PROLOGUE

This is the first Renaissance album with Annie Haslam on the lead vocals. It is definitely a complex & refined piano oriented album, although the tracks are loaded with other instruments. The electric and acoustic guitars do not take so much room. The bass is not as powerful & bottom as on the next album "Ashes are burning", but it must all the same not be neglected. And more, this bass is very well played and quite refined. The other musicians provide excellent backing vocals, and Annie often just gracefully sings without word. The style involved is baroque piano. There are no orchestral arrangements. Surprisingly, apart the piano, the keyboards seem to be very rare here. The very good drums are used about 50% of the time. The last epic track, Rajah Khan, having much less piano, more guitar, has some irritating parts, like the psychedelic intro, made of unpleasant electric guitar sounds (Is the end a copied Ravel's Bolero part?). That is why I remove 0.5 star.

Rating: 4.5 stars