ILLUSION

A very odd album here. The lineup is a bit hodgepodge, however the tone of the album stays stronger throughout. Between simpler pieces such as Love Goes On, and um, Love Is All, we have one of the most fantastic epics from any version of the group, Golden Thread. Jane Relf's operatic vocals make this piece feel so grandiose, but it works. It then leads into a more simpler structure with Jim McCarty providing vocals, sounding absolutely beautiful with quite great lyrics. It has a nice little keyboard break in the middle before ending with a great vocal performance by Jim and co. again. Great song. Next up is Mr. Pine, a song penned by soon to be Renaissance member Michael Dunford. Vocals here are done by Keith Relf soundalike Terry Crowe. The atmosphere portrayed on this song is REALLY great, and has that Reanissance vibe you'd expect. The keyboard interlude is a direct predecessor of Running Hard four years later. It ends off back to the main melody and everyone harmonizing, Good stuff.

Two more tracks worth noting. First is the beautiful Face of Yesterday, really showing how good of a singer Jane Relf really is. A very soothing song, quite simple, honestly not very progressive, but just so beautiful and fits the sound here perfectly. This would later be re-recorded on the 1977 album Out of the Mist by Illusion, which I prefer. Finally, we end off with Past Orbits of Dust, a 14 minute... err... experiment. This one loses me quite a bit. Not surprising as it was quickly made to pad out the album for release.

All and all, we have three standout tracks, two decent ditties, and one polarizing avant garde piece that seems out of place. So yeah. Not too cohesive, but the overall atmosphere is so good I recommend picking it up if you love the self titled debut. Four stars for sure.