In 2013, when Dave Davies showed up with I Will Be Me, his first studio album in six years, it would have been reasonable to believe we wouldn’t see another from him for a long while. Which is exactly why you should never second-guess a Kink — the guitarist had a lot more to say with a dandy follow-up, 2014’s Rippin’ Up Time. This is by no means a slab of leftovers; this is a whole new album with a smaller cast of characters and perhaps a sharper characterization of where Dave Davies has been and where he’s headed.
The ying and yang of Rippin’ Up Time transcends past and present with a variety of flavors and forays. The album’s title track, “Johnny Adams,” and “Nosey Neighbours” all wave the Kinks flag in form and execution. Davies’ guitar drips with distortion and buzz amidst a stark backdrop as he addresses madness, mental illness and unemployed miscreants. One’s mental state pops up now and again on this record, whether it be the synth-heavy, ethereal “Semblance of Sanity,” with Davies’ wobbly vocal circumventing truth and fantasy, or the groove-entrenched, grungy “Mindwash,” which speaks of individuality over crowd-sourced manipulation.
Where Rippin’ Up Time really hits home is in the personalized odes to Davies’ colorful past. The mid-tempo “Front Room” recounts the guitarist’s upbringing, listening to music, drinking tea and starting a band. “In The Old Days” touches on a more raucous part of Davies’ life with he and his son Russ exchanging verses in thick and defying cockney brogues. Russ also appears on the album’s final track, “Through My Window,” a contemplative stroll that touches on the past, present and future. Enlisting David Nolte to co-produce, engineer, play bass, drums, keys and create some of the record’s weirder sounds, Dave Davies has pieced together Rippin’ Up Time as a rigid, somewhat eclectic and fortified statement — indicative of the topsy topsy, whimsical arc of a legend with a second wind of creative fortitude.
~ Shawn Perry
