I Will Be Me

Dave Davies is best known for his role as lead singer and guitarist for the UK band The Kinks. His latest release, I Will Be Me, is a magnificent album that I thoroughly enjoyed for many different reasons which I’ll share with you further down the line.

To start off with, the album seems like a mish mash of songs that cover everything from Los Angeles to the UK, being an individual, government and societal control, basic every day observations on past mistakes and as general as odd knick knacks that hold a place in the man’s heart. It all seems to be trailing off, especially with Davies’ odd vocal work that sounds drunkenly swayed at times and sometimes all together powerful, but at its core the album is as motivational to me as Rollins Band End Of Silence was to me in High School. It's a voice for the voiceless in a way and an outreached hand for the disenfrachised.

This isn’t just an album with random reflections, it’s a manifesto of sorts that only seems to trail off into the many moods of Davies. You get his anti-big brother anthems, reflections on the path humanity is headed in contrast with our love for technology and its apathetic grip, darker passages go beyond moody, and more. It’s just one of those poetic creations like Pink Floyd’s The Wall if it were mixed in with the anti-establishment fuck all of Black Flag and a tinge of Pete Doherty swagger that oozes rock music looking inward on itself.

I had my doubts as the album began. I took in Davies strange vocals and accepted them as raw genius, his tenacity to mix strange sounds with stranger sounds and cloak it all in a familiar residue, and the lyrics...forget about it. Finally an album that has something to say and the genuine accessibility to make you believe its not all bullshit. High Praise for Dave Davies and I Will Be Me.