Illusion - Enchanted

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Illusion was sort of a "sequel" band to the original lineup of Renaissance. In 1977, the surviving original Renaissance members -- singer/songwriter/guitarist Jim McCarty, vocalist Jane Relf, keyboardist John Hawken, and bassist Louis Cennamo -- added lead guitarist John Knightsbridge and drummer Eddie MacNeil to form Illusion. The band recorded two excellent progressive rock albums, "Out of the Mist" and "Illusion" (now both on the CD "The Island Recordings"). Unfortunately, they ran headlong into the Punk and New Wave acts that were then sweeping through British rock, and they were let go by Island Records. "Enchanted Caress" consists of demos, produced by Jim McCarty, which were used to try and get a new record contract for the group. After hearing them, it easy to understand why they weren't able to do so. While some progressive bands (like Yes and Renaissance) responded to New Wave pop by trying to adopt that sound, McCarty decided to try and give the group a sound that we would call adult contemporary/MOR today. Illusion certainly recorded some attempts at commercial love songs on their two albums, but they were produced with the same full, rich arrangements (dominated by Hawken's lush keyboards)as the group's longer, more prog material. Here, we get three minute pop songs with bland playing and trite lyrics, like "Getting into Love Again", "You are the One" and "Nights in Paris". The fact that these are demos excuse, in part, the lack of any instrumental excitement (and rumor has it that Hawken may actually not be on these demos), but not totally. The obvious attempt at commercial songwriting precludes any instumental stretching. The biggest attraction for many people to Illusion was the beautiful alto vocals of Jane Relf, but even she can't elevate the mediocre material. The closest track here to the classic Illusion sound is "The Man Who Loved the Trees", with a fairly intricate piano part and an emotional Jane Relf vocal. The other two most worthwhile tracks aren't even Illusion tracks, strictly speaking. John Knightsbridge turns in a hard rock arrangement of Richard Rodgers classic "Slaughter on 10th Ave." that is interesting (even if it may be patterned after Mick Ronson's version). And the CD concludes with the last recording of Renaissance founder Keith Relf, who died before Illusion formed. "All the Fallling Angels" is a haunting ballad which sounds oddly like a track from David Bowie's "Space Oddity" phase, and easily outclasses the rest of this material.

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Tracklist
01 Nights in Paris McCarty 3:13
02 Walking Space McCarty 3:59
03 The Man Who Loved the Trees McCarty 3:28
04 Getting into Love Again McCarty 3:33
05 As Long as We're Together McCarty 3:42
06 Slaughter on Tenth Avenue Rodgers 3:28
07 Living Above Your Head McCarty 2:54
08 Crossed Lines McCarty 3:18
09 You Are the One McCarty 4:01
10 All the Falling Angels Relf 5:26

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