The Renaissance Zone

ahhhh..

next time I see her I will have to muster the courage to try to meet her

^very nice

Mixed views. On the one hand, Annie vocalising in place of the guitar solo works beautifully (less so in Carnegie Hall than say Ashbury Park, NJ 1979). On the other hand, turning one of their most soulful compositions into a showboat fest with extended keyboard and bass solos wasn't such a great idea.

Oh, if we are talking in general then yes a vast majority of their tracks sound better live than in the studio. Notably the Albert Hall performances of Novella tracks. Then on YT there's a Capitol theatre performance of Things I don't understand. Last year in Israel Annie sang Ocean Gypsy better than ever. Carpet of the sun is way better live etc etc.

Winter Tree could have still charted had they filled out the sound. Like when Annie sings "I'll go back there" and sustains the last word it kind of sounds flat. Backing vocals and/or more accompaniment would have helped. Even Warner Bros didn't help their production, seemingly.

fudgenuts64 wrote: Man, I have The Winter Tree playing now and I forgot how much I loved this song. Should have charted better. I mean, it's just a folk pop song but the bass is so good and the chorus is inescapable really. As much as I love the output from 72-79, I feel like had they tried a more commercial approach earlier in the decade they might have made it big. By 1979 though an album like Azure d'Or appealed to very few listeners.

Azure d'Or isn't a complete wash. I can put it on once in a blue moon for a warm, fuzzy listening experience.

Nice music!  As for the vocals, she/they sound accomplished alright but I am personally not fond of the operatic 'ouiiii' syllable.  It always surprised me that in spite of learning singing from an opera instructor, Annie emphasised more of an 'aaaa' syllable which agrees more to my Hindustani moorings, I guess.  A good example is when she sings "Emotion smoulders, starts to burn in hAAArmony" in Touching Once; would have expected a classically trained singer to inflect that ouiii sound there.   I am (still) looping Bent Knee's Shiny Eyed Babies which is as different as it gets from Renaissance.

Edited by rogerthat - February 04 2016 at 10:08

There is a way in which operatic sopranos modify the vowel sounds to produce a more open tone.  This sound is the same that you hear on the last sustained ScheherazAAAde.  But Annie uses that sound very sparingly.

Oh man, that's a tempting review.  But with the greenback appreciating so much, it's going to cost a bomb what with overseas shipping charges. :(  Let's see, parking this for the time being, maybe couple of months down the line I will bite the bullet.