Airfix Magazine 1978

Reissue of "Out Of The Mist" (1977) and "Illusion" (1978) on a single CD.
Featuring original Renaissance members Jane Relf (Vocals), Jim Mccarty (Vocals, Guitar, Percussion), John Hawken (Keyboards) and Louis Cennamo (Bass), Illusion came together in 1976 following the death of original Renaissance vocalist Keith Relf (originally vocalist with The Yardbirds). Recruiting Lead Guitarist John Knightsbridge and drummer and percussionist Eddie Mcneil, the band assumed the name of Illusion (taken from the title of the second Renaissance album) and signed to Island Records. Their debut album was an updated version of the classical and folk inspired Progressive Rock that had been explored on the first two Renaissance albums. Featuring outstanding material such as "Isadora", "Roads to Freedom" and "Candles Are Burning", the album Out Of The Mist was a fine debut.

Famously tagged as "fascist" in a Rolling Stone review printed at the time of its 1978 release, Jazz does indeed showcase a band that does thrive upon its power, thrilling upon the hold that it has on its audience. That confidence, that self-intoxication, was hinted at on News of the World but it takes full flower here, and that assurance acts as a cohesive device, turning this into one of Queen's sleekest albums. Like its patchwork predecessor, Jazz also dabbles in a bunch of different sounds – that's a perennial problem with Queen, where the four songwriters were often pulling in different directions – but it sounds bigger, heavier than News, thanks to the mountains of guitars Brian May has layered all over this record.

While their subsequent chart-topping albums would contain far more ambitious songwriting and musicianship, the Police's 1978 debut, Outlandos d'Amour (translation: Outlaws of Love) is by far their most direct and straightforward release. Although Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland were all superb instrumentalists with jazz backgrounds, it was much easier to get a record contract in late-'70s England if you were a punk/new wave artist, so the band decided to mask their instrumental prowess with a set of strong, adrenaline-charged rock, albeit with a reggae tinge. Some of it may have been simplistic ("Be My Girl-Sally," "Born in the '50s"), but Sting was already an ace songwriter, as evidenced by all-time classics like the good-girl-gone-bad tale of "Roxanne," and a pair of brokenhearted reggae-rock ditties, "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely."