"Waterloo Sunset - Choral Collection"

So I was flicking through my Classic FM magazine, as you do, when on the 'opera & vocal' review, I came across The Kinks. Well that's something you don't expect! I love the song 'Waterloo Sunset' though, so I thought I'd check out this choral arrangement. And it got 4 stars...so it better be good!

I have to say, from my first listen I was slightly disappointed. As it's essentially 'Waterloo Sunset' as we already know it...just using a choir instead of solo backing vocals. As Classic FM says, 'Davies's melodic genius feels reborn - without ironing out any of the Kinks'. And I suppose with a seminal song as 'Waterloo Sunset', you can't really go about changing it that much for fear of some sort of divine retribution.

It's interesting how with a choir, the entire piece becomes much more reflective; which is exactly what Ray Davies must have been doing as he arranged the choral part. And someone's clearly been to harmony class. The choral element removes the somewhat 50's feel of the original song; the 'sha la la's' morphing from typical 50's scat like backing singing, into a solid, unified sound. It's also clever how the choir have replaced much of the instrumentation of the first version, creating a more acoustic, slightly more sparse sound - that is until the entire choir is singing at once - after their staggered entrances. A few other more 'classical' elements sound like they've been thrown in, most notably a lovely rallentando before the final 'coda' comes in.

I nearly jumped for joy when it was over. Not because it was over, I was really rather enjoying it, but because there was an authentic cadence! I remember constantly stressing out and having to resolve the fade out of the original version. It just ended with a lingering imperfect cadence, that just hung in the air afterwards, haunting me! I think I really might have problems...I cried upon hearing a I-VI chord progression today...this clearly isn't good.