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Renaissance - Scheherazade and Other Stories CD (album) cover

SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

4.32 | 1403 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars "Scheherazade and Other Stories" was one of legendary albums that coloured my teen days and I remember that this was the first album that I knew about the band. At first listen I was not really attracted with the music as it was too light for my ears. Those days Iwas listening to heavier stuffs like YES' "Close To The Edge", "Relayer", "Tales From Topographic Ocean" or Genesis' "Foxtrot", "The Lamb Lies Down". But when I found the album title epic "Song of Scheherazade" with orchestra music, it changed me to listen the band some more.

The album 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. 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.

Probably, the key track featured here is the epic "Song Of Scheherazade" (24:52) which comprises nine parts. This is a story-oriented 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 combination of brass / woodwind section, nice piano and orchestra 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 and Terrence Sullivan. 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. It's a masterpiece epic!

How should I qualify this album? Well, if I look only the epic track, it's definitely a true masterpiece - even the epic itself is worth for you to buy this CD. But, I think other tracks do not deserve masterpiece status even though all of them a good to excellent rating. To make it fair, I give it four stars: an excellent addition to any prog collection that I recommend you to purchase. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 4/5 |

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