reunion though as I sure it would not be anything as visceral and ferocious as, say, the 1984 Frankfurt gig which you can watch on YouTube (one of the best rock shows EVER!!!!)
I can’t see a tour happening at this point. Would love to see them do something.. I saw them once. At Massey Hall in 1987 or 88..
Sightings of Ray have been very, very scarce since well before lockdown. We really haven't heard from him in years. His last album came out in 2018, and he barely promoted it. He seems frail and in declining health - though that's speculative. I would say that a stage reunion is less likely than anytime in the past. As far as recordings - Ray is so obstinate and seemingly clueless as to what fans would like, that if things are finally released I'd have low expectations. I can easily see him taking some unreleased song from the Misfits sessions, muting Mick's drums, and then removing the vocals and replacing them with an actress reciting recently written lines about a decaying London, and calling it a new Kinks song. Of course I'll take whatever I can get. I had the good fortune to see them half a dozen times, and I got to meet both Ray and Dave more than once, I love them. But for whatever reason Ray refuses to play the game. More power to him, I guess.
Don't give him any ideas! Honestly the last pictures I saw, he looked really frail. He's probably hiding in his home living his life exactly as he wrote in X-Ray.
Ray’s live performances have been extremely rare since 2015. Search for setlists: Ray Davies | setlist.fm
He said in an interview (maybe 10 years ago) that he had sclerosis that he's had all his life and that it got worse after he was shot. Maybe that's why he's been looking more frail?
July 15 - Happy Ray Davies Day to those in Portland and everywhere else. Ray Davies Day! Ray Davies Setlist at Aladdin Theater, Portland I was at this concert. My last time seeing Ray on stage.
Not looking good. Mick Avory from an interview in March 2023: "But you asked if we'd ever go on tour together now, we'd been through all that the last 20 or so years. I don't think it's possible now – one thing, health-wise. And I don't think we could ever work it out because Dave wanted to do it one way, and Ray wanted to do it the other – which was quite normal thinking for them. But I always turn to Ray because he did consider the whole thing – he didn't just consider, 'This is what I want to do.' He used to consider, 'What's the best thing to do?' That's why I always listened to Ray. Ray thought it as doing as an 'evolution tour' – you have different people who came into the band and what songs they recorded on and what songs effected them. I thought that would be more interesting. But I think Dave just wanted 'a band' – not particularly with me in it. Just reform something like they had when I left – just a band with him and Ray in it, really. It's a team thing, and if you're not a 'team man,' you don't think like that." The Kinks' Mick Avory Talks New Anthology, 'You Really Got Me,' and If A Reunion Is Possible
