REVIEW: Close To You, London Cast Recording ✭✭✭✭✭

Close To You : Bacharach Reimagined

Original London Cast Recording

Ghostlight/ ShkBoom Records

PURCHASE NOW There is just so much to recommend this cast recording, that I really don't know where to start. I remember sitting in the audience of the Criterion Theatre, hoping that someone would have the foresight to capture the glorious music that made Close To You, an incredible night in the theatre. (Read my review). Well, I could not have wished for a finer recording. I don't think that I am alone in saying that Burt Bacharach formed an enormous part of the soundtrack of my life. His incredible catalogue of songs and the fabulous recordings made by some of the greatest artists of our time, will forever ensure that someone, somewhere, in the world will forever be singing a Bacharach song. It is a sign of Burt's brilliance, that he was able to work with Kyle Riabko to "reimagine" these great songs, and to open up his catalogue for an audience who may perhaps have been unfamiliar with his work.

From a meeting with Bacharach in a recording studio, Riabko started an odyssey which now finally, has resulted in this incredible recording. Close To You takes Bacharach's songs and weaves them together, like a rich tapestry, layered with complex rhythmic arrangements one minute, and just a simple guitar accompaniment the next.

So gorgeous is this recording, that I find it impossible just to play single tracks. I find that I put it on and it stops my day as I become engrossed in the entire recording. Tracks including I Come To You, Alfie, A House Is Not A Home, Walk On By, Make It Easy On Yourself and Don't Make Me Over are stunning.

For hard-core fans Riabko has included some of the original demos that were recorded for Bacharach himself, when he was seeking permission to stage the show. It's easy to see why permission was granted. Each song is treated with the utmost respect, but the musicality of each reinvigorated.

Whilst Kyle Riabko is very much front and centre in this recording, he has surrounded himself with some incredibly talented musicians and vocalists. Daniel Bailen, Greg Coulson, Anastacia McCleskey, Stephanie McKeon, Renato Paris and James Williams, give this album so much heart and soul.

If conceiving, arranging, and performing Close To You were not enough Riabko has also produced this cast album. I've spent some time listening to it on a portable device, on my home computer and most recently on a larger home sound system, and whilst it works on all, the superb sound that comes from the larger system really lifts this album to a whole new level.

Close To You is a stunning recording that takes me back to what for me was a very special night in the theatre. I daresay it will be played with frightening regularity here, and I hope that many of you will get a copy and have a listen to Kyle Riabko's wonderous reimagining of one of the greatest songwriter's of our time. Bravo!

PURCHASE A COPY OF CLOSE TO YOU FROM AMAZON.CO.UK