PROLOGUE

The first album with Annie Haslam, and thus of the "classic" lineup, this album is a mixed bag. Interestingly, they sequenced the tunes basically in order of their quality, from best to least. So, the first song "Prologue" is the best, and would become a staple of their live shows (as evidenced on the album Live at Carnegie Hall, etc). "Kiev" is the second-best song, and also very worthy of the Rennaissance name (would have been nice to hear this live too!). The first two tunes are the reason for getting this album. Songs 3 and 4, "Sounds of the Sea" and "Spare Some Love" are nice, decent pieces although nothing necessarily worth writing home about, with 'Sounds' slightly better (but 'Spare' has its own charm too). The second-last tune, "Bound for Infinity" is fine - you don't feel a need to skip it, but it is clearly inferior to the previous pieces. The closer, meanwhile, starts off with some promise, with an interesting guitar into, and then moving into an interesting theme. But...that's it, nothing else to it, no real vocals, its just filler, ending the album on an unsatisfying note. So, the experience of listening to this album is one of elevated expectations after the first song, which are then deflated with each subsequent track. Also, while Annie Haslam is on this album, she doesn't yet shine here like she will on subsequent albums. Despite this, the average quality is sufficient to garner this album three stars - as I mentioned, the first two tunes make it worth getting. I give this album 6.9 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to (mid) 3 PA stars.

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