Album Review: Working Man's Cafe

Working Man's Cafe is the latest solo offering from Ray Davies,the genius and driving force behind The Kinks.The album finds Mr. Davies in top form,in fact the album is superior to 2006's Other People's Lives.Some highlights include the opening cut "Vietnam Cowboys " which denounces the type of corporate outsourcing which is destroying our lives, and the title track in which the protagonist encounters mall sprawl and other types of progress whilst searching for a dive to escape just such things." Morphine Song" was penned during, and recalling, his stay in the hospital recovering from a 2004 shooting in New Orleans. Also of note is "No One Listen" an outcry for help in this over- technological and bureaucratic society that we're all trapped in. It's an outstanding album in my (biased) opinion,but alas the North American release is not scheduled until February 2008. I listened to it on Napster for free.