The Renaissance Zone

There have been appreciation threads for Renaissance before, with most eventually dying a 'natural death'.  But how about one place to post all things related to Renaissance - could be news of upcoming releases, touring dates, or general chat/discussion about the band.  Consolidating it in other thread will be to the benefit of all interested members.  

I heard this one yesterday 

^ It sounds like digital piano, it doesn't have that grand piano sound of the classic albums.

^ Wow! I bet it was I regret I didn't see Camel two years ago, I hope they'll come back again.

kennethlevine wrote: I think the band as a whole is underappreciated, including Tout but also Dunford and especially Jon Camp's bass, which often gave them the only rock element in their sound, especially when they used no electric guitar.  But most of all, I think Annie is under appreciated.  She should be right up there with the best female singers ever in any genre, but instead most people, including many who were around during the band's peak period, don't even know who she is.

They basically had a way of making it sound like what they were doing was dreadfully serious business.  Annie had in fact referred to Novella as their attempt to make new classical music in an interview, ha ha ha.  That's one heck of a stretch.  A little bit of lightness, which they had in the beginning, would have gone a  long way.  And then when they rediscovered it with SFAS they tilted so far to the other extreme that the old loyal fans were horrified. I cannot really fathom what made them take that approach because their live act does seem to have been livelier than the promise.  Idk, maybe that was the general way prog musicians talked at the time?  Fripp is perpetually hyper-intellectual for another. I am sure it is all well meaning but sometimes it gets in the way of getting people to like the music.

I presume Rolling Stone was referring to LATC which seems to lack the usually relaxed ambience of their shows. Yeah, well, I can agree with the idea of Novella, esp Can You Hear Me as a serious blend of classical and rock/folk, but to call it classical outright was going a bit too far.  It isn't even as classical as Gryphon, well at least Red Queen to Gryphon Three.  There are plenty of such lofty statements from the band.  In a 1978 interview, Camp declared they wanted to be the best live band on the scene.  There was the Jilted John controversy too.  They didn't do a whole lot to endear themselves to the media and it's the media which tells the younger generation which 70s albums to listen to.  Renaissance albums weren't among them.  No prog barring Floyd/Tull because prog is such a bad word now.

Doesn't bother me either.  Just saying that's not the kind of stuff the mainstream likes to hear.

Oddly enough, Novella happens to be my second favourite after SFAS and if I take Cards through Novella to represent the archetypal Renaissance mk ii - grand, symphonic and also generally melancholic - then Novella is the one where this style is fully realised imo.  Can You Hear Me is dragged down a bit by that three minute interlude which goes nowhere but otherwise it's an excellent composition.  I used to find Sisters almost too melancholic to listen to - Annie just flat out wails on that song - but I've come to really love it.  Really this may be the album of which I have the fewest complaints.  Just lacks a little momentum, barring Touching Once but there is a nice consistency in style from track to track while each one still brings out a different shade of emotion.  I think fans expected a fresh progression from Scheherazade and when it wasn't quite there on Novella, they got disappointed.  Actually Dunford brought back guitars on Novella but it blended so well with the symphonic arrangements that perhaps it wasn't noticed. It did take quite a while for me to like this album too; wondering if there's anybody who liked it right off the bat.

I respect the earnestness and ambition on LATC but as I set out in a fair amount of detail in my own review, I don't consider it the best Renaissance live album.  Fair enough that at the time - 70s - it was the only live album they released.  But the band was fully capable of cutting loose a bit without diluting the emotions of the original tracks.  They couldn't quite achieve that on LATC being perhaps a bit tight due to the occasion.  I much prefer Albert Hall in spite of the rather excessive noodling on Ashes in that concert.