So what has Annie done with her five octave voice this time around? To be honest Tuscany was released October 2000 in Japan, followed by a tour in March 2001. A European distributor was only found recently in GEP (Giant Electric Pea). Maybe the fact of the label’s friendship with John Wetton led them towards Annie and company, because a long, long time ago none other than John Wetton joined Renaissance, albeit for a very short period of time, on bass! Cured from that awful breast cancer, Annie and her classically trained voice are back, becoming, obviously, the focal point around which the arrangements have been built. Whilst the most successful Renaissance period always included an orchestra, these arrangements have now been taken care of by both Mickey Simmonds (Camel, Oldfield, Fish) and Roy Wood (The Move, ELO) by using the best samples. Looking at the Renaissance output, the band steered towards a more compact and contemporary sound with their Camera, Camera and Time Line albums, kicking out the orchestral approach in favour of modern synths. In doing so they lost a lot of loyal fans, yet with this album they go back to what they do best, so Tuscany fits in nicely with Ashes Are Burning, Sheherazade and Azure D’or. The opening track "Lady From Tuscany" certainly proves the dynamics are all there, plus the will to create some wonderful flowing symphonic gems. At one point Annie’s voice even sounds very pastoral. Piano and acoustic guitar blend nicely together in order to form the ideal backbone for Annie’s voice during "Pearls Of Wisdom." Although new technologies allow us to reproduce the sounds of practically any instrument, it would nevertheless have been nice to include authentic acoustic instruments such as woodwind, violin and/or cello on this album instead of the synthetic counterpart. In "Eva’s Pond," Annie teams up only with Mickey Simmonds in order to deliver an even more fragile composition, illustrating perfectly that a nice song doesn’t need a huge arrangement. This is music from the soul which everyone can relate to! The atmosphere for "Dear Landseer" is rather medieval, what with harpsichord being introduced, matching Annie’s appropriate way of singing before turning it into a more rhythmic piece with some Bach influences tucked away. "In My Life" is a stunning piece of music with Annie’s voice swimming with the stream, the kind of song that, to me, can go on forever because of it’s gentle nature. Not having heard her X-mas album It Snows In Heaven, Too, "Dolphins Prayer" is exactly the kind of solemn music one would expect around that particular time. Having found new hopes and friends in Brazil, "Life In Brazil" contains all of the charm and energy associated with this country. The album closes with the longest track on the album. "One Thousand Roses" almost sounds like an Andrew Lloyd Webber outtake full of expression and orchestral beauty ending in a very powerful way, like the final chapter of an opera. No doubt the sad days of Annie Haslam are well and truly over and you can hear the joy of life inside her voice. Sadly John Tout could only assist for part of the recording process due to other commitments but Mickey Simmonds certainly has done a splendid job. With both Michael Dunford and Terence Sullivan by her side, it’s nice that next to all these so called Renaissance versions over the years, we can finally enjoy the real Renaissance all over again. Tuscany has never looked better! Reveiwed by: John 'BoBo' Bollenberg TerugThis is the first studio album of Renaissance since
“Time-Line” from 1983. The album was released a
year ago (EMI Japan) but over here it was only for sale in import shops. A few
months ago Renaissance finally found a label (GEP) in Europe to release their
CD. When Michael Dunford and Annie were working together
again, for the recordings (1998) for the musical “Sheherazade” by Michael,
they decided to renew their cooperation with Terence Sullivan and John Trout.
Renaissance gave its name credit. (A reunion which was asked by a lot of fans
for years) When John Tout was no longer available for the
recordings, Mickey Simmonds took his place. His name may sound familiar, as he
worked with Camel, Fish and Mike Oldfield. Especially the work of Simmonds
gives this CD a more progressive sound then the early CD’s of Renaissance. The CD opens with “Lady from Tuscany”, (about a
public affair of Paganini), a song with a lot of keyboard-effects, a lot of
strings and a beautiful orchestral arrangement, (which gives the song a very
progressive character) and off course the indispensable voice of Annie,
sounding fresh and beautiful in every song. She’s still the best
recognisable element of Renaissance. When you say Renaissance, you say Annie
Haslam and vice versa. The CD contains a few beautiful ballads, like “Pearls
of Wisdom”, but especially the melancholic, sentimental song “One Thousand
Roses” is the best that I heard from Annie. The song starts and ends as a
fantastic ballad. In between is a beautiful, symphonic arrangement. “Dolphins
Prayer” is about dolphins dying on beaches all over the world, a warning
from the dolphins to tell us that pollution is destroying the world. A song in
which the despair is present in the voice of Annie, who proves that she still
can reach the very high keys. John Trout also gives his touch to this song
with a beautiful, carrying, penetrating keyboardsound. The up-tempo song “The Race” reminds me the most of
all of the early Renaissance. As so many of the songs, it contains a melody
that stays in your head. The piano and synths of Mickey play a big role in
this melody. “In my
Life” is a calm, senimental song with piano and acoustic guitar. “Eva’s
Pond” is performed by Annie and Mickey, only keyboard and vocals, proving
again that Mickey is a master of sounds. “Life in Brasil” has a latin influence and isn’t
my personal favourite. It doesn’t really fit amongst the other songs. A
little bit too Copacabana. ”Tuscany” isn’t THE Progessive CD of 2001 but finds it’s way to my personal top 25 of 2001. Reviewed
by : Danny Focke |
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