Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Renaissance - A Song for All Seasons CD (album) cover

A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

3.75 | 449 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars The Aurora Borealis is in my eyes

"A song for all seasons" is the album which contains Renaissance best known and most commercially successful track, "Northern Lights". This was rightly a huge hit single for the band, but it still manages simultaneously to retain all that is good about their music.

This was the last Renaissance album to have a prog feel although six of the eight tracks are shorter songs with straight-forward structures. For the first time the band brought in a top name producer in the guise of David Hentschel. They also called upon Louis Clark, who had worked with the Electric Light Orchestra, to provide the orchestral arrangements played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The song-writing is dominated by the Camp/Dunford partnership, with long term lyricist Betty Thatcher only featuring on the final three tracks.

The first of the two feature tracks, "The day of the dreamer", is a true Renaissance classic, along the lines of "Ashes are burning". John Tout throws in a wonderful diversity of keyboard sounds, as the piece develops through varying moods. The song cumulates in a majestic Annie Haslam vocal and an orchestral crescendo. The closing title track is the other opus. This 10 minute suite brings together every Renaissance cliché in an excellent cacophony of symphonic excess.

The shorter tracks are fine Renaissance pieces with a reassuringly familiar feel. They are by and large "Northern lights" type songs, with gentle melodies and a moderate tempo. "Closer than yesterday" includes some excellent multi-part harmonising of Haslam's vocals on the choruses. "Kindness" has a rare lead vocal from John Camp, the song sounding similar to the wonderful "Kiev" from the "Prologue" album. "Back home once again" was used as the theme for the long forgotten TV series "The paper lads". Only "She is love" comes across as weak, being a soft wandering love song. "Northern lights" may well have achieved great success in the singles charts, but that does not diminish the majesty and quality of the song.

In all, another superb album from Renaissance, with strong melodies and some well developed tracks. The excellent production and orchestration greatly enhance the feeling that this is a quality production.

The LP comes with a tasteful sleeve, and a fold out poster with four pictures of the same scene taken in each of the seasons.

Easy Livin | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this RENAISSANCE review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.