RAY DAVIES Reinventing the Kinks catalogue with a roster of all-star friends For almost a half-century Ray Davies has been rock’s own artful dodger. Slipping through pigeonholes and ducking stylistic dead ends, the native Londoner has always confounded easy labeling. With the Kinks he played the parts of white bluesman, vaudeville dandy, folk revivalist and heavy-metal screamer, penning wildly diverse classics like “You Really Got Me,” “Tired... 

RAY DAVIES See My Friends [Decca] Former Kinks leader Ray Davies’ all-star duets project seems at first like a gimmicky tease. As Springsteen and Bon Jovi growl and wail through some of Davies’ more delicate gems, one can’t help but wonder what the point of all this might be. But eventually the bigger names stop chewing up the scenery, and the pairings become more like true collaborations than curiosities. Lucinda Williams’ weary take on “Long...