Azure D'or

Annie Haslam, Renaissance | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B00005A48K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,695 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Originally released in 1979, this is the U.S. CD debut with the original album cover artwork. 10 tracks including, 'Jekyll & Hyde', 'Golden Key' and 'Friends'. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite good, if a bit too electronic, March 18, 2003

By 

R. Josef (New Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Azure D'or (Audio CD)

This album, indeed the last by the most popular lineup of Renaissance, tends to be underappreciated by most fans. In my opinion, it's full of strong songs. One reason some people don't like it is that it doesn't contain any long 10-minute epics like previous works. But some of these "epics", such as "Touching Once" or "The Sisters", seemed to be long just for the sake of being long. I liked the introduction of shorter songs.

But the songwriting is stil rooted in the band's usual influences -- folk and folk-rock ("Friends", "Forever Changing", "Kalynda") or the classical/symphonic ("The Flood at Lyons", the rather baroque "Only Angels Have Wings"). Or, combining the two ("Golden Key","Jekyll and Hyde"). And the marvelous instrumental "The Discovery" proves that Renaissance could still hold its own with progressive rock peers like Yes.
The melodies are catchy, the lyrics are always interesting, and Annie Haslam's amazing five octave range floats above it all.

What a lot of fans had problems with was David Hentschel's production. He had produced the band's previous album, "A Song for All Seasons", which gave the band a huge hit single with "Northern Lights". Hentschel, who also produced Genesis at that time, had enough pull to persuade the band to adopt an approach on which guitars, vocal harmonies and especially synthesizers were endlessly overdubbed. This made them sound quite a bit like Genesis. The "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink" style does make the album sound rather stiff and sterile. The songs don't seem to have much breathing room. Hentschel was able to balance better the use of electric guitars and synthetic orchestration with the band's usual acoustic approach on "Seasons".

Once you get past that, though, you get to some really good songs. For those who find ten minute prog-rock epics a bit overwhelming or boring, "Azure d'Or" might be a good introduction to the marvelous sounds of Renaissance. For more seasoned fans, repeated listening will uncover the wonderful lyrics and melodies of these songs.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sheen On, March 23, 2004

By 

Mark Champion "autumnfair" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Azure D'or (Audio CD)

It might be hard to do, but if you can separate David Hentschel's homogenizing production work from the songs themselves you will probably appreciate Renaissance's effort here quite a lot. What Hentschel did was to take out all of the bass and emaciate what could have been. . .well, very pleasingly plump. Hentschels's synthesized sheen renders the album virtually bloodless- - -play this back to back with TURN OF THE CARDS, for instance, and you'll hear what I mean. Yuk. As for the songs, however, no complaints. Renaissance was always a pop band at heart, admit it or not (ever heard 'Carpet Of The Sun'? 'I Think Of You'? 'The Vultures Fly High'? 'The Captive Heart?') and on AZURE D'OR they allow their pop sensibilities full reign. Particularly excellent are 'The Winter Tree' with its gorgeous melody line and chorus, and the melancholic 'Forever Changing'. None of the songs here are terrible by any means, even if Jon Camp cheesily advises that 'Only Angels Have Wings' (hey Jon, how do you explain Mothra?). It isn't as if every Renaissance album until AZURE D'OR were perfect. . .still, David Hentschel reduced what could have been sonically awesome into near-tepid and all-generic proportions. And I sure do miss the orchestra. And the grrahnd piahno. Come to think of it, I kind of miss Renaissance. Say, where's my copy of WIND AND WUTHERING? Hentschel produced that, too. Sounds like he just changed the vocalists and added a Mellotron or two.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A highly underrated album., August 10, 2000

By 

Michael Rawdon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Azure D'Or (Audio CD)

This album is much-maligned by Renaissance true believers, since it replaced their use of orchestral backings on their previous albums with synthesizers, and cut the length of their typical songs from 6-to-10 minutes to about 4. (These changes were actually happening to most prog-rock bands, as the punk movement was forcing everyone to refocus their efforts. Yes also produced a much-maligned yet excellent album around this time in Drama.)

It's still a fantastic piece of work, though. "The Winter Tree" and "The Flood at Lyons" are as good as anything Renaissance ever did. While "Only Angels Have Wings" is indeed rather drippy, "Secret Mission" and "Friends" let Haslam's voice swoop and soar. The synthesizer work is generally fine, mainly because the material was clearly written for it. If there's a problem with the arrangements here, is that the group's impressive pianist doesn't have the opportunity to show his skills.

Azure d'or was the first Renaissance album I ever heard, and it's still one of my favorites.