Renaissance

Overview

Renaissance began in 1969 with former Yardbirds Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, then changed personnel so completely that the best-known 1970s group contained none of the founders. By Prologue in 1972, Annie Haslam, John Tout, Jon Camp, Terry Sullivan and guitarist Rob Hendry had established a new working band. Michael Dunford supplied much of its music while initially remaining offstage, then returned as guitarist to complete the long-lived Haslam-era quintet.

That group developed a distinct form of British progressive rock from Haslam's wide-ranging soprano, Tout's piano, Dunford's acoustic guitar, Camp's melodic bass and Sullivan's percussion. Betty Thatcher wrote most of the lyrics without performing in the band. The catalogue ranges from the compact “Carpet of the Sun” to the multipart “Song of Scheherazade”, recorded at Abbey Road in 1975 with orchestration by Tony Cox and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Formation & History

Relf and McCarty formed the original Renaissance with singer Jane Relf, pianist John Hawken and bassist Louis Cennamo. The quintet recorded Renaissance in 1969; a period of departures and replacements produced Illusion in 1971. Michael Dunford entered during that transition. By June 1972 the recording lineup for Prologue consisted of Haslam, Tout, Camp, Sullivan and Hendry. Dunford chose at that stage to concentrate on composition with lyricist Thatcher rather than touring, although his material defined the album.

Hendry left after Prologue. Camp handled much of the guitar work on Ashes Are Burning, with Dunford contributing acoustic guitar and Wishbone Ash's Andy Powell playing the electric solo on the title track. Dunford then returned as the group's guitarist, fixing the five-person lineup heard from Turn of the Cards through Azure d'Or. The band performed with a 24-piece orchestra at New York's Academy of Music in May 1974, with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1975, and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London's Royal Albert Hall in October 1977.

Tout and Sullivan left after Azure d'Or, and the smaller 1980s group moved toward shorter, more electronic arrangements before disbanding in 1987. Haslam and Dunford participated in a brief return around Tuscany and the 2001–02 concerts. They formed another touring Renaissance in 2009. After Dunford's death in November 2012, Haslam continued with musicians from that ensemble; the official band remains active under her leadership.

Sound & Style

The classic lineup leaves unusual space in the middle of the spectrum. Dunford's acoustic guitar supplies pulse and chordal outline rather than a continuous electric wall; Tout's piano can carry both accompaniment and thematic material. Camp treats bass as a second melodic voice, often answering Haslam, while Sullivan moves between rock time, mallet colour and orchestral punctuation. Electric lead guitar is therefore an event—Andy Powell's closing solo on “Ashes Are Burning”, for example—not the permanent centre of the arrangement.

Haslam's sustained vowels and controlled upper register allow melodies to unfold over long spans without becoming spoken narrative. Dunford usually supplied the melodic framework and Thatcher the words; the band then arranged that material collectively. Orchestras serve different functions across the catalogue: Richard Hewson's strings colour parts of Ashes Are Burning; Turn of the Cards integrates symphonic writing into several tracks; Tony Cox's work on “Song of Scheherazade” connects the rock quintet to the London Symphony Orchestra. The later A Song for All Seasons brings electric guitar and synthesizer more visibly into the blend without removing the piano-and-voice core.

Why They Still Matter

Renaissance show that a band's identity can survive total personnel replacement when its method continues to develop. The 1969 founders established the name and the rock–folk–classical premise; the 1972 group rebuilt that premise around Haslam's voice and the Dunford–Thatcher writing partnership. From there, the same five players learned to move between intimate acoustic songs, extended ensemble forms and commissioned orchestral arrangements without treating the orchestra as a constant effect.

The records also preserve an uncommon division of labour in 1970s progressive rock. A non-performing lyricist, an acoustic guitarist-composer, a pianist, a melodic bassist, a drummer and a soprano share functions that other groups often concentrated in a frontman or lead guitarist. The UK success of “Northern Lights” proves that this language could be condensed as well as expanded. The present Haslam-led band keeps both the Relf–McCarty beginnings and the classic repertoire in view rather than reducing Renaissance to a single lineup or one suite.