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Renaissance

Lionel Richie - Renaissance Audio CD

A fair review of the Lionel Richie "Renaissance" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Lionel Richie reviews here, or go back to the Lionel Richie tabs.

Band: Lionel Richie
Title: Renaissance
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-03-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Angel [Metro Mix Album Version] 2: Cinderella 3: Tender Heart 4: Dance the Night Away 5: Tonight 6: How Long 7: Don't You Ever Go Away 8: Wasted Time 9: Piece of My Heart 10: It May Be the Water 11: Here Is My Heart 12: Don't Stop the Music 13: Angel [Boogieman Remix, Extended]

Dancing The Night Away With Lionel
Then this. Lionel has built his recent career on being a comeback kid,first with the excellent Louder Than Words and after another album there was a gap. I remember for sure how hyped it was. The concept was this was one of Lionel's few solo recordings since the 80's to have a lot of uptempo tunes. That isn't quite what happens here. Lionel gives you a grab bag of tunes that are from many sources and made up the world of contemporary music at the time. There are techno songs like "Angel" and "Here Is My Heart"-well they CALL it dance music but what that really means today is poppified 90's techno-disco. There's a huge emphasis on latin pop here such as on great songs like "Cinderella","Dance The Night Away" and "Don't You Ever Go Away". But this brings me to the main reason why I deducted a star for this. Because of the artificial,cold feeling of the production one gets the impression Lionel was out to get radio hits and gain "cred" with the new generation rather then making a true artistic statement. I am not inside his head but a more organic approch to the production would've been nice:note I am NOT at all against reverb and electronics-I think they're important and necessary especially now but it's all in the way they're presented. The ballads "Piece Of My Heart","How Long" and "It May Be The Water". . . . . just seem to lack Lionel's trademark heartfelt approch. The only cut that is kind of a true dud to me is "Wasted Time". No irony can be lost on the title since it embraces the most clished and promo commercial element of modern Pro Tools/Pop Two-Step hip-hop production that was all over the radio at the time with the whole Destinys Child bit,only Lionel somehow manages to make it sound like TV ad music even if his singing gives the song a humanity the music lacks. One song that really makes this album is "Tonight". Ever since the 70's many funk fans have debated if Lionel's penchant for strong grooves with the Commodores
in the middle part of that decade were genuine or a gimmick to sell records. This track proves it was'nt;it's. . . . . . little mechanical and slightly sterile to be genuine classic funk but being it's the closest Lionel can get to it now and it's delivered believably I can sure deal with it. The closer "Don't Stop The Music" is a more up slice of modern disco-funk and actually has a lot of life to it. So is this a comeback of "classic" Lionel?It depends on what your defintion of that is. Lionel went very very far over to the pop side in the 80's and what made some of his best material at the time was he still had a soulful air to it. After his 90's comeback he gradually lost even that by turning into an AC balladeer. On this one there's an attempt to remedy that with variety. If only sometimes the production was up to the challange. Well there's little use picking knits:this is still very good music.

One of his Best!
'Renaissance' is one of Lionel's best records, this cd is a diverse musical journey, from strong ballads with latin beats, alittle R&B, & dance, and Lionel's voice is great as ever! I feel this cd is so underrated and it should've done better!, 'Don't Stop The Music' great song that could've been a major dance hit, and the wonderful 'Cinderella' this cd is another great addition to the Lionel Richie catalog.

HERE IS MY HEART
. . he tells us; I reply: Don't Stop The Music! This is a REAL RENAISSANCE for Richie! After JUST FOR YOU, I can hardly wait what the next treat is going to be!.

Suzie's favorites
I'll tell you what my story is to those three songs, then, I'll give those
songs a score-take it from me I'm a poet I been writing poetry about 10 years now since 1993 when I was about 15 years old: (1)"Angel" in the song where it say's "when I find myself believing there's no place to go, when I feel the loneliness inside my heart" that's talking about how a girl feels sad trying to take her heart somewhere to express her feelings is nowhere but to take it in prayer to her only-begotten father (God) from up above, and although she is felt in despair all she
wants to did is to cry as many times she wants because she had her feelings hurt by someone wants to find someone else in her family to love she keeps telling herself 'if a heart and love had a pair of wings from getting its feelings hurt, where would it live?'the answer to that question is 'it would be in the arms
of comfort to be encouraged by one's well-chosen words of power of understanding'-I give that a 25, (2)"Cinderella" in the song where it say's "she is a gentle flower" that's talking about a gorgeous prince see's that he hears from her tone that she is graceful and kind to people in the way she speaks to them because she is a princess-I give that a 25, and (3)"Here Is My Heart" in the song where it say's "there's a time in your life for believing that impossible dream in your heart when you find in one magical moment the one you search for from the start" that's talking about an ordinary girl see's her life as nothing all a sudden when she saw the movie "Cinderella" she knew that she was a princess so that girl found that dream that she wanted to be her so she did her dream finally came true look at that girl now she's a princess forever and ever and she saw that her real life is a fairy tale life like an opened fairy tale book that she is the next Cinderella, modern day Cinderella-I give that a 25. The cd is very very wonderful, and I love all the songs including the three songs that appealed my interest. Like I said, I gave three scores for those three songs both 25. I recommend this cd for everyone out there who are big Lionel Richie's fan like me.

AND THE WINNER IS....
(Those are used only for people who can't sing. It's Grammy time! If it were in my power, I'd give the nominees from Lionel Richie's Renaissance the following awards:

BEST DANCE TUNE: Angel was the first hit, and it's no surprise that the producer from Cher's Believe gave it a similar sound but thankfully without the vocoder. ) Here is My Heart is almost technopop, and the very disco-fied Don't Stop The Music will really have you reaching for the platform shoes (if you aren't already tall, like I am)! A couple of songs actually go beyond funk and "old school" and dive headlong into (gasp) Hip-hop! The beat-box influence is strong in Wasted Time and the sultry Don't You Ever Go Away. However, the award goes to Tonight, a good old-fashioned funk jam such as I used to hear when I was a teenager and used to hear Lionel's voice fronting the Commodores. (Showing my age as well as his!) It's VERY hard to sit still with this fun tune with its heavy bass and percussion.

BEST LATIN-INFLUENCED NUMBERS: Enrique or especially Marc Anthony should beg to record either Cinderella or Dance the Night Away! Of the two nominees, the award goes to Cinderella, which I feel should have been the first single.

BEST BALLAD: Tender Heart is a beautiful ballad I'm sure will enjoy a long life on someone else's album. The wistful Piece of My Heart and It May Be The Water both deserve honorable mention. But one ballad in particular, How Long, is not only the one song Lionel Richie wrote without collaboration, it's also the one definitive Lionel Richie song on the album. It not only gets Best Ballad, but Best Song.

BEST ALBUM PACKAGE: Sorry, no winners here! The photos on the booklet and cover of Renaissance look as though a Richard Avedon wannabe took over the design! They remind me of the strange poses on the first Johnny Mathis Broadway album from 1960.

In the category of MOST SHAMELESSLY NEGLECTED RECORDING FOR 2001, the winner is: Lionel Richie's Renaissance! Here is a recording by someone who can write great songs and who can actually sing without infusing every syllable with the electronic tricks and the vocal gymnastics that today's pop music artists seem hooked on. Lionel Richie has a voice that, unlike today's crop of boy/girl groups or any number of young female country singers, is instantly recognizable after the first two notes.

Obviously a student of classic true singers such as Johnny Mathis before him, and Nat Cole before that, as well as of the classic writers like Stevie Wonder and Barry Manilow, Richie has apparently learned that to master your craft, even at the risk of being unpopular, means your career will have staying power in the long run. For that, I bestow the final award of the evening, the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, to Lionel Richie.

Oh oh, there's still a couple minutes left, so I'd like to mention an award that was given before the broadcast:

For failing to recognize the genius in this album with even a single nomination, I award the Grammy nomination committee LIFETIME LOSER AWARD. These are repeat winners of this award, folks. To my mind, there is plenty of single material here for those who care about such things, dance tunes that should go over well in the clubs, and I'd really be surprised if one of these songs didn't find its way onto a movie soundtrack at some point. Lionel Richie has his market. The fact that NARAS can't find a category to put good music in is no fault of his. It's their loss.

You can see a complete list of all Lionel Richie discography, or go back to the Lionel Richie tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.