Ray Davies - BBC Sessions Volume 4: Proms in the Park Hyde Park London UK 2017

Ray Davies - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: Proms in the Park, Hyde Park, London, Britain, 9-9-2017

Paul he say: This is the fourth, and probably last album of Ray Davies performing for the BBC. I rarely if ever do this, but I feel the need to put a performance warning on this. At the time of this concert, Davies was about 75 years old, and unfortunately, age was seriously effecting his voice. So behave. It's definitely not terrible by any means, but you can tell things are not what they used to be.

In fact, I think he realized his vocal troubles, because this was his last concert. Prior to this, he hadn't given any concerts since 2015, and only a few then. After this, according to setlist.fm, he only played one song in public in 2018, and that's it. Given that it's now 2025 as I write this, the voice and body only gets more worn out with time. So, if nothing else, this concert has historic importance as Davies' last concert. (If that turns out to be true, I think it's fitting that the last song he played was "Days.")

However, Davies must have realized his voice was weakening, because he smartly compensated for that by being backed with female vocalists, and also a full choir on some songs. That certainly helps.

2017 was a significant year, because Davies put out the studio album "Americana," his first new studio album in about ten years. He would put out another in 2018 ("Our Country - Americana, Part 2"). Only two songs were performed from the new album, "Message from the Road" and "A Place in Your Heart." That's quite significant, because it seems those are the only two times he ever sang them in public.

The sound quality is excellent, despite the fact that it's unreleased. Davies' voice was low in the mix. Perhaps that was intentional, due to the problems mentioned above. But I still felt the urge to fix the mix, so I boosted him somewhat, using the UVR5 audio editing program. 

This album is 38 minutes long. 

01 You Really Got Me Intro [Instrumental]
02 Victoria 
03 talk 
04 Dedicated Follower of Fashion 
05 talk 
06 Dead End Street 
07 talk 
08 You Really Got Me 
09 talk 
10 Message from the Road 
11 A Place in Your Heart 
12 talk 
13 Sunny Afternoon (Ray Davies)
14 talk (Ray Davies)
15 All Day and All of the Night 
16 talk
17 Waterloo Sunset 
18 talk

19 Days