Renaissance
The history of Renaissance is essentially the history of two separate groups, rather similar to the two phases of the Moody Blues or the Drifters. The original group was founded in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds members Keith Relf and Jim McCarty as a sort of progressive folk-rock band, who recorded two albums (of which only the first, self-titled LP came out in America, on Elektra Records) but never quite made it, despite some success on England's campus circuit.
The band went through several membership changes, with Relf and his sister Jane (who later fronted the very Renaissance-like Illusion) exiting and McCarty all but gone after 1971. The new lineup formed around the core of bassist Jon Camp, keyboard player John Tout, and Terry Sullivan on drums, with Annie Haslam, an aspiring singer with operatic training and a three-octave range.
Their first album in this incarnation, Prologue, released in 1972, was considerably more ambitious than the original band's work, with extended instrumental passages and soaring vocals by Haslam. Their breakthrough came with their next record, Ashes Are Burning, issued in 1973, which introduced guitarist Michael Dunford to the lineup and featured some searing electric licks by guest axeman Andy Powell. Their next record, Turn of the Cards, released by Sire Records, had a much more ornate songwriting style and was awash in lyrics that alternated between the topical and the mystical.
The group's ambitions, by now, were growing faster than its audience, which was concentrated on America's East Coast, especially in New York and Philadelphia -- Scheherazade (1975) was built around a 20-minute extended suite for rock group and orchestra that dazzled the fans but made no new converts. A live album recorded at a New York concert date reprised their earlier material, including the "Scheherazade" suite, but covered little new ground and showed the group in a somewhat lethargic manner. The band's next two albums, Novella and A Song for All Seasons, failed to find new listeners, and as the 1970s closed out, the group was running headlong into the punk and new wave booms that made them seem increasingly anachronistic and doomed to cult status.
Their '80s albums were released with less than global or even national fanfare, and the group split up in the early '80s amid reported personality conflicts between members. During 1995, however, both Haslam and Dunford made attempts to revive the Renaissance name in different incarnations, and Jane Relf and the other surviving members of the original band were reportedly planning to launch their own Renaissance revival which, if nothing else, may keep the courts and some trademark attorneys busy for a little while.
© Bruce Eder /TiVo
-
Tour 2011: Live in Concert (Live, Keswick Theatre, Glenside, Pennsylvania, 23 September 2011)
Rock - Released by Esoteric on 13 Dec 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live at the Union Chapel
Rock - Released by Symphonic Rock Recordings on 8 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alive In America - 1974
Pop/Rock - Released by Rdeg on 6 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kalynda (A Magical Isle) (Early Version)
Rock - Released by Cherry Red Records on 11 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live At The Capitol Theater - June 18, 1978 (Live)
Progressive Rock - Released by Rdeg on 1 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Mona Lisa Experience
Dance - Released by Loveland on 30 Apr 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tuscany (2024 Expanded & Remastered Edition)
Progressive Rock - Released by Esoteric on 3 May 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ekattorer Renaissance
Rock - Released by G Series on 26 Mar 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The It Guys: Shutdown
World - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 16 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renaissance - BBC Radio Broadcast Sight & Sound In Concert The Paris Theatre London 25th March 1976.
Rock - Released by Overdrive on 7 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
-
Live Your Dream (Dreamland Festival Anthem 2023)
Dance - Released by Bangerang Clients on 5 Oct 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
A Mile A Minute (feat. Gen X Beats & Erin Maiden)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Vested Vinyl Records on 11 Jul 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
so far so good
Electronic - Released by Renaissance on 14 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Past Orbits of Dust
Rock - Released by Easy Action - Troubadour on 15 Oct 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -