ASHES ARE BURNING

Renaissance gets a little attention but not nearly as much as they ought to. Their sound to me is one of the most truly symphonic. Their melodies and harmonies are perfectly constructed and beautiful. The vocalist for Renaissance is easily one of my favorites in all prog. The crystal clear notes and ranged soaring ability are second to none. Ashes are Burning is a favorite of mine. Six tracks all of superb quality, except maybe track five.

The album begins with 'Can You Understand', a great opening track. The introduction piano feature is awesome and is representative of the crisp and melodic piano work prevalent in all their work. This section is followed by a soft acoustic guitar strum that segueing into Haslam's beautiful voice. Overall very representative.

Track two is very pretty. A encouraging song about nurture, support and optimism that accompanies the pretty instrumentation. One of my favorite on the album. I especially like the piano chords that immediately follow the lyrics 'taking time to let it grow'.

The last song of the 'A' side, 'On the Frontier' is a little deeper and emphasizes sounds more associated with progressive music. The song has more distinct segments than other tunes on the album and the transitions are often wrought with atypical rock themes (a.k.a. prog themes.)

Flipping the vinyl we get 'Carpet of th Sun'. This is one of the finest compositions. A miraculous blend of classical and rock music, albeit heavier on the rock side, like all prog. This was the first song on the album I began to love from the first listen. Incredibly agreeable - in fact it's catchy. I know that's a no-no in prog but I've listened to the album 13 times since I first got it in November and I still adore it. Not sure what it's about, like many of the songs, but it's gorgeous.

At the Harbor is the black sheep of the album. Not a bad song, not a good song. Doesn't really deter from experience. It features lots of songle instruments playing or oftentimes two, but rarely does it layer the production as most Renaissance songs do.

Finally we come to the title track, 'Ashes are Burning'. Indisputable proof that the band is progressive. Featuring a variety of segments from softer vocal melodies to harder pressing chord progressions of both piano and bass guitar to soaring guitar lines. All members of the band are in top form. This is the exact type of song I'd love to see in concert.

The strength of Ashes are Burning are the compositions. A very crisp and articulate album never trying to focus on experimentation over well written material. This is one of my favorite progressive rock albums. It's melodies would also lend themselves to listeners outside of the progressive realm.