Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards CD (album) cover

TURN OF THE CARDS

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

4.15 | 745 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars ''Ashes are burning'' had a major success in the States, entering the Billboard 200 and reaching No. 171.Renaissance had the chance to play live in the USA for the first time with surprisingly outstanding results, to the point they considered focusing more on the American market than the English one, who ignored them as a poor offshot of the classic Renaissance of the 60's.The band left Sovereign Records and signed with the newly established BTM Records of Mike Copeland.Their next album ''Turn of the cards'' was firstly released in the States on Sire Records in August 74', the English release came late in March 75' on BMT.

This time Renaissance focused on producing a grandiose Orchestral Progressive Rock with dominant string sections, acoustic guitars and piano as the leading instruments, but the vocal lines of Annie Haslam and the shorter tracks still retained an evident ethereal, folky flavor, based on soft drumming, dreamy piano and acoustic textures.''Things I don't understand'' was a regular piece among Renaissance's live gigs but it was recorded properly for the first time, somewhat connecting the early and present sound of the band, revealing strong psychedelic influences among smooth orchestrations and strong Classical flavors with a romantic mood.Despite entering the mid-70's, Renaissance's style remained pretty old-fashioned.The constant use of acoustic movements and the extended use of piano recall mostly of a band trying to become more artistic from the mass of 60's Psychedelic groups, and the delicate use of harsichord adds a very symphonic taste to the music.They attempt a cover of ''Adagio in G Minor'' of Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni with ''Cold is being'', which is pretty great and highlighted by Haslam's dramatic voice and Tout's depressive church organ.''Mother Russia'' is the one track that really shined through time from this album, based on the self-biography of Russian writer and activist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.The band captures the feeling of the cold Soviet winter in a dramatic Symphonic Rock with nice twists between string lines, marching parts and bombastic orchestrations.However the finest piece to my ears appears to be ''Black flame'', led by a beautiful acoustic guitar/organ intro and Haslam's poetic vocals and developing into a charming Piano/Symphonic Rock with polyphonic lines, romantic piano textures and charming harsichord.

Well-crafted album with some amazing orchestrations.Sounds pretty dated at moments for the year it was released and the one-dimensional guitar/piano dual executions are a bit annoying to lead a whole album.On the other hand Haslam's unique vocals, the lovely symphonic mood and the rich arrangements are elements you can hardly turn your back to.Warmly recommended.

apps79 | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this RENAISSANCE review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.