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Renaissance - Turn Of The Cards & Scheherazade And Other Stories - Live In Concert CD (album) cover

TURN OF THE CARDS & SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES - LIVE IN CONCERT

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

4.14 | 34 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars A Trip To a Beautiful Past ...

I only knew the band quite late, I think sometime at the late seventies or early eighties through the band's Scheherazade And Other Stories album that really hooked me at first listen especially with its seminal epic Song of Scheherazade that run more than 24 minutes. It was not as so energetic as Supper's Ready or Close to The Edge or Gates of Delirium but ... it gave me different taste of prog especially on the use of orchestra. Well...actually it was not that good in terms of record as what I first had was cassette format. When I got the CD, then I felt different especially during the silent segments where using cassette produced many noises. But that was then and it's funny lately that I found interesting to play back my cassette that I purchased at early eighty and played on TANDBERG TCD 440A, it really sounds great even at the silent segments. But that's just this Scheherazade album while the other album Turn of Cards I only got the CD version sometime in early 2000.

And now I never imagined that finally I can see the band reunited in 2011 and play their two seminal albums in its entirety live recorded at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA USA on September 23 2011. Over two hours of Renaissance live performance of the two albums that I already reviewed the studio version at this site. I always enjoy the live versions like the other CDs that I have i.e. Live at Carnegie Hall and those from King Biscuit something. But this DVD and two CDs of course is different because they are (Annie and Michael) already old. Surprisingly, Annie's voice is still great!

The set comprises two acts: 1. Turn of the Cards and 2. Scheherazade and Other Stories with track listing is exactly the same as studio version.

Turn of The Cards is basically an excellent symphonic prog album. The performance starts with the opening track "Running Hard" (9:37) that kicks off with quite complex improvisations of piano in a combined style of jazz and classical music. But when the music enters, the song has catchy melody especially when Annie Haslam's voice enters the music. It is really enjoyable as it moves naturally from one segment to another, smoothly. The following "I think of you" (3:07) is a pop-orientated song with some sort of folk music styles through the acoustic guitar rhythm section. Combined with the sound of clavinet, it makes this song richer in textures. The bass guitar lines are quite tight accompanying the music from start to end. It then moves into more energetic beats with "Things i don't understand" (9:29) which again using tight bass guitar lines as beat keeper as well as dynamic groove that moves the music of this song. The Annie's vocal line turns into high register notes during interlude part in a chanting style, while guitar still dominate the rhythm section. It's nice to notice the choir section in the middle of this track.

"Black Flame" (6:23) starts with an ambient nuance with acoustic guitar fills as great soft background and bass guitar brings the music in the smooth flow. Some string orchestration has enriched some segments couple of shots just before the vocal line enters the music. Again, the melody of this song is quite catchy. The clavinet work makes the music much interesting to enjoy especially during the movements with drum work and when it returns to quieter segment. It's one of my favorite Renaissance tracks. "Cold is being" (3:00) starts off with church organ sound and the melody is quite familiar with most of us. "Mother Russia" (9:18) is a great epic which moves dynamically with the band's brilliant composition that moves the music ups and downs, stirring my emotion. This song is not just wonderful in terms of melody but also in its wonderful flow from one segment to another. The string section work makes the music is richer. Another great song by Renaissance. No wonder if this track is featured in the trailer that promotes this DVD / CD live set.

The Act 2 kicks off beautifully with a nice and warm "Trip To The Fair" (10:48) that might give you a trip to happiness and peace of mind to the beautiful past.... (in the case of having this DVD/CD live set). The soprano vocal quality of Annie Haslam characterizes the style of this track as well as overall music style of Renaissance which some have called it as a folky art rock music. I don't blame them saying that as the other two tracks "The Vultures Fly High" (3:07) and "Ocean Gypsy" (7:05) as well as the opening track can be categorized that way. I have to add another quality : "melodic". Yes, almost all tracks featured here are melodic, accompanied with acoustic guitar, piano and orchestra. Wonderful composition.

The key performance featured here is the epic "Song Of Scheherazade" (24:52) which comprises nine parts. This is a story-orientated music that represents the band's interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" which was composed with a full orchestra and string. From the intro "Fanfare" with a beautiful orchestration, nice piano in relatively complex arrangement the epic moves to a silent passage "The Betrayal" wonderfully. The segment has become very touchy when Jon Camp gives his vocals augmented by Annie Haslam. The epic has a powerful lyrics as it tells a story about how Scheherazade was fighting for her life whom she was sentenced to death toll by The Sultan. The Sultan had been killing many beautiful girls (his wives) every night after he found out his wife was unfaithful to him. To delay her death she told story to the Sultan every night for 1000 nights and she remained his wife for the rest of their days. What a heroic story. But most interestingly, every segment of the epic contains wonderfully crafted music performed live at its best.

The package is quite good as well, housed in a deluxe DVD digibook styled case with a great little booklet filled with color photos. For the loyal fan, this is a must own, as it's really the first time in the band's history that a full color, full concert has been recorded & filmed for release. This current line-up of the band really is on a roll now, and they are also in the process of raising funding to help with the recording of their first new original material in over 10 years. It's an excellent package. Keep on proggin' ..!!

Peace on aerth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 4/5 |

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