LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL WITH THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PART 2

Renaissance is one of my top 5 fave bands of all time. I just loved it from day one when I was still a young teenager in the 70´s. The reason why it took me so long to write about this CD is that as much as I adore this band they were not however known for having a particularly great live show. Ok, they could reproduce their stunning studio perfomances quite convincinly, but little else. There was not much improvisation and even when they eventually did some jamming it was only on one song (Ashes Are Burning). Always the same song. Besides, they already had a definitive live album (Live At Carnegie Hall), a must have for any fan.

So, this Live At The Albert Hall part 2 is a complete waste? Yes and no. The tracklist brings few new things. The perfomances here a no better nor worse than of those on Live At Carnegie Hall, including a massive 28 minute version of the aforementioned extended Ashes Are Burning. Touching once (is so hard to keep) (from 1977´s Novella) is the main atraction, being a nice live version that was not available elsewhere. The inclusion of an then unissued tune You is also of merit, although it was not one of their best (its original studio take remained in the can for a long time until it was released on the Songs From Renaissance Days). My CD says the final track should be Prologue (recorded on another unknown time and place), but instead we have a quite good live take of Song For All Seasons (from their 1978 album of the same name). It was a mistake, of course, but I really prefered that song instead of another Prologue (already featured on Live At Albert hall vol 1).

Conclusion: nice album. After all it does have a couple of novelties and the overall perfomances are everything you should expect from this great band. Rating: 3 stars. Good, but not really essential.