Renaissance - Midas Man
When somebody asks me about symphonic prog' I always think of Renaissance and specially of this amazing release, Scheherazade And Other Stories, the arrangements, chorus and Annie Hasslam's operatic voice are unique in the musical world and represent by own right what the word symphonic should mean.
Renaissance is a piano and vocals dominated band with elaborated arrangements but sometimes a bit light compared to most of the prog' bands from the 70's, not weak but softer and warmer. Using a comparison with sports, if Genesis and ELP are heavyweights that can kill the opponent with the first chord, Renaissance is like a middleweight, who also needs style and elegance to win the fight.
"Song of Sheherezade" a 24 minutes epic based on the 1001 Nights, it's so impressive that people use to forget the rest of the album, something unfair because this release is well balanced and all the tracks have their own merits.
The album begins with a strange song called "Trip to the Fair" that starts with an impressive 3 minutes piano intro with chorus and light percussion that mixes with talent elements of different musical eras, which is suddenly followed by the wonderful voice of Annie. Maybe the problem with this song is that after the strong opening you expect something more powerful, but the band changes the direction of the song towards a softer and dreamy tune with some jazz chords that create a traveling fair atmosphere, but with the sacrifice of the power that the introduction make the listener expect, a good song but a bit uneven.
The second track ("The Vultures Fly High") has a better balance, starts strong and ends stronger, less symphonic and more rock oriented than the rest of the album but powerful and fast, the band members show they are capable of making good short songs.
Side A (in LP format) ends with "Ocean Gypsy" a softer song where again Annie's vocals are the highlight, with evident participation of the rest of the members, this song is more predictable than all the other tracks but stronger than the previous because makes clear that Renaissance is a complete band, not only a piano and vocals duet.
Side B is what makes Renaissance a transcendental band, "Song of Sheherezade", without doubt their most elaborate work, an epic that has everything, solid piano, good orchestra and chorus plus excellent work of all the band, the Arabic atmosphere is perfect and the vocals not exclusively by Annie Hasslam are amazing, if you add the spectacular changes and sudden musical explosions you get an unforgettable masterpiece that must be listened before reading any review. From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=3023
After a year of no new studio material from Renaissance (only the double album Live at Carnegie Hall came out in 1976), 1977 saw the release of Novella, which I definitely count among the group's finest achievements. Sadly some critics don't agree at all, for example All Music Guide's Bruce Eder rates Novella strangely with two stars only. That beautiful album contains lengthy symphonic epics 'Can You Hear Me?' and 'Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep)' and three shorter tracks, the whole leaning towards introspective and melancholic feeling which may put some listeners off. The Midas Man single has the two shortest songs from Novella, but they are nevertheless very representative of the album's overall atmosphere. It must be quite rare to have a single with both songs this firmly in minor key.
'Midas Man' sees Annie Haslam in a very central role while the acoustic guitar oriented arrangement is kept rather simple. The deeply melancholic and moving song about greed makes me imagine a Renaissance-era group performing in a Medieval church.
B-side's song 'The Captive Heart' is coloured by classically flavoured, decorative melodies of piano. Haslam's gorgeous voice is again the true star of the song, with excellent vocal harmonies in the chorus. While this song is slightly more light-hearted and brighter than 'Midas Man', also it has a deeply melancholic undertone. From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=59181
