How Dave must have got fed up with brother Ray Davies’ endless stream of pop operas when it seems all he really wanted to do was rock out. His first album of new material in two decades is full of the kind of dirty, distorted guitars he first unfurled 40-odd years ago on “You Really Got Me”, although “Fortis Green”, which name-checks both Max Miller and Hancock’s Half Hour, offers a welcome change of pace, and owes more to his old group’s nostalgic brand of English whimsy.
“True Phenomenon”, the title track and the techno-driven “Life After Life” all betray Davies’ obsessive interest in UFOs and aliens, while the ‘bonus’ additions?live versions of “Susannah’s Still Alive”, “Death Of A Clown” and “Dead End Street”?smack more of earth-bound desperation.