Thursday's Earful: The Kinks

By: David Schultz

If The Kinks are going to make their return anytime in the near future, Ray Davies has done his part in keeping their music alive and vital over the last few months. The 65-year-old singer won over a skeptical Metallica at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concerts this past October and the seminal metal rockers gave "All Day And All Of The Night" and "You Really Got Me" its biggest sound in years. Going in the other direction, Davies also released The Kinks Choral Collection, containing chamber orchestra versions of Kinks songs of varying degrees of popularity. Rolling Stone reports that Davies is now toiling away in the studio re-recording Kinks classics with notable rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi. The Boss teams up with Davies on "Better Things" while Bon Jovi helps reinterpret "Celluloid Heroes." As for The Kinks reunion with his brother, who is recovering from a 2004 stroke, "It's in the works, it's all up to Dave."

FOR ALL OF JOHN LYDON'S POSTURING as an irredeemable punk, he sure understands the lucrative allure of a reunion tour. On April 16, Public Image Ltd. will play their first U.S. show in 18 years as part of the Coachella Festival in Indio, California and then produce eastward on a month long tour that will conclude May 18 at New York City's Terminal 5. The new Millennium PiL will include guitarist Lu Simmonds, drummer Bruce Smith and bassist Scott Frith.