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Renaissance - Midas Man CD (album) cover

MIDAS MAN

Renaissance

Symphonic Prog


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Matti
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars After a year of no new studio material from Renaissance (only the double album Live at Carnegie Hall came out in 1976), 1977 saw the release of Novella, which I definitely count among the group's finest achievements. Sadly some critics don't agree at all, for example All Music Guide's Bruce Eder rates Novella strangely with two stars only. That beautiful album contains lengthy symphonic epics 'Can You Hear Me?' and 'Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep)' and three shorter tracks, the whole leaning towards introspective and melancholic feeling which may put some listeners off. This single has two shortest songs from Novella, but they are nevertheless very representative of the album's overall atmosphere. It must be quite rare to have a single with both songs this firmly in minor key.

'Midas Man' sees Annie Haslam in a very central role while the acoustic guitar oriented arrangement is kept rather simple. The deeply melancholic and moving song about greed makes me imagine a Renaissance-era group performing in a Medieval church.

B-side's song 'The Captive Heart' is coloured by classically flavoured, decorative melodies of piano. Haslam's gorgeous voice is again the true star of the song, with excellent vocal harmonies in the chorus. While this song is slightly more light-hearted and brighter than 'Midas Man', also it has a deeply melancholic undertone. It's very understandable that not all Renaissance fans value such minor key intimacy so highly, but I love these songs as much as I love Novella as an album.

Report this review (#2039194)
Posted Friday, September 28, 2018 | Review Permalink
SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Symphonic Team
2 stars "Nothing is worth nothing unless it's made for Midas Man"

An edited version of Midas Man from the album Novella was released as a single in 1977. The single edit is 3:32 compared to the album version's 5:45, and appears for the first time on CD as a bonus track on the 2019 re-issue of Novella from Esoteric Recordings. It's a good song, but as is normally the case with single edits of album tracks, this one offers no real value over and above the full version and will be of interest only for curious fans and collectors. The Esoteric Recordings 3CD expanded and re-mastered version of Novella that comes in a clamshell box is however a simply gorgeous package and the ultimate edition of that excellent album.

The B-side of the single is The Captive Heart, also from Novella. This one is identical to the album version. Both songs are rather low key and therefore not really representative of the range of the album from which they are taken.

Report this review (#2238692)
Posted Thursday, July 18, 2019 | Review Permalink

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