The Renaissance Zone

Wait a sec, I never said Camp was a weak link for Renaissance.  He was most definitely an asset and his thunderous bass beefed up their sound, which  may have otherwise come across as plodding (and seems to on Grandine Il Vento). Since the question of comparing Camp to other bassists came up, I gave my own perspective where I tend to also look at their compositional inputs and not just flat out chops.  I think rather than filling in for Dunford, Camp was filling in to some extent for the absence of electric guitar.  Be that as it may, I don't think adventurous harmony was something they were really after.  From what I have gleaned from interviews - and feel free to correct me there - they were all fans of classical music and, MAYBE, fans of the sounds of classical itself more than its complexity.  Where other prog rock bands tried to bridge rock and the complexity of classical and jazz, Renaissance were trying to marry the sound of classical music with rock.  Which is an attractive sound for what it's worth but at some point I'd have liked for them to have moved deeper into experimentation.  Judging from the live extended solos that Camp or Tout used to play in shows, I suspect that they just did not think about their music on those lines.

 

Regarding Jon Camp as a week link maybe in response for him trying to flesh out the late Michael Dunford's limited picking skills. Imagine If the Mach 2 Renaissance had an acoustic guitarist of the caliber of the late John Renbourn. Would that have prompted Camp to play contrapuntal and branch out?