I'm somewhat surprised that there isn't a Renaissance forum on this site. Like Yes they have a classic 5 person line up from about 1971-1979 with superb albums- then a forgettable and regrettable attempt to be contemporary in the 80s with two underwhelming albums as a new-wave/romantic trio. The lead singer Annie Haslam should be familiar to Yes fans through her collaborations with Steve Howe and their bassist, Jon Camp was an amazing Rickenbacker user similar in style to Chris Squire. At one point he was mooted to sub for an ailing Tony Levin for what became the ABWH live Yes Music show, which went to Jeff Berlin. No disrespect to Jeff- an amazing bass player, but IMHO, Jon would have been a better fit style wise and vocally. If asked to describe them, I often say, cross Yes with the Seekers and you get Renaissance!
-
-
Annie often posts on Roger Dean's FB page. And will appear at John Wetton's memorial soon. So. Shall investigate. Have heard the collab with Steve. Also. I love Christine Booth from Magenta.
______________________________________
GONE THE DARK AND SELFISH WAY -
Yes, Renaissance surely should have a place here.
I like them for many reasons, one being that besides Yes they’re the only prog band I can think of that had playing and singing beautiful music as their prime motive and (almost) zero theatrics and sarcasm thrown in the mix.Comment
-
I love Renaissance!Comment
-
They're a magnificent band. Jon Camp's bass is great.Comment
-
I must have been the only guy in my town to like Renaissance back around '78. I had the poster from Song For All Seasons on my wall. My job was at a record store whose hippie image went well with that sort of band, and they didn't sell, but it was fun to tell about of this female singer who comes on stage on a white horse, slides down, and starts singing (Mad Sq Garden, I think). Anybody'd like that. Scheherazade live is still quite loud and theatric. Proud to be an old fan.Comment
-
I think that your phrase "playing and singing beautiful music" is spot on. The track "The Captive Heart" from Novella, is possibly one of the loveliest tracks I've ever listen to. "Midas Man" from the same album, is heavy without any histrionics! The 7/8 section in "Day of The Dreamer" from A Song for All Season's is just so well done! Pretty much every album has several standout tracks! ( not counting the first incanarnation of Renaissance with McCarty and Relf, plus the last 2 1980s albums) They should have been much more successful in the 70s! I also forgot to mention that there is a further Yes connection with Tom Brislin having played with them on tour, and another 1-once removed connection with John Wetton having played bass for a short time for them in the the very early 1970s-Comment
-
I never got into Renaissance, they are one band I wish I had. Love Annie Haslam's voice.
One of my roommates (very long ago when I had to have roommates) was into Renaissance and I think they may have played something from "Novella". Somehow I got the idea they were a Christian Rock band! I guess it was because of the original US cover, which even Wikipedia says the band thought looked like a nun on the cover. 🤣
I do have a couple of the 70s albums as MP3s, so I'm giving "Prologue" a play right now.Jeff Tiberius Grey Wolf
My hovercraft is full of eels
Comment
-
My introduction to Renaissance was when I was in high school in 1975 or 1976, sometime after Scheherezade and Other Stories was released. Our foreign language classroom had this rig that the teacher could lower from the ceiling to provide a headset to every student. For certain exercises, we would don the headset, listen to a native speaker of the language, and try to imitate the pronunciation as exactly as possible, while the teacher listened from her headset at the master console. When we had normal written tests, students could bring in albums and the teacher would lower the rig and we could listen to the album while we took the test (pretty darned cool, right?). One day someone brought in Scheherezade and Other Stories, and I was very taken by A Trip to the Fair. For some reason I didn't check to see what the album was. I guess it would've been immaterial, as I wasn't buying albums then. (A lot has changed then; just today I received my 2700th CD album, the 1991 box set from Crosby, Stills, and Nash. But I digress....)
Flash forward many years to the early 21st century. I was thinking about that cool song I'd heard in high school and wondering what it was. With that lyric of "a trip to the fair, and nobody was there" in my brain and Google at my fingertips, I found out and got that album soon afterwards. It remains my favorite Renaissance album due to its personal story for me, but I have all of what I guess would be considered the classic ones, from Prologue through Azure d'Or. All of those have been rereleased in the past few years in remastered editions with bonus tracks, sometimes multiple discs of bonus tracks.Comment
-
RENAISSANCE
1969
First time listen.
Pre-Haslam. Pastoral/classical/jazzy bright prog. Piano very central. Reminds me of 6 Wives because of that. Damn listenable. After a deep dive I took into Canterbury scene, where a few were a tough listen. This is bright and diverse.
Will do them one by one. From here.
______________________________________
NIGHT CAME CALLING FROM FOREST MISTComment
-
THE DEEP DIVE CONT: ILLUSION
Renaissance 1970
Originally only released in Germany.
Again piano-led pastoral and bright prog. Lovely harmonies. YESheads would dig this. Complex surprisin' and original arrangements. DBAheads would dig this. And Annie Haslam still hasn't arrived!
______________________________________
ALL FOR THE TRAGIC. KARMACHROMATICLast edited by Gilly Goodness; 07-05-2023, 07:10 PM.Comment
-
SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES
Rennaisance
Jumped to 1975 to hear Scheherazade and Other Stories. To hear Annie.
Enchantin' stuff. Love it!!! Again piano-led folky Prog. Wonderful orchestrations that do not fight with any electric guitar.
Annie Haslam's strong voice flies above some tasty ensemble playin' . Always melodic. Often surprisin'.
Clannad? Hold my beer. May have found a new fave band. 😁
Fun fact : Tony Cox did the orchestral arrangements for this and Time and a Word. Yes could only afford the Royal College of Music strings while Renaissance got the London Symphony.
_______________________________________________
ACROSS THE POLAR BLUE TWILIGHTLast edited by Gilly Goodness; 07-12-2023, 04:51 PM.Comment
Comment