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rogerthat View Drop Down
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Points: 9869 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rogerthat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2018 at 17:40
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I posted a couple of Renaissance reviews for you chaps. I hope you like them.

Wonderful review of Song for all Seasons.  Yes, agreed, that it left them at a dead end and of course they started overproducing all the songs henceforth which was to their detriment.  I also think the introduction of Louis Clark brought too much bombast, making the epics over dressed (just as he over dressed the Still Life songs).  But Annie's delivery saved Day of the Dreamer, that slow verse is the best example of how she can let her voice soar without sounding like she is trying to be loud.  Don't imagine we would be able to hear a Lea Salonga through those layers of instruments. LOL  In the case of the title track, the composition itself was interesting enough that the excessive bombast didn't matter and maybe to some extent helped accentuate the darkness.

Don't really have an opinion on the British Tour release.  Never bought the CD, but found it on Google Play and streamed it a couple of times.  Didn't find it to be exceptional, over and out. 
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Originally posted by Squonk19 Squonk19 wrote:

As album covers go - how does Timeline compare with ELPs Love Beach?

I dunno, but to me both the guys and the gal are better looking than E, L, and P, no disrespect to the departed intended
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Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I posted a couple of Renaissance reviews for you chaps. I hope you like them.

Wonderful review of Song for all Seasons.  Yes, agreed, that it left them at a dead end and of course they started overproducing all the songs henceforth which was to their detriment.  I also think the introduction of Louis Clark brought too much bombast, making the epics over dressed (just as he over dressed the Still Life songs).  But Annie's delivery saved Day of the Dreamer, that slow verse is the best example of how she can let her voice soar without sounding like she is trying to be loud.  Don't imagine we would be able to hear a Lea Salonga through those layers of instruments. LOL  In the case of the title track, the composition itself was interesting enough that the excessive bombast didn't matter and maybe to some extent helped accentuate the darkness.

Don't really have an opinion on the British Tour release.  Never bought the CD, but found it on Google Play and streamed it a couple of times.  Didn't find it to be exceptional, over and out. 

excellent reviews Steve!  Love the fresh perspectives and of course the 5 star rating on ASFAS.
I don't tend to listen to a lot of live albums of my favorites so don't have an opinion on the British tour.
I can say that Live at Carnegie Hall was the only album by Renaissance that a friend of mine got.  Granted it was the only live album available till much much later, but it reflects how the album served as a Greatest Hits package if you will, augmented by the mystique of playing at this prestigious venue
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I’m still on my Azure d’or bender. I don’t get why it gets a lot of bashing ?? The synths, I love the synths, shorter tracks - they still pack a lot of detail into them and they aren’t necessarily ‘basic’ arrangements, they still have a degree of complexity to them. And Camp’s bass playing is STELLAR (as per usual). Annie is beautiful in every way. Just a great album - 4 stars, solid.
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I posted a couple of Renaissance reviews for you chaps. I hope you like them.

Wonderful review of Song for all Seasons.  Yes, agreed, that it left them at a dead end and of course they started overproducing all the songs henceforth which was to their detriment.  I also think the introduction of Louis Clark brought too much bombast, making the epics over dressed (just as he over dressed the Still Life songs).  But Annie's delivery saved Day of the Dreamer, that slow verse is the best example of how she can let her voice soar without sounding like she is trying to be loud.  Don't imagine we would be able to hear a Lea Salonga through those layers of instruments. LOL  In the case of the title track, the composition itself was interesting enough that the excessive bombast didn't matter and maybe to some extent helped accentuate the darkness.

Don't really have an opinion on the British Tour release.  Never bought the CD, but found it on Google Play and streamed it a couple of times.  Didn't find it to be exceptional, over and out. 


excellent reviews Steve!  Love the fresh perspectives and of course the 5 star rating on ASFAS.
I don't tend to listen to a lot of live albums of my favorites so don't have an opinion on the British tour.
I can say that Live at Carnegie Hall was the only album by Renaissance that a friend of mine got.  Granted it was the only live album available till much much later, but it reflects how the album served as a Greatest Hits package if you will, augmented by the mystique of playing at this prestigious venue



I prefer the Albert Hall albums, especially Touching Once. Annie renders it with incredible authority in that performance and the orchestra also performs the music with a lot of energy. The RPO seemed to be better synced with Renaissance than the New York Philharmonic, probably because they had rehearsed together for longer.
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Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

I’m still on my Azure d’or bender. I don’t get why it gets a lot of bashing ?? The synths, I love the synths, shorter tracks - they still pack a lot of detail into them and they aren’t necessarily ‘basic’ arrangements, they still have a degree of complexity to them. And Camp’s bass playing is STELLAR (as per usual). Annie is beautiful in every way. Just a great album - 4 stars, solid.


I don't mind the synths so much on Golden Key or Kalynda but on Jekyll/Secret Mission it sounds very generic. More so, these tracks per se lacked a Renaissance character which was there on the more symphonic Flood at Lyons.
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Tom Ozric View Drop Down
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^ Flood At Lyons had potential to have been a longer track. I can point minor criticisms about the album but I still enjoy it a lot.
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Points: 20478 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SteveG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2018 at 04:25
I accidentally omitted a few key words from the ASFAS text (since corrected) as the captcha police went ballistic on me when I tried to correct it last night. This thing is a royal pain sometimes but thats a gripe for another thread.  I also omitted any reference to the song "She Is Love" but I suppose the review is better that way so I decided to continue to just leave it out! LOL

Edited by SteveG - March 09 2018 at 04:34
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It was a very insightful read !! After my revisiting of the Azure album, ASFAS is my next .
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Picked up another original vinyl version of Novella yesterday.....so I have both vinyl issues from the past...so why release it shortly after the first with  the cover painting  slightly different..?
I did notice one was US and the other UK....so why change the painting? Copyright?


Edited by dr wu23 - March 09 2018 at 07:36
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According to my wife, who did A&R work back in the day, it was all about marketing and little else. Also, Ashes Are Burning had two different covers. One with the band members with warm smiles and the other with the band fronting cold stares. Go figure.

Edited by SteveG - March 09 2018 at 11:06
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rogerthat View Drop Down
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Speaking of artwork, apparently the cover of SFAS was to have had Annie in place of the picture of a pensive lady. But the band wasn't having any of it.
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Points: 8851 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2018 at 22:29
My recollection of Azure D'Or was that the melodies just weren't strong for the most part, not as we had come to expect from Renaissance.   Had they been, I would have forgiven the synthetic coating a lot more.
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

My recollection of Azure D'Or was that the melodies just weren't strong for the most part, not as we had come to expect from Renaissance.   Had they been, I would have forgiven the synthetic coating a lot more.

Well, some of the melodies were alright but the album as a whole didn't come together (something that would continue to be the case in the next two albums as well).  As the band members have all admitted at different times, this marks the point where they started searching for another Northern Lights and once they began making albums with that aim rather than out of their convictions, the songwriting suffered.  So...if you take Closer than yesterday, as you too observed after hearing it live, it doesn't work so well standalone but it's great where it DOES appear in the SFAS tracklist.  That kind of flow isn't really there starting with AZD.  To be fair, there was more integrity in the songwriting for GDV, just that the writing itself was largely not very exciting save Mystic and the Muse which was an incredible modern update on the Renaissance sound.
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:


According to my wife, who did A&R work back in the day, it was all about marketing and little else. Also, Ashes Are Burning had two different covers. One with the band members with warm smiles and the other with the band fronting cold stares. Go figure.
The LP I have is the ‘cold stare’ pressing lol.
Oh, I once had both versions of Novella, but kept the ‘green’ cover, mainly because of the Renaissance logo !!

Edited by Tom Ozric - March 10 2018 at 02:24
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

My recollection of Azure D'Or was that the melodies just weren't strong for the most part, not as we had come to expect from Renaissance.   Had they been, I would have forgiven the synthetic coating a lot more.
Strangely, I feel that Azure D'or has beautiful melodies but only falls short from it's dull production (quite a change from ASFAS!) and the lack of an orchestra on a few tracks that cried out for it. But like Tom, I think it's a 4 star album.
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Points: 8851 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 13 2018 at 12:11
news from the band about the upcoming DVD and an additional concert with the orchestra.  I think I will pass on that one as it's a lengthy drive on a Friday, but I am seeing them sans orchestra in Boston May 10.
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More news, the DVD with the chamber orchestra will be shipping late May.  Here are a couple of AWESOME video samples
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^^^  That's pretty much the first time we're hearing the SFAS intro played this way after...the recording back in 1978!  Unless there were any shows with orchestra backing the SFAS album, which I am not aware of.  No wonder Annie was ecstatic.  Can't hardly wait....
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Points: 8851 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2018 at 11:10
right, I also will have to go back and look at the Union Chapel DVD but my impression is that the quality of the camerawork is better here.  Of course the orchestra is really a game changer in the overall look never mind sound.  I should point out that they played 2 songs to start the show without orchestra - Prologue and Trip to the Fair.  Carpet of the Sun was the first one played with the orchestra.  It was fairly early on, perhaps even after Carpet of the Sun, that Annie was so overcome with emotion that she had to pause before they could continue

Edited by kenethlevine - April 19 2018 at 11:11
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