RENAISSANCE

But what was the purpose of editing this DVD? Wasn,t possible to make the technical arrangements to have a good product. Is not enough to be a lover of Renaissance music to appreciate this .

Sorry to prejudice ,but it seems this product had the main purpose to make money more than to satisfy fans.

I ,ve heard many videos of Renaissance in Youtube (in colours) with good sound.

I,m sure they could have done with a little more investment a very good work compiling good sound and good images of past live works.

The only thing i appreciate from this DVD is the selection of songs but the other forget....

I ,am hurt and disappointed. The good thing is that i saw the video in a friend,s home so I w,ont waste my money.

1 star

But please do not introduce the band to someone with this video. Knowing and loving all the tracks here included, I am able to apreciate what I see but there is abviously flaws.

First, we cruelly missed "Ashes are Burning" from the track list. "Mother Russia" is there twice with two comparable version that looks empty without the orchestra, but still it is Mother Russia. Both Concert are in Black & White - And there is no overvieuws of the whole stage - Almost only close-ups. Can you understand is not complete and there's nothing from Novella album.

I would have said that this DVD is for die hard fan of Renaissance but since I am one of them, I don't regret to have bought it.

Somewhere between 2 and 3 stars - nearer to 3

I must admit that I would rather have heard 'a trip to the fair' in stead of a 5 minute base-solo that really isn't very good.

Nevertheless, this album is a milestone in symphonic rock. At times it's more symphonic than rock though. The music of Renaissance is never very agressive and has a more mellow sound than many others in that period (mid seventies).

Although the recording could technically have sounded better (I think 'A live record' from Camel is much better in that department), musically it is one of the best albums I've ever heard.

5 stars!

Renaissance has in my ears always been one third symphonic prog, one third classical music and one third Annie Haslam. The symphonic prog bit has always been more towards pop music than rock'n'roll so the term "prog rock" does not apply to this band. If this delicate balance is being disturbed, the band tends to falter in my view.

Renaissance has tried to regain the balance on this album, but still falls a mile too short. The album is too much pop and too little prog. It reminds me a bit about ABBA and Genesis at their worst. But the main problem here is the lack of any good songs. As such, this album is only a shadow of what Renaissance was on for example Ashes Are Burning. Same band, probably same ambitions, but the songs are not there. This album therefore falls flat on it's face. This despite of the wonderful voice of Annie Haslam which alone is carrying this album. The piano arrangements are good too, although a bit sickly sweet.

In the good old days; Renaissance was sweet'n'sour. On Tuscanny, they are only sweet. They therefore loose their bite. And I am loosing any interest in this album. This is a decent attempt which falls short in all departments.

2.75 stars

Volume two of the King Biscuit Flower Hour recordings gathers in some of the remaining tracks from Renaissance performance at the Royal Albert hall in London,UK. This concert saw Renaissance performing some of their finest material, supported by a full orchestra.

"Ashes are burning" was already an epic track, but here it takes on mammoth proportions, running to over 27 minutes. The vast extension of the piece is due to some interesting improvisation, including a vocal section by Annie Haslam, and some largely superfluous soloing. I am not averse to a bass solo, and while Jon Camp's one here displays his undoubted talent on the instrument, it tends to ramble somewhat. That said, the track as a whole is a fine prog statement. Three of the four other tracks from the main gig run to around 10 minutes, and as such are much more in keeping with their studio originals.

Since around an hour of material from the concert remained unreleased (after Volume 1), this album generously includes a further two songs. The first of these is an alternative version of "Prologue" performed live. The song was actually included in the RAH set, but it has already appeared on Volume one. This version is from a couple of years later, and is devoid of orchestra. On some versions, this track is missing, with "A song for all seasons" replacing it.

The final track, "You", is a previously unreleased studio recording from 1982 which runs to over 8 minutes. It is not really a hidden gem though, the feel being generally pop due to the wispy melody. The fine harmonies and competent instrumentation do though reprieve the song somewhat.

Note, the album called "Mother Russia" is a straight repackaging of Renaissance "Live on the King Biscuit flower hour Volume 2" album, with the tracks re-sequenced into a different order. The error mentioned above whereby initial pressings had "A song for all seasons" in place of "Prologue" is continued on "Mother Russia", at least on my copy!

There have been a number of attempts over the years to gather together those primarily responsible for the fine music created by renaissance over the years. These efforts have tended to flounder, and the untimely death of Keith Relf in 1976 means that a reunion of the original line up is clearly not possible. There have however been many fine musicians passing through the ranks, so a gathering of some of the great and the good has always been feasible. The sole constant in such a reunion would be the essential presence of the unique voice of Annie Haslam (although even here, Stephanie Adlington made a decent job of stepping in on a couple of Michael Dunford's Renaissance albums).

In 1998, Dunford and Haslam met up to discuss the promotion of a musical based on "Scheherazade". They were subsequently joined by Terry Sullivan and John Tout plus Haslam's husband Roy Wood (of ELO, The Move, and Wizzard). The original intention was to simply record some bonus tracks for an already planned release, but such was the success of the reunion that they decided to record a brand new album.

Ten songs, all written by Haslam (lyrics) and Dunford (melodies), were recorded and overdubbed over two separate sessions. The first session involved the line up described above, but Wood and Tout were unable to perform on the second, so Mickey Simmons (keyboards) and Alex Caird (bass), neither of whom are former members of Renaissance, were brought in to complete the recordings.

The album is a clear attempt to recapture the majestic sounds of the band's heyday in the 1970s. The opening "Lady from Tuscany" has all the tenets of that era of Renaissance history, with time changes, punchy keyboard orchestration and the full range of Haslam's five octave voice. "Pearls of wisdom" features a fine piano arrangement by John Tout, the additional orchestration resulting in a truly majestic piece. Thereafter we have a succession of well produced songs which capture the essence of Renaissance. It would be easy, and indeed churlish, after a single listen to dismiss some of the content as lightweight. To do so though would be to miss the intricacies of the arrangements and the depth of the production. The songs here are brought to full fruition with sensitivity and care.

The album closes with "One thousand roses", a well constructed number in the true prog tradition of Renaissance. In all then, a fine addition to the band's discography which at time of writing sees them going out on a high.

"Tuscany" was originally only released in Japan some three years after the project had started, but it did eventually secure a UK release in 2002. The lack of interest by the record companies has meant that despite the quality of this product and the pedigree of the performers, no further releases have come from this fine band since.

To make matters worse the first copies were defective, with Annie Haslam´s voice not really in sync with the images. Incredibly, one of those came into my hands and I had some trouble getting a new one. After all this hassle, the resulting DVD is really worth it? Well, the answer is both a yes and a no. Yes, because it is really Renaissance classic line up we all love: Annie Haslam (vocals), John Tout (keyboards), Jon Camp (bass, vocals), Terry Sullivan (drums) and Michael Dunford (guitars). the repertoire is also fantastic: over two hours of live music recorded during a couple of shows, one in 1976 and the other in 1979. Unfortunatly the ´no´ part relies on the quality of the the video itself. First of all, it all shot in black & white, believe it or not. Second, the sound quality is far from perfect (although not nearly as atrocious as some bootlegs I´ve have seen of them).

Being a big fan of the band I went on and dug inside: the two shows are excellent. The former is of course the best one since it includes a stronger setlist with fine performances of classics like Mother Russia, Running Hard and pratically the whole Scheherazade suite. The second concert´s repertoire relies mostly on their weak (compared to their previous ones, of course) Azzure D´or album, which, surprisingly, work better on stage than on the studio. And a good version of Song For All Seasons also appears. Camera angles and shots of the band members are good, but clearly nothing like today´s multi camera angles and stuff like that, but, after all, those were the 70´s and good filming of rock concerts were the exception, not the rule.

So, in the end was it worth it? to me it was, since it is still classic Renaissance. If it was at least shot in color, I´d give it a four star rating. The sound quality is only ok, but certainly a big improvement over the ones I´ve seen before. While I´m still waiting them to release Live At Carnegie Hall, this one will have to satisfy my need (and others) to see them live. I´d give it 4,5 stars for the song selection (but the lack of a whole Can You Understand is unforgivable) , 2,5 stars for the sound and 2 stars for the images. So a 3 star rating is fair enough.

The thing that makes Ashes Are Burning a very special album for me is that it's not perfect. The songs' structures seem careless, even crude, and two occasional elements of the sound (chief writer Michael Dunford's acoustic guitar and any time Annie Haslam's wonderful, creamy soprano finds itself sprawling over a male harmony that doesn't really match up) simply don't blend with the album as a whole. And yet, in spite of these inadequacies and crudities, Ashes Are Burning is a spellbinding, compelling album. The music shines through.

Quickly summing up the band: John Camp (stop sniggering at the back) is a jolting Squire-esque lead bassist with plenty of crunch and attack to cover the principal deficiency of keyboardist John Tout's classically inspired, cinematic piano and organ parts. Drummer Terrence Sullivan fills out the rhythm section very capably, if generally unremarkable, and Michael Dunford's sort of limp-folk acoustic is perhaps compensated for by his ability as a songwriter. But we couldn't forget singer Annie Haslam, whose clear soprano has a creamy, luxuriant quality; occasionally, it feels almost too rich, but even then, a real treat to hear. Once saw 'Everything fusion' as a very fitting description of their music, and given their use of an occasional orchestra, strict classical piano, a chugging rhythm section and folk-based writing and subject matters, I don't think I can better that.

And this sound is best off in the opening/closing pair of the album. Can You Understand features possibly my favourite instrumental intro ever, with a gorgeous little piano motif pulsing away under the jarring, jabbing attack of Camp's bass, with all its various elements soaring away and then falling back into a tight, powerful, rich and complex arrangement. Two and a half minutes of the best music ever made. Thereafter, we see variously a rather irrelevant ten-second choral segue; a plain folk tune rolling into a more Gypsy-flavoured chorus, which is then instrumentally developed without particularly striking uses of either Tout's odd-sounding piano or the ornamental orchestra, which then slides back into a more deeply arranged variant of the folk tune with a blaring orchestra and Tout and Camp walking around on the chords behind it and now back to that wonderful opening theme with its parts overrun by violins, cellos, brass. Strangely enough, the intellectually interesting aspects of the song (a sort of abcCBA structure, where the capitals are orchestral) don't seem especially well-realised... the band's creativity seems to have gone out for a smoke whenever a bridge was needed, it flows pretty poorly, and yet, the contradiction of the album is present here: it's just fantastic. The individual sections are a delight, Renaissance are easily the most convincing incorporators of a classical orchestra in rock music (perhaps it's writing for Tout's noticeably classical presence that gives the orchestra something to latch onto), and that instrumental opening is so powerful that even the clumsiest transitions barely slow the song's emotional drive.

Well, since we're still recovering from that one, the sweet ballad of Let It Grow (admittedly, clichéd lyrics, but Betty Thatcher's word choice fits the tune very well) is a sweet follow-up, starring a remarkably calm piano and an absolutely winning vocal from Haslam, who moulds a lovely melody into a nuanced, full, gripping part. Camp, Dunford and Sullivan wander along in the background, and only Sullivan's precise 'leave' (one of those cases where I'd love to know a drumming term) on the end of Haslam's melodies and band presence the cathartic, harmony-laden denouement feel particularly relevant. Very charming, though the instrumentation is often superfluous.

On The Frontier took a while to appreciate. Have to admit, I still find Dunford's acoustic a bit tinny on the intro, I don't think much of either the vocal arrangements (a sort of strange oil-and-water crossing of Haslam and Camp's (I think) vocals) or the lyrics. However, those seemingly essential elements don't really seem to matter that much; the band's instrumental strengths simply outshine it. Tout's lush piano (even his very stiff efforts at jazzing it up), Camp's ability to take up and then fill out all parts presented to him and Sullivan's solid sound and capacity for fills, and a very neat acoustic part on the end secure this as at least a positive impression.

But, altogether excellent, bright and bouncy, Carpet Of The Sun is a folk/pop tune substantiated by the fully-functional orchestra with a fluent harpsichord, an interesting drum part running along behind it, and, indeed. Haslam's vocal is gorgeous, delivering in a suitably uplifting format a suitably uplifting lyric. A song that smiles just about as broadly as this reviewer is comfortable with but which thankfully has very nice teeth. At The Harbour is a strange contestant for my favourite tune of the album; it doesn't boast, it's not particularly stressing anything, it's about the aftermath and not the event. Piano introduction, a persistent, clear acoustic melody, a mournful harmonium and Annie Haslam's beautiful, haunted vocal... it's really an emotional piece, brought out by Thatcher's ambiguous lyrics. Eliot's 'new art emotion' seems an appropriate description.

Ashes Are Burning is the second extended treat for us here, and the powerful closer that matches Can You Understand blow for blow. It's far more coherent in its mixture of folk, rock and classical than the opener... at least, everything patches together very well, the number of great melodies, on celeste, piano, organ and bass is just extraordinary, a number of styles are touched upon but Sullivan pulls everything together into the rock camp, Haslam's lead vocal over an organ-and-pedals about eight minutes in is amazing, pure, powerful, haunting and the driving conclusion with a gorgeous blues guitar solo (courtesy of Andy Powell) is divine.

So, there you have it, a sandwich with the bread on the inside? Nevertheless, an album with a few flaws, real flaws, flaws that really should matter, that is pulled through by the power of its melodies, the individuality of its performers and the willingness to try new things. Something any music lover should take a look at sooner or later, and an example a lot of bands could do with... it's personality, not mere accuracy and thought, that makes great albums.

Rating: Four Stars

Favourite Track: three contestants, of which Ashes Are Burning probably comes out as the winner.

I think that this "side" is better than the first for two reasons: "Can you hear me" isn't here and "Midas man" is. If this last song can sound a little bit pedestrian to Renaissance standards in "Novella" (but not to my ears) it achieve another dimension when played alive. This and the last "Novella" work "Touching once..." marks this disc as being a solid 5 star live album, not only by the (good) diversity in Renaissance's live set but still for the excellence of the performance of their warhorse Ashes are burning and the couple "Turn of the cards" hymns.

An interesting observation: as it seems to be usual in Renaissance releases (read Russ Elliot's - in the Northern Lights page - considerations about the mistakes and confusions on their CD releases), showing a great lack of care and respect to this band, my KBFH CD doesn't have "Prologue" live but... "A song for all seasons"! Lucky I am in owning a live version of their last epic. This makes my CD better than the regular ones but doesn't influence the 5 star rating that this side of Renaissance's KBFH deserves. If you have the opportunity just buy both albums.