Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards CD (album) cover

TURN OF THE CARDS

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

4.15 | 745 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars An excellent symphonic prog album!

By now, you must have been familiar with the music of Renaissance where most of the compositions comprise a nice blend of classical music, a bit of jazz, pop, folk and rock into one cohesive offering. I think, the early albums of Renaissance were quite consistent in terms of delivering good to excellent music to the listeners. Most listeners might not feel frustrated with the music because most of the compositions the band made - no matter how complex the arrangements are - the band has always given catchy melody in their songs.

The opening track "Running Hard" (9:37), for example, kicks off with quite complex improvisations of piano in a combined style of jazz and classical music. But when the music enters, the song has catchy melody especially when Annie Haslam's voice enters the music. The opening track is really enjoyable as it moves naturally from one segment to another, smoothly.

The following track "I think of you" (3:07) is a pop-orientated song with some sort of folk music styles through the acoustic guitar rhythm section. Combined with the sound of clavinet, it makes this song richer in textures. The bass guitar lines are quite tight accompanying the music from start to end.

The music moves into more energetic beats with "Things i don't understand" (9:29) which again using tight bass guitar lines as beat keeper as well as dynamic groove that moves the music of this song. The vocal line turns into high register notes during interlude part in a chanting style, while guitar still dominate the rhythm section. It's nice to notice the choir section in the middle of this track.

"Black Flame" (6:23) starts with an ambient nuance with acoustic guitar fills as great soft background and bass guitar brings the music in the smooth flow. Some string orchestration has enriched some segments couple of shots just before the vocal line enters the music. Again, the melody of this song is quite catchy. The clavinet work makes the music much interesting to enjoy especially during the movements with drum work and when it returns to quieter segment. It's one of my favorite Renaissance tracks.

"Cold is being" (3:00) starts off with church organ sound and the melody is quite familiar with most of us. "Mother Russia" (9:18) is a great epic which moves dynamically with the band's brilliant composition that moves the music ups and downs, stirring my emotion. This song is not just wonderful in terms of melody but also in its wonderful flow from one segment to another. The string section work makes the music is richer. Another great song by Renaissance.

Overall, as far as music concern, I strongly believe that this album contains wonderful compositions combining - mostly - jazz, rock, folk in its unique way through the help of orchestra. No doubt that PROGRESSION prog magazine claimed that "Turn of the Cards" is one of Best 40 progressive rock albums. I highly recommend you to purchase this CD. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 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.