Customer Reviews

Anthology

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must admit that I originally bought this CD for the song "Voices" which I've been wanting. After listening to the whole thing, I can say that there are many good tracks here. At times you feel a sense of classic Journey, other times you get a hint of Foreigner or Asia. Very diversified with even a Spanish guitar solo on one track. A good purchase for those interested in late 70's/early 80's rock.

I only ordered the CD because I am such a fan of Santana, and I loved their Zebop! album from 1981. And particulaly the song "Winning." I noticed it was originally a hit for Russ Ballard. So I got this CD, and was really amazed at how talened this guy is.

This is a second album from original Renaissance lineup and I believe it's their best one. Female voice is the most beautiful I have ever heard. She sings so freely. Free like a butterfly. Lots of keyboard and symphonic sounds, wonderful melodies. This is a truly progressive rock album and would be a good introduction to Renaissance music.

For some reason, AMAZON has this cd artist at the top of the listing listed as 'Renaissance' but it's really Russ Ballard's BEST OF/ANTHOLOGY CD.

Russ Ballard is the writer behind the band: Argent, and wrote several independent hits for Bryan Adams, Roger Daltrey and many others.

This CD doesn't have anything to do with the band: Renaissance with Annie Haslam.

The company that produces this cd is named: Renaissance and that is where the confusion is.

I just didn't want anyone to get the wrong cd. These other two reviews are for the TOTALLY wrong cd by the band Renaissance.

This album contains the comprehensive best of a very prolific artist. Many hard core fans will argue that there was much left out, and while that is certainly true of any compliation or anthology album, this one has some pretty amazing gems. Because there are all sort of different types of songs here, ballads, melodic rock and roll, hard rock, AM radio pop, it's all here. And another interesting thing I found was when I got this, there were 3 songs that I hadn't heard before on any album: "Living Without You", "Hold On", and "The Ghost Inside". All very decent tracks not on any other album which that alone might make it worth the purchase price.

Even though many of these songs are on previous albums, this makes a great compact review of what many would agree are Russ's best. I do hope that more people will come to appreciate that very talented man, I know that alot of younger fans already have, and that is great.

If you don't already own the first Renaissance album, then get Innocents and Illusions instead. It is a great deal. It is the first two Renaissance albums plus 6 bonus tracks.

If you already own the albums, this is not worth buying for the bonus tracks. The bonus tracks are 2 to 5 minutes long. Some were demos recorded in a home studio. I don't think any of them feature the complete band. These bonus tracks have been released before on a number of different albums.

This album should only rate 4 stars, by itself. (I accidently put down 5 stars and Amazon won't let me change it). A couple of the tracks are not very good, especially the opening track which sounds like a very dated British pop tune. But, the 14 minute Orbits of Dust might be the best thing Renaissance has ever done.

The sound quality on Illusion is not very good. It has a loud tape hiss that is noticible between tracks and can be made out on some of the quieter passages.

This is the first Renaissance, which has a completely different personnel than the more famous Annie Haslam version. The band was a spin off from the Yardbirds. The band was a cohesive unit when it recorded the first album, which was released worldwide. Kings and Queens got mild FM radio play in the US. The second album, called Illusion, had a sordid history, with band members coming and going. It never got full release and was very hard to find at times.

The music on this CD is very similar to the newer version of Renaissance, but has even more art rock and classical music orientations. The harpsicord is featured a lot, but there are no synthesizers. At the same time, the sound is a little rougher and a little edgier than the newer Renaissance.

Renaissance was started by Keith Relf and Jim McCarthy from the Yardbirds. This is the band that gave Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Pages their starts. Dazed and Confused was originally done by the Yardbirds.

During the recording of Illusion, the band broke apart and some members of the newer Renaissance joined. Jim McCarthy continued doing projects under the name Illusion. In 2002, all the original members of Renaissance (except Keith Relf) got back together and recorded a CD under the name Renaissance Illusion.

Kieth Relf went on to form a band called Armageddon, which was famous for the song Silver Tightrope. They played a unique mixture of blues and hard rock with some progressive elements thrown in. Some of the bonus tracks on this CD set sound more like Armageddon than Renaissance. Armageddon disbanded after the first album because Relf was electrocuted while playing his guitar in the bathtube (no joke).