TALES OF 1001 NIGHTS VOLUME 2

This is the second of two volumes from Sire documenting Renaissance's classic era from Annie Haslam's debut in 1972 to the band's break-up in 1980. Volume 2 covers the later albums from this period - Novella [3], A Song For All Seasons [2] and Azur d'Or [2] plus a live rendition of Ashes Are Burning from the Carnegie Hall concert. It is a less satisfactory set than Volume 1 despite the inclusion of several all-time classics - Can You Hear Me?, Midas Man, and A Song For All Seasons. But the presence of 24 minutes of Ashes Are Burning tends to create an imbalance, especially as the compiler has inexplicably chosen to include two less satisfactory songs from Azur d'Or. Admittedly, this song is a classic and no compilation would be complete without it, but it comes at the price of some important omissions like Day Of The Dreamer, Closer Than Yesterday, The Sisters or Kalynda.

Nevertheless, this is a good little compilation, not as successful as Volume 1, but taken together they give the listener a fair impression of Renaissance's orchestrated style. These volumes have historic interest as the first appearance of this material on CD, and are nicely presented with a thick booklet containing a lengthy band biography. Today they would form a suitable introduction to Renaissance, but the ready availability of source albums makes them less essential.