The Renaissance Zone

At the show I just saw Annie said they are planning a new album, and that there are still Dunford compositions in the can.

What's wrong with Jon's vocals? "Kiev" is actually one of my favourite songs from Prologue.

He's not the only one to blame for that

I found a copy of it earlier this year but the store also had "Live at Carnegie Hall". It seemed prioritary 

Meltdowner wrote: I found a copy of it earlier this year but the store also had "Live at Carnegie Hall". It seemed prioritary  Yeah, it's one album I'm never surprised to see you mention on the other thread

Yeah, Live at Carnegie Hall is an amazing testament to the band's might.

It's funny you mention Genesis, Ken, because a lot of `Azure D'or' sounds quite similar to the `Trick'-era of Genesis onwards, even down to the drumming in parts. No doubt it was purposefully trying to emulate the popularity of that band, especially considering the producer was also Genesis' man David Hentschel.

Interesting just reading this on the Wikipedia page of the album, I had no idea about this detail:

"Following this album's release, Renaissance underwent major changes that left it with a very uncertain future. In 1980, following a short tour of Israel, both John Tout and Terry Sullivan left the band. Tout (who was dealing with some personal stress due to the death of his sister) had made a major mistake during a concert and walked offstage. After this it was mutually decided that he should leave the band. Terry Sullivan, a longtime friend of Tout's, then left the band as well on principle. On top of all this, the band's label, Warner Brothers/Sire, dropped the group due to disappointing sales of Azure d'Or"

Kind of bums me out learning that...

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Ha, you should have just done what I do, convince myself `Why, I'd be crazy not to get BOTH of them at the one time, saves me traking it down later on'....even if it blows a particular budget I'd planned to spend! Same goes for EBay, combined purchases means cutting down on multiple postage costs, I'd be silly not to spend the extra and take advantage of that! It's strange, I so rarely think to listen to the `Carnegie Hall' album. Maybe I'll dig it out for my last night of nightshift tomorrow.

I bought a fair share of records that weekend

I'll have to give it another listen as well.

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Tout (who was dealing with some personal stress due to the death of his sister) had made a major mistake during a concert and walked offstage.

I wonder how major was the mistake

kenethlevine wrote:  I also thought he was a decent vocalist if given appropriate material, much like the various Camel vocalists.

kenethlevine wrote: rogerthat wrote: kenethlevine wrote:  I also thought he was a decent vocalist if given appropriate material, much like the various Camel vocalists. Well, he has a passable enough voice, I give that.  But no modulation, nothing that would allow him to hold his own as a lead vocalist. I say this because he used to fancy himself as a lead singer and there he was just way off base.  He had absolutely no business comparing/equating his singing with Annie's.  kenethlevine wrote:  Bye and large this was done, and "Kindness at the End" is to me his finest hour, a song which really spoke to me at the time.  I think part of his reluctance to rejoin might be found in the lyrics of that song  "Holding you near is a thing of the past, but my memories exist, and I hope they will last". That is a very interesting interpretation because I believe most of the lyrics for Song for all seasons were written about Roy Wood.  This song was meant to be sung by Annie and she missed the recording due to sickness so Camp decided to sing it anyway.  Somebody who claimed to be a doctor said on youtube that he had had Camp over as a patient and he referred to Annie as his wife!! I wonder if some of the resentment he seemed to have at times over Annie's popularity arose out of unrequited love. It's a long shot but it might explain why he sneaked in to record Kindness at the End all by himself. Might also explain why Annie absolutely won't have him back. I believe Jon was lyricist for most of ASFAS, as Betty Thatcher was limited to the last 3 tracks.  Or perhaps he and Dunford split lyric duty?  In any case they are pretty compatible with the band's gravitas.  I had heard that Annie was supposed to sing "She is Love" but it was in the wrong key for her, but had not heard that about Kindness.  I did hear that Jon played just about everything on the track, and it's likely they never did it live.  I wasn't trying to suggest that the lyrics of Kindness were written about the relationshuip between Camp and Renaissance, just that they are well written enough and resonate enough to be applicable to different situations that one encounters in life

I love ASFAS. In fact, everything from Prologue through Time Line sits fine with me. And it's rare to have such a consistent (for my tastes) output by a band.