Why has Renaissance gone obscure?

honestly, I hardly remember any of the tracks.  I don't remember Camera Camera, but for some reason I think they did Faeries and I'm almost positive they did Tyrant Tula, which got a lot of radio play in Ottawa.  I also remember that they did Northern Lights and ASFAS and finished with Ashes are Burning.  I'm assuming they also did Mother Russia and somehow I think they did Midas Man

I have no idea about Under Wraps but 90125 gets a bad rep in prog circles.  It does have cheesy production but songs like Leave It are quite interesting.  

There is a difference, though, between 90125 and Camera Camera and imo it's something else.  90125 sounds like Yes updated and abbreviated for the 80s.  Yes had a lot of catchiness early on, say around Yes Album or Fragile.  In between, through TFTO-Relayer, that catchiness got submerged as their compositions got increasingly complex.  But as a follow up to Drama, it doesn't really come across as a volte-face to me, as in, like, "I can't believe that Yes made this album".  I can see how somebody who skipped straight from CTTE to 90125 might think so but 90125 following Drama isn't such a great surprise.

Whereas, Camera Camera following Azure D'Or is a very big surprise.  AZD was an effort at something 'commercial' in the words of Annie Haslam but it is commercial in a kind of old fashioned British sense.   Maybe that's why it didn't do well.  It's pretty square...the sort of album that you'd get if you cut out all the expansive interludes from Novella and also straightened the hell out of complex tunes like Can You Hear Me until it fits the requirements of pop.  Camera Camera was Renaissance embracing the 80s full on.  It was pretty risky in that sense, a lot riskier than what Yes or Genesis did, where they gradually changed their sound until it blended with the 80s.  Renaissance just pressed the reset button and poof! they had a totally new sound.  Bonjour Swansong evokes the old Renaissance.  Remember has a lovely melody (evokes Yaman Raag somewhat for this Indian listener, BOC's Here Comes that Feeling is another song which does that for me), one of Ren's finest drowned in Gosling's tones which are strictly hit or miss (entirely in the miss zone for me).  But stuff like the title track, Jigsaw or Running Away From You has no precedence in the Renaissance canon.  The very attitude Annie evokes on the title track is completely removed from her generally angelic, melancholic but uplifting character.  

The problem I have with much of this album is in the execution.  The title track is absolutely spot on in executing this bold new approach of Renaissance, but the others are much less convincing, esp Running Away.  Okichi San is nice and would have liked to see them do more such songs during that period.  I find it to be a frustrating album; in songs like the title track or Okichi San they seem to hit the bulls eye in terms of embracing the 80s in a way that still works for them.  At other times, they sound like a 70s band trying to come to terms with the 80s.  I like the audacity and playfulness but wish the final output could have been better.  

Yup, Two Wheels Good, released as Steve McQueen in the UK.  Indeed, stretches of that album are up there with anything in the 80s.