DE CAPO

A reasonable two CD summary of the band's work from their first album in 1969 through to "Time line" in 1982. The tracks are in chronological order, with two or three tracks from each album.

As ever, the selection process has to be subjective, but for me the wrong choices have been made in a number of cases. "Bound for infinity" from "Prologue" is probably the weakest track, "Kiev" and/or "Raja Khan" would have been better. "Carpet of the sun" from "Ashes are burning" is good, but "Can you understand" is far better. "Running hard" from "Turn of the cards" should have been included. To include only an edited version of a section from the excellent "Scheherarade" suite is criminal. Likewise, the inclusion of "Can you hear me" from "Novella" should have been essential. "Azure d'or" should have contributed the beautiful "Kalynda", while the below par "Camera Camera" album should have been afforded less than the 10 minutes it receives.

There is of course plenty on the plus side, Renaissance made a lot of good music. "Ashes are burning", "Island", "Mother Russia", "Ocean Gypsy" and so on are all excellent pieces of music.

Renaissance are overdue for the full box set treatment. In may ways, by restricting this set to a two CD set, then packaging it in a tall box set type sleeve, an opportunity was missed. If space was the issue it appears to have been, the two previously unreleased tracks would have been better left off, and the choice of tracks should have been subject to far greater scrutiny.