Search - Dave Davies :: Dave Davies / Glamour

Early Davies solo albums return to CD

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 11/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dave wasn't the quiet one and he didn't shrink into the background in The Kinks. His guitar was a buzzsaw of activity keeping the songs rolling. As a songwriter Dave was always in the shadow of older brother Ray and his grandiose concept albums. By the time of Preservation, Dave was doing very little creatively in the band. So its no surprise that when The Kinks broke through again in the late 70's and early 80's that Dave finally committed that long threatened solo album to vinyl.AFLI-4036 (alternately known as Dave Davies or AFL-13603)is a mix of heavy metal riffing, guitar hero playing and strong melodies. While it lacks subtly, it manages to stand out due to Dave's strong sense of melody and the sheer strength of his songs. While Dave's personal beliefs got stranger as time went on, they hadn't informed his work to such a degree here as to make it inaccessible to the average fan. BGO has done a great job remastering this classic for disc. While there aren't any outtakes, demos or bonus tracks to speak of, just having the album available again is quite a service. The booklet includes an essay, some great photos and full lyrics to the songs.Glamour is a bit more problematic. It continues in the vein developed for AFLI; the songs are dominated by strong guitar hooks and Dave decorates just about every song with his distinctive guitar solos. The songwriting isn't quite as strong as on AFLI but the melodies and arrangements are a bit more diverse making the album distinctive from his debut. Again, there aren't any bonus tracks but we do get the album in full with excellent mastering. Sonically Glamour still sounds better (and fuller)than AFLI. It also helped that Dave didn't play all the instruments here (he did on his debut with a few notable exceptions). Here Kinks drummer Bob Henrit provides percussion and it helps the material sound better.Snatch up these two Kinks related classics while you can. Who knows how long BGO will have the license for these classic albums. Rock on Dave!"

Dave at his best

William Slaughter | Anaheim,California USA | 04/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the Dave Davies fans out there this CD is a must. You get his first 2 solo albums and they are both SUPER...Glamour was way ahead of its time with better Record company support it would have been a big hit. Each song show cases Dave's fantastic vocals and top notch guitar work and the songwriting is A number one baby! Same goes for his 1st solo album DAVE DAVIES,,,Buy this CD while you can and live a little.. You deserve it!"