We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
It was a band that would carry the torch of English folk-prog rock through the 1970s…but in 1972 Renaissance was a band in transition.
The band had started in the late 60’s but by the time the album “Prologue” was released in fall of 1972 it was not the same. The band’s current manager had stripped down the group to singer Annie Haslam and keyboardist John Tout while adding new members Rob Hendry (guitar), John Camp (bass) and Terence Sullivan (drums).
This was the only album that Hendry played on but his guitar parts are a big part of the record.
The other odd thing about this Lp is that all of the songs were written by old band members that were no longer with the group. Jim McCarty, Michael Dunford and Betty Thatcher’s tunes are a mixture of the old Renaissance sound and what you are probably more familiar with in the recordings thru the later 70’s.
The songs soar. “Kiev”, ” Sounds of The Sea” and the title track are layered with fine piano & guitar with Haslem’s soprano harmonizing nicely with the guys.
The long track ‘Rajah Khan that closes the record, while giving us a psychedelic feel sounds more like the future including some fine synth work from guest Francis Monkman.
It’s not mty favorite Lp from the group but certainly serves as a nice foreshadowing of where they were going.
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