Sun. Nov. 28

Ray Davies, the former Kinks leader, has released a couple of strong solo albums over the last few years. But he's never run away from the Kinks - no reason to do so. And on his latest work, "The Kinks Choral Collection," he thanks "the band then and now." Now, of course, implies the Kinks still exist and we really don't know the answer to that. When we've interviewed Ray over the years he's given various answers to that question, too, so it may just be open ended, still. But what Ray is doing now is mounting round two of a tour supporting that "Choral" album, which he recorded with the Crouch End Festival Chorus, composed of 65 singers. (He also employed Ian Gibbons, keyboardist for one of the latter-day Kinks incarnations.) For the album, he did eight Kinks songs - including, two of the most lovely, "Days" and "Waterloo Sunset" - a title track from his last solo disc, "Working Man's Cafe" and a medley of songs from the Kinks' classic LP, "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society." Ray just played a couple of dates with the choir last year - the stage at Berklee was too small, and imagine the costs of traveling with them. But this year, for a date Sunday Nov. 28 at the Wilbur Theatre, he is traveling with The Desoff Chamber Choir (don't know how many members).

Davies on the "Choral" album:  "With a song like 'Waterloo Sunset,' I feel as if the people I wrote it for are singing it. I know some of the singers in the choir, though not all, but as a group I imagine them all living in north London, and they are my subject matter as well as the people singing it. There's some sort of symmetry there." And, you have to hear how "You Really Got Me" is re-interpreted. Heck, it's been re-interpreted by hundreds of bands, so why not Davies doing it with an angelic chorus starting song and then the band kicking in with the primal rock chords? The chorus doesn't disappear; it continues to contribute and fascinate. No, I never envisioned the song in this format, but that's part of the magic. It's not tacky or a gimmick. Think of this tour as a bookend to the "Storyteller" tour Ray did in the '90s - up close and personal stories and stripped down songs. Here Ray is adding rather than subtracting. It works. "Celluloid Heroes" will break your heart once again. So, we'll be getting that experience this time in Boston.

And now, for the new news, Ray has recorded a sequel of sorts, another album of re-done Kinks classics, but this one done a whole 'nother way. They're duets with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, the late Alex Chilton, Paloma Faith, Billy Corgan, Lucinda Williams, Black Francis and Jon Bon Jovi (?!),  and works with bands like Metallica and the 88 (Ray's latest backing band). Coming, maybe, in January. Tickets; $87-$57.

246 Tremont St., 617-248-9700 www.wilburtheatre.com