The Renaissance Zone

Oh dear, Bless Annie and Co. I just watched my DVD-R of the Renaissance Park West gig from 1983, with a very young Gavin Harrison drumming ! Really great performance, typically into the 80’s ‘requirements’ (appearance, track-list, medley od old material....). It really brought tears to my eyes, of joy that is. They still had it in them. Jon Camp must be as good on bass as Chris Squire. Correct me if I’m wrong.....

I'm not part of the "Renaissance fan core group" here, but I love them, and hadn't indeed heard of that Carol of Harvest one. Pretty good association in my opinion. I like it a lot, though it's not quite up there with Renaissance classics, the voice a bit thinner (though still good), the instrumentation a bit less balanced and elegant (though good in its own way, some raw power there), the composition a bit less intricate (though still good, and Renaissance wasn't always at a standard clearly higher than this). Thanks for posting!

rogerthat wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I guess she is in Pennsylvania, which is still in a Covid hot-spot. I can’t help but think of how ‘foxy’ she looked on the Time-Line cover 🤣. Still, she has a lot of exciting Renaissance work on her plate and the current situation isn't helping her any. I could still talk to her for hours, only problem is that I’d be staring at her, wide-eyed and with gaping mouth, but completely silent, as I’d be thinking about all the amazing songs she has sung (Ocean Gypsy, Ashes are Burning, Black Flame, Mother Russia.........so many)   I wish her well - as she said “ we’ll get through this “. Bless your heart and soul, Annie Haslam. This is actually what happened to me in my Skype chat with her.  I had a long list of questions to ask but then I saw her on the screen and was paralysed by awe. But she knows how to chat up people and eventually our convo lasted an hour.

She’s a gem. What we hear on record from Roy Wood, he seems like a tripper, but he was expanding musical horizons.   This stuff is ‘normal’ to them. As humans., we are all very different, with differing ideals. I LOVE what Annie does, and i love what the band creates

Edited by Tom Ozric - May 02 2020 at 12:13

I guess she is in Pennsylvania, which is still in a Covid hot-spot.
I can’t help but think of how ‘foxy’ she looked on the Time-Line cover 🤣.
Still, she has a lot of exciting Renaissance work on her plate and the current situation isn't helping her any.
I could still talk to her for hours, only problem is that I’d be staring at her, wide-eyed and with gaping mouth, but completely silent, as I’d be thinking about all the amazing songs she has sung (Ocean Gypsy, Ashes are Burning, Black Flame, Mother Russia.........so many)   I wish her well - as she said “ we’ll get through this “. Bless your heart and soul, Annie Haslam.

Edited by Tom Ozric - May 01 2020 at 23:36

Tom Ozric wrote: She does seem worried with all of this crap going on. She still cute though !!

well, Annie did post an update on the high def DVD work though it turns out to be more about how much the current situation is affecting her.

^ Warning : Do not tear up whilst listening to Black Flame !!
If and when you make it to their 80’s albums, don’t shy away, I think they’re very good, too.

rogerthat wrote: kenethlevine wrote: yes I have a sense of how challenging that must be from having tried Northern Lights on karaoke.   Suffice to say you did far better than me! But on to other relevant topics.  Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth did a neat video at a famous record store in NYC in which he dug up vinyl that was a big influence on him, and guess which album showed up?  It is between 2:50 and 4:10 or in this video Thanks, Ken. Would love to hear you sing by the way.   That Akerfeldt video got a bunch of people turned onto Renaissance.   Hilarious anecdote there about a drunk Steven Wilson actually asking Roy Wood how was Annie in bed.  Wilson is lucky to have come back alive from that.

Wilson must’ve been plastered. That’s not the question you ask ANYONE. That took some balls.

Check out Live at Carnegie Hall... that was my first album, covers the best songs from their best albums, and for me the versions are better. If you liked Ashes are Burning in the studio, check out that live version... though you might have to get used to the extended jamming in the middle (it goes into 24 min), and how they solved their lack of an electric guitar for the finale of the song (but oh man, is it impressive what they did).

I listened to ashes are burning for the first time last night and holy sh*t, that album grabbed me from start to finish. I'm listening again this morning, this is a masterpiece! Gonna have to deep dive on this band, i've heard Scheherazade and that's also great.