A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS

A song for All Seasons is the first Renaissance to disappoint me. The band simply falls flat on this one. The sound is trying to get too refined, too Broadway show tunes like (which, come to think of it, Annie Haslam has a pretty awesome Julie Andrews-like voice!) Gone are the clear, untreated instrumental tracks, here are the glitzy production songs. And using special effects on the pristine voice of Anne HASLAM is like committing blasphemy! Gone are the amazingly engaging melodies, everything just feels over-the-top, as if the band is trying too hard. And there is so much repetition of old tricks--rhythms, riffs, structures, melodic hooks--everything sounds familiar--like hoge-podge, will-nill splices of old song pieces. There are a few--a few--magical moments, but not enough to make any single song call me back. Too bad.