Some of you might recall that last August I found a pile of near mint Renaissance albums on vinyl. Looks like I reported on 3 of those, but left off just as many including Ashes are Burning. I discuss my history with the band in at least one of those posts, so I'll skip that here. Ashes are Burning is the second album to feature soprano Annie Halsam, and the band's overall trademark sound is more established. I miss the quirkiness of its predecessor Prologue, but I'm warming more and more to Ashes are Burning. The lengthy bookend tracks are the clear highlights for me, bringing a Yes-like progressive rock structure - highlighted by John Camp's Rickenbacker bass work, similar to Chris Squire's. The 4 middle tracks are more geared towards folk and commercial rock, but not really, as they do maintain a progressive rock slant as well. Most of the Renaissance albums continue to grow in stature within the collection.
Ownership: CD: 1995 Repertoire (Germany). Decided to stick with the existing collection CD of this title whereas most of that thrift shop LP find replaced what I had on CD prior. Features copious historical liner notes from noted music journalist Chris Welch which takes it over the top - plus I like the sound of this CD.
Historically I've owned the single sleeve version on Capitol at least twice. It's very easy to find here in the States, with most record stores charging less than $5 for clean copies.
1/15/94; 2/12/16; 9/26/21; 7/16/22 (new entry)
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