ASHES ARE BURNING

This fourth album by Renaissance remarked critical milestone in the band's music career where they had successfully crafted their position as a folk-based band with strong classical and orchestral orientation. If you follow the band's career track you might find that musically this album was much matured in composition than their first three albums : self titled (1969), Illusion (1970) and Prologue (1972). Through this album the band's love to orchestral arrangements has become so obvious.

And as a matter of fact, if you were there in the seventies, you might have found that there were minimum similarities from one band to another. Each band sounded unique musically. You would not be able to compare Genesis against Yes, ELP against Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull against Gentle Giant. Why? All of them are already unique in themselves. The situation was different in the 80s onward when, I think, music styles have proliferated in many dimensions; some new bands take influence from their predecessors. But again talking about 70s, Renaissance music was really original and its influence was not that much in other newer bands as compared to Genesis or ELP. But lately you might find some Ritchie Blackmore's solo albums were heavily influenced by Renaissance.

Why do I need to give that long background as I describe above? I just want to put things into perspective. To be specific, I don't think it's fair to compare vintage album like Renaissance with today's music records as they are different in era and different in technology. And I do believe that technology does matter in music progression. This is to state clearly that I don't want to compare this album with complex and heavy music such as Dream Theater because they represent different era. So when I review 70s album I tried to bring myself as close as possible in the era when the album was released, i.e. in the 70s. I know that at that time "Ashes Are Burning" was released I was more interested in Genesis and Yes, emotionally, than any album of Renaissance. But it does not mean that Renaissance is bad, isn't it?

So, how do I score this "Ashes Are Burning"?

I am not going to do a detailed track by track review but as far as opening track "Can you understand" (9:49) the band demonstrated a great opening through the sounds of piano followed with floating music in medium tempo, augmented by tight and dynamic bass lines. The music flow sounds really natural and it brings you to the end of the song without getting noticed about it since the arrangements are good. During the vocal line, the main rhythm is an acoustic guitar. It's really nice, especially when Annie Haslam delivers her excellent voice.

The next track "Let it grow" (4:15) is quite pop in nature. But the voice of Annie Halsam moves brilliantly with acoustic guitar rhythm section as well as piano. Nothing truly compelling (emotionally) that I got from this song but for sure this one is quite accessible to many ears because it's simple in composition. While on the next track "On the frontier" (4:53) I can see more curved lines in the music styles plus some interesting breaks or bridges where piano as well as bass guitar provide excellent solo. Of course, the solo is not as dynamic as Chris Squire's "Heart of The Sunrise" thing but it's still interesting to enjoy.

"Ashes are burning" (11:24) could have been considered as an epic track if we look at the duration of the song. However, it's not really the duration that makes it like an epic, the structure of the song reminds us to a song with particular theme - regardless what the story is. Musically, the composition is tight, blending nice melody, excellent acoustic guitar and piano work, plus excellent Annie Haslam voice. The interlude part is truly excellent - especially when there is a vibraphone work and keyboard solo, augmented and continued with piano solo. It's really nice and memorable.

Overall, this is a true excellent vintage prog album that you should not miss if you want to know and experience the whole spectrum of progressive music in the past. Well, at least you must be aware that legendary prog bands were not just Genesis, Yes, PFM, Pink Floyd etc. I know, Renaissance has never been said as one of influential legendary bands. But that's okay, as long as you still have a strong passion to understand this album. Highly recommended. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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