Customer Reviews

Song for All Seasons

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 1978 album by the British progressive (nee classical) rock Renaissance represents some major changes that probably explain in part why I consider this the last really good album by the group. There are eight tracks on the album, a radical departure for a group that had averaged only five tracks per album on its previous three, understandable since the hallmark of Renaissance was always their length set pieces. On "Song For All Seasons" only the title track really qualifies as such. The group also regresses somewhat, reintroducing electric guitars as well as synthesizers into the production mix and actually hiring an outside producer to work on the album (David Hentschel had produced the early work of Elton John).

There are two tracks that make this album worth owning. The first is "Northern Lights," a "single" that represented the group's biggest success in terms of radio play in Britain and their most popular "short" song since "Carpet of the Sun." The song is marked by a final chorus wherein Annie Haslam harmonizes with herself, a sound of which I never get tired of hearing. Similarly the title song, which closes the album, concludes with Haslam's soaring voice holding strong against the thunderous final rush of the orchestra. It is perhaps Renaissance's most symphonic song and if the orchestrations seem somewhat different from previous Renaissance efforts and yet somehow hauntingly familiar, it may well be because they were done by Louis Clark, who did similar work for the Electric Light Orchestra before losing his soul and doing the infamous "Hooked on Classics" albums.

I had forgotten just how good Renaissance were.

I had some albums on vinal and was really after the "Northern Lights" track when I purchased this album.

However all the tracks are strong and the music, production and vocals are all first class.Annie Haslam has one of the great voices and it is put to full advantage on this album.

It does not matter what you call this,"pop", "folk-rock" etc.

The current obsession with a category for all music is not that healthy for all sorts of reasons.
Just accept this is a graet album and enjoy it!!

Well this was a controversial album as for the presence of a couple of pop hits (tasteful at least anyway), but the rest is more symphonic oriented and it can create a magical atmosphere, sometimes melancholic, but tasteful, above all by means of the fantastic voice and interpretation of Annie Haslam ... besides the TITLE TRACK is one of the finest prog efforts of all time, this jewel being enormous!!! There are also pieces of music art at the piano and touching/sensible stuff too ("Opening out" is a typical example) ...this work stands in the same place and it's almost equal to "Turn of the cards", "Scheherazade" ,"Ashes are burning" (the same consideration I have to do for almost the whole stuff by "Novella")

Highly recommended to all the people with good taste !!

I only give it four stars because of a couple of weak tracks ("Kindness" and "She is Love"), but there's enough true greatness on this disc to make even the filler forgivable. Although the album features some eminently listenable 'hits' ("Back Home Once Again" and especially "Northern Lights"), the true masterpieces on this album are the long compositions: "Day of the Dreamer" which begins at a breathtaking pace, only to slow down for some of Annie Haslam's loveliest vocals, and the title track, which builds up to a resounding climax. Alas, this in many ways was Renaissance's final blaze of glory -- with their next album, "Azure D'Or" released the following year (1979), the band began its descent into the world of ill-conceived pop songs -- a sad ending for a band that once played venues like Royal Albert and Carnegie Hall, accompanied by symphonies as they created a *true* "classic rock" sound. But rather than lament their decline, we should celebrate their glory -- which appears in fine form on this outing.

A Song For All Seasons is Renaissance at its creative and musical peak. While the band had released a succession of remarkably consistent albums through the early and mid 70s, this one combines the neo-classical epic themes with a more modern rock sound and transcends the timidity which held back its nonetheless worthy predecessors. This achievement was in part thanks to the production of David Hentschel who also produced some classic Mike Oldfield. The use of recurrent musical themes strengthens the project. The two epics are "Day of the Dreamer" and the title track, and are among the most uplifting and best ever by Renaissance, featuring powerful bass lines, soaring vocals from Annie, masterful use of electronic keyboards, and spine-tingling melodies. "Opening Out" is practically an epic except for its short duration, and "Closer than Yesterday" shows a different side to Renaissance not often revealed, being basically a gentle prog folk number. "Kindness at the End" is Jon Camp with the muzzle removed, with extraordinarily touching consequences, and "Northern Lights" was a successful attempt at a quality hit single. Only "She is Love" fails, but this is easily overlooked given the standards set in the rest of the disc. This is very much a recording of its time, a progressive rock album made in the shadow of punk and new wave at a time when prog acknowledged that it had to streamline but still believed it could compete commercially with simpler and less demanding styles of popular music. If only that had been the case!

This 1978 album by the British progressive (nee classical) rock Renaissance represents some major changes that probably explain in part why I consider this the last really good album by the group. There are eight tracks on the album, a radical departure for a group that had averaged only five tracks per album on its previous three, understandable since the hallmark of Renaissance was always their length set pieces. On "Song For All Seasons" only the title track really qualifies as such. The group also regresses somewhat, reintroducing electric guitars as well as synthesizers into the production mix and actually hiring an outside producer to work on the album (David Hentschel had produced the early work of Elton John).

There are two tracks that make this album worth owning. The first is "Northern Lights," a "single" that represented the group's biggest success in terms of radio play in Britain and their most popular "short" song since "Carpet of the Sun." The song is marked by a final chorus wherein Annie Haslam harmonizes with herself, a sound of which I never get tired of hearing. Similarly the title song, which closes the album, concludes with Haslam's soaring voice holding strong against the thunderous final rush of the orchestra. It is perhaps Renaissance's most symphonic song and if the orchestrations seem somewhat different from previous Renaissance efforts and yet somehow hauntingly familiar, it may well be because they were done by Louis Clark, who did similar work for the Electric Light Orchestra before losing his soul and doing the infamous "Hooked on Classics" albums.

1978's "A Song For All Seasons" is another beautiful treasure from Renaissance. As usual with Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford and company, the songs, arrangements, performances and production on display here are simply gorgeous. "Opening Out," "Day Of The Dreamer," the British hit single "Northern Lights", and the title song....simply outstanding classical/folk/rock that touches your very soul. Great producing job too by David Hentschel, who, not surprisingly, also produced Genesis during this period (which may also explain why the instrumental bridge in "Day Of The Dreamer" sounds so uncannily like Genesis---though I'm certainly not complaining!). As you can tell, I love this band. "A Song For All Seasons" is a wonderful Renaissance album.

Due to extremely limited airplay in my town of this band, I didn't know about them until a friend turned me onto them in the early to mid 80's. When I heard Ashes Are Burning it immediately became my favorite song of all time and this group was the greatest thing in music to me. I've been backtracking ever since to collect all of their music. They have albums that are masterpieces, albums that are good and one album that is not much to speak of (Timeline.) This album seems to be the end of orchestration before they relied totally on Synthesizer for their final albums. This album is between good and masterpiece. If you like progressive rock with a more acoustical guitar sound rather than the more driving electric of Yes etc, then this is for you. This band also has the beautiful 5 octave range voice of Annie Haslam to lead it. Most people point out A Song for All Seasons, and Northern Lights as the standouts from this album, but I also loved "Day of the Dreamer". Everything here is good/great and I recommend it to those who like it when classical sounds and good melody meet with rock music.

First, the negative: What were they thinking? Talk about being "unclear on the concept" - Annie ISN'T the lead singer on 2 of the 8 songs! Track 4, Kindness (At The End) and track 6, She Is Love, both leave Annie completely out. That wouldn't necessarily be bad, except that Jon Camp does sing - and he's terrible! It's like owning a Ferrari, a Corvette, and a Jaguar, but taking the bus to work! At least Kindness has a great musical intro, but at 1:04 in, go to the next track! Skip track 6 completely - it's total garbage.

The rest of the album is wowser! The title track is great, and Northern Lights, while more pop than rock, is always good. Annie does a very good job with Closer Than Yesterday - it's easy to hear how her voice has matured from album to album. However, the 3 songs that make this album are tracks 1,2, and 5.

#1, Opening Out, is hauntingly beautiful, and the perfect lead-in to track 2 (more on that in a moment). Track 5, Back Home Once Again, has an almost calypso feel that took me completely by surprise - but then I couldn't stop playing it over and over! The gem of this album is track #2, Day Of The Dreamer. The orchestration alone was enough to give me chills, and the passion expressed by Annie's voice sent me over the top! It may well be the single best song Renaissance ever recorded; in many ways, the culmination of their art.

While I wish this were only a 6 track album, it's essential to all Renaissance fans. It's the last album with the "classical" lineup, which makes it all the more bittersweet. Enjoy!

Though "Novella" is overall a more consistently strong album, "Song for All Seasons" has more variety due to it having 9 songs, rather than 5. The longest songs - the title track and "Day of the Dreamer" - provide the rich, intricate stylings that Renaissance fans enjoy. "Kindness (at the End)" features the occasional singing of bassist Jon Camp. "Closer Now Than Yesterday" is a pleasant acoustic track. "Northern Lights" is a more pop-oriented track, but is still interesting and very appealing.

Overall the album has a bit of a Genesis (circa 1977-78) sound to it, partly due to producer David Hentschel. And that is a good thing.

This isn't the last great Renaissance though! The following album ("Azure d'Or") is great too, though having shorter songs...

JR