OCEAN GYPSY

Although the title may give the idea of this CD being a compilation album, this is not such thing as we know it. It is a collection of Renaissance songs done by Michael Dunford´s Renaissance in the late 90´s. After not being well received when they put out an album (The Other Woman), Dunford decided to record a CD of reworked Renaisance songs (most of them classic 70´s tunes). The album, which at first I thought was recorded live, showed that if Stephanie Adlington was not another Annie Haslam (and who could have been anyway?), she´s sure the next best thing. she could reproduce some really difficult parts (Things I Don´t Understand, just to cite one) with such confidence and technique you have to rethink any bad judgement (or just prejudice).

The arrangements are good, mostly doing acoustic versions, and production is ok. Two new songs, The Star Of The Show and The Great Highway were quite promising. Unfortunatly there was no follow up that could have maybe erased the bad impression The Other Woman left in many fans (but not in me. I Liked that album a lot). If you´re open mided about Renaissance I recommend this CD, which has some interesting interpretations of their classics. Nice CD. 3 stars.