David Bowie has paid tribute to The Kinks in a new compilation.

The 'Starman' hitmaker has penned the sleeve notes for the 48-track 'The Essential Kinks' album - which will be released in North America next month to mark the band's 50th anniversary - and says there has never been a song written by the group that he ''didn't like''.

Bowie has published online a picture of himself and the group's singer Ray Davies, which is captioned: ''I've never heard a Kinks song that I didn't like''.

He also released an extract from the notes, which read: ''Of course, from their noisy and brash beginnings, The Kinks have come to stand for some of the most enduring and heart-clutching pop of all time. They are in the gut of every British songwriter who followed them and are indisputably a cornerstone of everything pop and rock. I love 'em. The world loves 'em.''

The 'Aladdin Sane' singer has previously covered two songs by The Kinks, recording a version of 'Where Have All The Good Times Gone' in 1973 and 'Waterloo Sunset' 30 years later.

He teamed up with the group's frontman to perform the latter track at the Tibet House Benefit in New York in 2003.