Renaissance (Renaissance-Album)

Renaissance was the debut album by the British progressive rock group Renaissance. The record was released in late 1969 on the Iceland - ( UK and Germany ) or Elektra label ( in the U.S.).

Recording

Soon after Keith Relf (voc, g, harm) and Jim McCarty ( perc, voc) had left the Yardbirds, they founded together with ex - Nashville Teens keyboardist John Hawken (p, harpsichord ), Louis Cennamo ( b) and Relfs sister Jane (voc, perc ) Renaissance. The recording sessions for their first LP in this occupation were made in the London Olympic Sound Studios; it was produced by Paul Samwell - Smith, also a former Yardbirds member. The designed by Jack Levy Front Cover in the UK and Germany as well as the re-release on CD shows the painting " The Fall of Icarus " by Jules Victor Génisson (1805-1860), which is exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The music style of the band mixed elements of classical music with folk, rock and blues; , there were elements of what years later as World Music should be referred to. This style is also called Progressive and Symphonic Rock; Frank Laufenberg characterized him as a folk -rock. The songs were mostly based on compositions by Relf and McCarty, which were then interpreted by the classically trained pianist Hawken and bassist Cennamo. In 1969 the LP it to number 60 of the British LP charts.

In 1995 she was re-released on CD on Repertoire; In addition to the five titles of the vinyl disk, the CD contains also the shortened at 3:37 minutes, also in 1969 released single version of Iceland - in this lacked the two and a half minutes long, orchestral and closely following Beethoven's Pathétique sonata closing sequences of the LP version - and their original 3:00 minutes long B-Side The Sea.

A second re-release (1998 on Mooncrest ) contained an additional four bonus tracks, namely Prayer for Light, Walking Away, Shining Where the Sun Has Been and All the Falling Angels.