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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A highly underrated album., August 10, 2000
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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable for its own merits, May 13, 2001
Azure D'or is nearly always compared unfavorably to other Renaissance albums. I often find that people who listened to this album first liked it alot, if they liked the pop genre in which it was made. I was one of those people. I loved the album. I moved on to the others and loved them too, but it is short-sighted to condemn Azure D'or based on how it does or doesn't measure up to the earlier works. Anyone new to the group should know that before 1978, Renaissance was a classical-pop mix, with a bit of English folk, a bit of jazz, a bit of Elizabethan, etc., etc. It was an unusual sound and sophisticatedly crafted. After 1978, the composing was still out of the mainstream (far from punk and disco) but the production was more pop oriented and relied heavily on synthesizers. The music is generally very melodic, with beautiful harmonies. Some songs suffer from too many competing recording tracks, making a muddiness, but that is not true of the whole album. Annie, the lead singer, sounds great, and despite the difference from the earlier albums, the music is still special in its own way.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't judge Renaissance on the merits of this CD!, July 3, 2000
I still clearly remember my excitement in 1979 when I saw this album in the record store. The gorgeous cover convinced me that I was in for a treat along the lines of "Novella" or "A Song for all Seasons." I was so confident in Renaissance that I bought this without having heard a single track.Needless to say, I was disappointed."Azure D'Or" marks the beginning of the end of Renaissance. With this CD the balance of power in the band shifted from gifted guitarist Michael Dunford (the composer of nearly all of Renaissance's great music over their previous 5 albums) to bassist Jon Camp, who wanted to expand on the success of the band's hit "Northern Lights" (from "A Song for All Seasons") by pushing Renaissance into a more pop-oriented direction. The result? A collection of songs that work neither as pop nor as prog-rock. With her operatic 5-octave range, Annie Haslam was meant to sing epics like "Mother Russia" and "Ashes Are Burning," not little ditties like "Winter Tree." Even worse, the production sounds muddy and unfocussed -- a far cry from the crisp sonic splendour of earlier efforts.I give this album two stars since, despite its disastrous attempt to transform Renaissance into a pop group, tracks like "Forever Changing" and "The Flood at Lyons" still convey a sense of this band's power and lyrical beauty. And Annie Haslam's voice is lovely as always. I own this CD, and I suppose every die-hard Renaissance fan should have a copy. But if you're new to Renaissance, don't start here. I say go with "Prologue" and "Ashes Are Burning" first. If you want a sense of their later sound, stick to "A Song for All Seasons."
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