Dave Davies - Decade

Archival solo album of unreleased 1970s material from The Kinks co-founder

71-year-old Dave Davies, lead guitarist and co-founder of The Kinks, presents a new archival solo album of "really great" songs that's called Decade.

"We've only just had it mastered," Davies reports. "It's an [album] of unreleased material from the '70s, hence we're gonna call it Decade, being the decade of the '70s."

Dave explains that the record includes "songs from, like, '72, '75, right through that decade," as well as one or two tracks recorded but not used for his 1980 debut solo album, AFL1-3603.

Davies tells ABC Radio that Decade was produced by his son Simon, whom, he says, has "done an incredible job on it, sonically." He adds, "It sounds so good…You know, it's got the ambience, the feel [and] the sonic correctness, almost, of that period."

Dave notes that "a mixture of musicians" contributed to the tracks, including one recorded by just him and founding Kinks drummer Mick Avory and a few featuring his nephew, Phil Palmer, a journeyman guitarist who has performed with Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey and many others.

Davies says the songs weren't necessarily intended for The Kinks, while noting that when he wrote them he thought some "could've been, hopefully should've been."