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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Days |
| 2. Waterloo Sunset |
| 3. You Really Got Me |
| 4. Victoria |
| 5. See My Friends |
| 6. Celluloid Heroes |
| 7. Shangri-La |
| 8. Working Man's Café |
| 9. Village Green Medley |
| 10. All Day and All of the Night |
Product Description
Review
Following up on their first collaboration at 2007's Electric Proms, Davies and the 65-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus have gotten together once again to record a cross section of some of The Kinks most celebrated and enduringly popular songs.
Revisiting such an auspicious back catalogue is fine in theory. In practice however, whilst Davies and his backing band are on top form, the addition of the Chorus brings very little to the table.
Whilst many a choral score is capable of bringing widescreen vistas into the pokiest of material, the arrangements by David Temple, Steve Marwick and Davies himself, are myopic, lacking in ambition. Never have so many been given so little to do. Cast very much in SingalongaRay mode, they are largely reduced to oohing and ahhing in a way that is as obvious as it is dull.
The Kinks' 1968 album, The Village Green Preservation Society, has six tracks welded into the Village Green Medley and whilst the tunes themselves remain some of Davies' best work, the choral embellishments ultimately drag rather than lift. This is especially true of the rockier numbers. The famously graphic intensity of All Day And All Of The Night is neutered by the Chorus, who reduce the demotic urgency of the original into little more than a polite request.
Occasionally it works out nicely: Days is re-cast in an agreeably ethereal light and an a cappella See My Friends has a chilled spectral edge. But as Davies shrewdly observed in Celluloid Heroes, ''Success walks with hand in hand with failure''. --Sid Smith
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CD Description
The legendary Ray Davis returns with all your favourite songs by The Kinks backed by the spectacular Crouch End Festival Chorus. This must-have album includes brand new renditions of "Waterloo Sunset", "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night", "Shangri-La", "Victoria" and many more phenomenal classics.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply beautiful!,
By Samuel Peers "Sam" (North Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Kinks Choral Collection By Ray Davies (Audio CD)
If you thought that the classic kinks hits were outdated, or could never be innovative and impressive again, this album certainly proves otherwise. Some of the songs, such as "Waterloo Sunset" or "Days" were obviously going to work perfectly with a choir, as demonstrated live in 2007, but heavy metal songs like "All Day And All Of The Night" are certainly not the first thing you'd expect to work with choir backing-but they do, and sound amazing. Ray Davies has by no means come up with some B-rate cash-in effort, but has genuinely recreated these classics, with outstanding results. If you ever wished to hear god with his angels, then this is the closest thing you're likely to find anywhere!
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ray goes all choral - Kinks classics done differently!,
By
This review is from: The Kinks Choral Collection By Ray Davies (Audio CD)
Ray introduced us to choral arrangements at last year's Electric Proms and so it is no surprise that he has extended this first trial to develop an album of Kinks Klassics (sorry!) with the Crouch End Festival Chorus. The album starts with 'Days' and then 'Waterloo Sunset' which unfortunately are somewhat tepid or lame in their delivery. Both songs should be towards the end of such an album but at the start they just don't work very well. You also feel like you have died and been lucky enough to go to Heaven and upon walking through the Pearly Gates there's Ray with his choir singing Waterloo Sunset. Not a bad first day. The first gem is track 3, 'You Really Got Me'. This is a clever arrangement and works very well. If you think such a rock classic couldn't work with a choir, believe me, it does. 'Victoria' is again a bit lame and is 'singing by numbers' unfortunately. 'See my Friends' is a voices-only arrangement which works well. 'Celluloid Heroes' and 'Shangri-la' work very well with a choir because they are BIG songs, so both are strong arrangements. 'Working Man's Cafe' is a good rendition of a more recent song (from Ray's second solo album). The highlight of this album is without doubt the Village Green songs which work because everybody sounds like they are enjoying themselves rather than trying to sound like a serious church choir. And that's the issue here, the serious arrangements are too 'church choir-like' and the upbeat songs like the Village Green medley are just plain joyous to listen to. The album finishes with an average version of 'All Day and all of the Night' which is a shame. In summary, this album has a number of highs and lows. Where Ray detours from the 'paint by numbers' arrangements he does very well and where he doesn't it is just plain average to be honest. He could have been more adventurous. He hasn't got the voice of an early Meatloaf (neither has Meatloaf anymore) so his fragile voice struggles in some places against this big wall of serious voices. If you are a Kinks fan, you'll be happy with 52 minutes of Ray with a choir. If you were never a Kinks fan, this won't do it for you I am afraid. I love the guy and always will but this could have been less stuffy and a lot more fun than most of it sounds.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Kinks Choral Collection,
By
This review is from: The Kinks Choral Collection By Ray Davies (Audio CD)
This is a greatest hits album with a twist. Accompanied by the Crouch End Festival Chorus, Ray Davies runs through many of the Kinks best tracks, including `You Really Got Me', `Victoria', `Waterloo Sunset' and `Days'. There are some notable omissions - no `Lola' - but the album highlights the strength of Davies's songwriting.
There is a risk with any choral accompaniment that the album may seem overblown and something of a novelty, but this is rarely the case with these songs. The choir really adds power and beauty to the slower tracks, such as `Days' and `See My Friends', while the louder tracks are fun to listen to with Davies often performing a call and return with the chorus. `You Really Got Me' in particular is excellent for this, and the musicians sound like they're enjoying themselves with it. Die-hard fans may be disappointed that this isn't a full reunion and question the track choice. Obviously the tracks will not replace the originals, but they are good in their own right, and this album works, not as a greatest hits collection, but as a showcase for Ray Davies's songwriting. All of the songs are fantastic and it is an album that will get better with repeated listens as the depth of the arrangements comes to the surface. For those already fans of the Kinks, this is a nice addition to the collection, though not one that will replace old favourites, but for newer fans this is perhaps a good entry into the Kinks songbook.
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