Renaissance “azure d’or”
/I wrote about a previous Renaissance LP almost a year ago to the day so I looked at what I said, in order not to repeat myself—and I could be lazy, here, and just say “ditto” and provide a link to that one. But, alas, I’m not in the providing a link game (which I kind of despise) so I’ll just repeat myself a little. I picked up half a dozen $3 Renaissance records in a bit of a flurry at my former favorite antique mall $3 bin (he’s since moved to the “boondocks”) just because I could, and due to liking the “Annie in Wonderland” (Annie Haslam) record so much, but I haven’t liked any as much as that, so I stopped before I bought their entire 13 studio discography (though, if I saw the first couple, I might). This one from 1979 seems to be a new tack toward more pop, less fancifully lengthy—and the poppier ones I do like a bit—and imagine they might grow on me if I gave it more repeat time. At least they resisted the temptation to “go punk.” But once again, I don’t love the arrangements and the songs are hit and miss and really, it’s just Annie Haslam’s voice that is keeping me from putting it in the “donate” box. I don’t know if the new approach led to more sales, but they kept the band together in one form or another for more records, over half a century, and they may even still be out there. Also, I do like the title, azure d’or—which is most certainly a restaurant somewhere with small plates. The cover—an abstract blue and gold liquid splash over the starkest white—looks like an ad for an antidepressant, or, okay, I guess a water filtration system. And once again I’ll offer some advice to anyone who’s thinking about venturing into the vinyl realm—you’ll need a turntable—and when buying one make sure to get one that has an automatic arm return when it gets to the end of the record! (I’m reminded of this every time I forget and let the needle sit on the end of the record for like 45 minutes!)
3.6.26