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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Live Your Dream (Dreamland Festival Anthem 2023)
Dance - Released by Bangerang Clients on 5 okt. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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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 -
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so far so good
Electronic - Released by Renaissance on 14 jul. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Past Orbits of Dust
Rock - Released by Easy Action - Troubadour on 15 okt. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Out Of Order
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 27 jan. 2023
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The Clan
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 31 mrt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renaissance - BBC Radio Broadcast Sight & Sound In Concert The Golders Green Hippodrome London 8th May 1975.
Rock - Released by Overdrive on 7 aug. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sondela
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 19 jan. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Do It To It
Electronic - Released by Submerge Recordings on 2 mrt. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ahh!!!
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 17 nov. 2022
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Akash Amar Jochona Amar
Wereldmuziek - Released by Dhruba Music Station on 4 mei 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
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The Arrival
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Renaissance Records on 16 mei 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Love
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 11 jan. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
On The Block
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 6 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Tale Of 2 Lost Souls
Wereldmuziek - Released by Afrobeats Distro on 8 mei 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renaissance - BBC Radio Broadcast In Concert Sessions London 19th August 1978.
Rock - Released by Overdrive on 7 aug. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo