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The Moody Blues and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord may need crushed them to it, however Renaissance’s Flip Of The Playing cards (1974), Scheherazade And Different Tales (1975) and Stay At Carnegie Corridor (1976) nonetheless stand as shining examples of the symphonic method.
Reissued as a four-CD clamshell field set, these albums are a reminder of the singular Renaissance magic that largely stemmed from John Tout’s Rick Wakeman-like piano aptitude together with Annie Haslam’s agile, crystalline voice.
Unfold over two discs, the Carnegie Corridor present – recorded June 20-22, 1975 with the New York Philharmonic and choir – contains choices from the group’s early 70s albums, together with the elegant Carpet Of The Solar from 1973’s Ashes Are Burning.
However the spotlight is what was then a shocking preview of Scheherazade And Different Tales’ nine-section side-two, Tune Of Scheherazade. It’s deliciously intricate stuff, proper up there with ELP’s Footage At An Exhibition within the prog-classical crossover stakes.
Flip Of The Playing cards was the group’s first LP to chart within the US, and noticed Michael Dunford – who’d beforehand written songs for them – be part of on acoustic guitar. As on earlier albums, their partnership with lyricist Betty Thatcher introduced finesse to uncommon material; therefore avowed traditional Mom Russia, a filmic nod to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s 1962 novel One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich.
Scheherazade And Different Tales is magnificent, too, its 11-minute piano-led opener Journey To The Honest initially sounding austere, however in the end a candy doc of the primary date which started Annie Haslam’s four-year relationship with Roy Wooden (who was at that time fronting Wizzard).
The Vultures Fly Excessive, in the meantime, is a scathing indictment of fickle music journos with excellent chordal modulations, tremendous Jon Camp bass work and hovering Haslam vocal.
An awesome leaping off level for exploring the brilliance of Renaissance.
Working Arduous – The Albums 1974-1976 is on sale now through Esoteric.