The Renaissance Zone

kenethlevine wrote: ^that's great news!  Somehow people have dug down deep and the DVD/concerts will be a reality

Tell you what, I was tempted by the Skype option later yesterday and tried to create a login for myself. But Skye wouldn't connect and I said it will be a lot of money down the drain if this happens on the day of my chat. I wouldn't dare discuss singing with her, though. I mean, it's like somebody learning the alphabet trying to talk to an English major about English. She has said she likes Indian music so I would have probably asked her about specific artists. That would have been a good starting point to build on. And of course about who all her were/are her favourite singers, that sort of stuff.

I’ve, most likely, mentioned Camera Camera as being one of my favourites. There’s something about it that ‘does it’ for me. It’s nothing on their classic 70’s albums, but one of my favourite Prog albums from the 80’s. it’s pretty ‘Poppy’, but complex at the same time. And Jon Camp is on fire with his bass playing, and Annie is perfect as always. Love this album.

While I don't like Camera Camera much, I love the title track. But as well as her voice may have aged, I don't think Annie could sing that anymore. That was a young and supple voice in its prime, shifting registers with monstrous ease. They did perform it live at the time from what I gather and I would love to hear recordings of it.

Edited by rogerthat - October 20 2017 at 05:51

I think she could still do it Roger.  Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking.

^ agreed, she has mellowed and has the wisdom to perform within her limits, which has meant, and will hopefully continue to mean, performances into the future.

Edited by kenethlevine - October 20 2017 at 08:41

^ I know she has turned against their 80s work and that's why I think it would be therapeutic.  As you point out, there is plenty of classic Renaissance inherent in several of the tracks, which could be redone without the cheesy keys quite nicely.  Understood about the geisha issue, and I don't think they can include Northern Lights and Bonjour Swansong in the same set - too redundant.  If Camera Camera is out of her current range, then indeed "Remember" might be the best choice.  They would have to find something to replace the repetitive, uninteresting, and poorly executed outtro but I think Rave could figure something out.  Tyrant Tula has a bit of the Vultures Fly High thing going on, so that could work too.  Ukraine Ways would be a great choice as well.  I like the Russian dance rhythm to it

I guess in retrospect perhaps they should have gone Europop in the 80s instead of synth new wave, but they were between a rock and a hard place, and it's quite possible nothing would have worked any better than what they tried.  They simply didn't have the audience and the marketing push that the big 6 had

What is all this ‘bad blood’ with Jon Camp ??

rogerthat wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: What is all this ‘bad blood’ with Jon Camp ?? It's a long story and one where we don't quite know what all really happened between the parties concerned. Maybe SteveG can throw more light on it but Annie joked in one interview that they would probably kill each other now. They are not getting back ever, I guess, not after Tout too passed away.  Sullivan had already kind of fallen out with them during Tuscany and said he'd rather be long distance friends than work and bring back all those unpleasant feelings.

As noted, both Annie and the late Micky Dunford were mum as to the bad feelings remaining with Camp. The best that I can recall hearing is the hard feelings arose with Camp when he ditched the group in '85 while both Annie and Dunford stuck it out for a few more years. He was the driving force behind Camera Camera and the abysmal Time Line that followed, so I'm sure that didn't help when he bailed, but all that is well known.

Edited by SteveG - October 21 2017 at 07:14