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
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Turn Of The Cards (Remastered)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 01.01.1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ashes Are Burning
Rock - Erschienen bei Capitol Records am 01.01.1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scheherazade and Other Stories (Remastered)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 01.01.1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Song For All Seasons (Remastered & Expanded Edition)
Rock - Erschienen bei Esoteric Recordings am 01.03.1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renaissance
Folk - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 04.08.1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Novella (Remastered & Expanded Edition)
Rock - Erschienen bei Esoteric Recordings am 01.01.1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live Fillmore West and Other Adventures
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records (UK) Limited am 28.10.2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live At Carnegie Hall (Remastered)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 01.01.1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Illusion (Remastered)
Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 01.01.1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Delane Lea Studios 1973
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Purple Pyramid Records am 03.02.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live at the BBC - Sight & Sound
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 14.12.1999
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tuscany (Digitally Remastered Version)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 25.10.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
50th Anniversary: Ashes Are Burning: An Anthology Live In Concert (Live, Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA, 12 October 2019)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Esoteric am 30.04.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Azure D'Or (2022 Remaster)
Rock - Erschienen bei Esoteric Recordings am 01.01.1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In The Land Of The Rising Sun - Double Pack (Digitally Remastered Version)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records am 22.05.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony of Light
Rock - Erschienen bei Symphonic Rock Recordings am 22.05.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live at Fillmore West 1970
Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records (UK) Limited am 08.04.2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Camera Camera
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Repertoire Records (UK) Limited am 01.01.1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Academy of Music 1974 (Live)
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Purple Pyramid Records am 31.03.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo