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Renaissance - A Song for All Seasons CD (album) cover

A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS

Renaissance

 

Symphonic Prog

3.75 | 449 ratings

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ClemofNazareth
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk Researcher
5 stars There were a lot of changes going on in the Renaissance camp when they entered Trident Studios in the winter of 1977 to record 'A Song for All Seasons'. They had left BTM in the wake of 'Novella' and signed with Warner Brothers Records, a move that along with a management change (Miles Copeland out, John Scher in) presumably gave them access both to better representation and better studio conditions. As part of this change the band were also persuaded to take on a producer in the form of David Hentschel. Hentschel was best known for transforming Elton John ('Goodbye Yellow Brick Road') into a mainstream superstar, as well as for overseeing the dismantling of the progressive version of Genesis. This could have spelled trouble for fans of the band's progressive music, but in the end resulted in arguably their best album yet.

The group was also experimenting with electric guitar again, something that would become a major part of their sound as the decade wound to a close. Thankfully Michael Dunford's spacious acoustic guitar sound remained well-represented on this album, particularly on the shorter works like "Closer than Yesterday", "Back Home Once Again" and the album's mega-hit "Northern Lights". In a welcome change the band reverted to heavy use of synthesized orchestral arrangements on this record, something they would rapidly move back away from on subsequent albums but used quite effectively here. ELO conductor and keyboardist Louis Clark led the arrangements, most of which were actually performed by band keyboardist John Tout. And finally, this album marks the beginning of a shift away from lyricist Betty Thatcher in favor of collaborations between bassist Jon Camp and Dunford, as well a greater presence of the sort of extensive instrumental passages that marked the band's early records.

Everything seemed to be in place for a hugely successful (albeit commercial) release, and for the most part that's what Renaissance delivered. 'A Song for All Seasons' would become their biggest-selling album ever in the UK (with a Silver rating), would be another in a string of charting albums in the U.S., and would garner them their very own 'one-hit wonder' in the UK with the Top-10 single "Northern Lights".

While 'Novella' was ostensibly a symphonic/classical album in the same vein as most of what the band had done up to this point, that album seemed to lack a conviction and dedication to delivering innovative progressive music, veering instead into territory that sounded dangerously like an aging prog-rock band trying to remain relevant in the face of wavering confidence in their sound. It became their biggest album in the U.S., but largely thanks to intensive touring and the fact that there wasn't a whole lot of competition for old- school 'art rock' act in the States at the time. 'Novella' made little impression on the group's UK fan base back home, but such would not be the case with 'Seasons'.

While the music on this album is considerably more adventurous, ambitious and symphonic than the band's two prior records I'm not sure that's why it became so commercially successful. Rather, the nostalgic and somewhat jingoistic "Northern Lights" seemed to strike a chord with a UK audience that to this point had largely shunned the band. Prog fans can be quite fickle and conservative, and many possibly felt this Mk II/III version of the group could not claim rights to be considered the 'official' Renaissance. That song seemed to cut through this skepticism and gave folks back home something to appreciate even as Renaissance continued to ply their trade most heavily in the States where they had amassed a measurable East Coast following. In the U.S. the 'Lights' single barely made a dent on the radio and failed to chart altogether, but the style of decidedly British and classical symphonic rock Renaissance were still playing continued to be popular here even as it was being drowned out by the emergence of punk in and around London and New York. The landscape was quickly changing but it seems there was enough time left for one more majestic prog-rock record, and an argument could be made that this was the one.

The album opener, appropriately-titled "Opening Out" makes an immediate statement by the band with a light keyboard and 12-string sequence followed by an explosion of fat drums, orchestral strings and Camp sporting a new bass that gave his notes more of a guitar-like sound than on prior albums. The pompous arrangement reminds me quite a bit of the sort of stuff Kansas, Styx, the Moody Blues and even Pink Floyd were filling the airwaves with around the same time, and its not at all surprising that American audiences were quickly smitten with the big, bold sound of this album. This is progressive music at its finest, a swirling blend of strings, brass, layers upon layers of keyboards and fat bass, brash percussion and the ever-present plucking of Dunford's acoustic guitar. Annie Haslam's angelic vocals are almost an anti-climax here, and frankly this song would have been almost as strong even as an instrumental.

The magic continues with the even bolder and more spacious "The Day of the Dreamer", at nearly ten minutes one of the longer Renaissance tracks from their later years. While 'Novella' tended toward a more subdued and bleak sound, this song at least is much more like a celebration of music with an unabashed blend of tempo shifts, bombastic keyboard forays and frenetic orchestral passages that in retrospect seem to be almost defying the changing times and industry shift to simpler, less technically impressive punk and soft-rock pop. The shift to an aggressive funky arrangement four minutes in is quickly followed by a softer transition to scattered percussion and Tout's lush piano a minute or so later, setting the stage for one of Haslam's best vocal deliveries that almost rivals Jon Anderson's most dramatic performances circa 'Relayer'. This is a gorgeous throwback tune, one that even today takes the listener back to the heyday of progressive rock when idealistic lyrics, technical virtuosity and a general lack of concern for hurrying through a musical score were the things that so endeared fans to the genre in the first place. A majestic orchestral climax sets the perfect stage for a softer acoustic piece, and the band obliges with the brief "Closer than Yesterday" that recalls the best of the their unique blend of Haslam/Dunford singing/strumming accented by Haslam's own layered backing vocals and Clark busying himself with getting the most of Tout's two hands on his keyboards in the background laying down subdued but lush orchestral backing. This song borders on an anthem, and probably could have been one with a few more minutes of instrumental interlude.

Camp is all over "Kindness (at the End)", not surprisingly since it is a song he composed and one that is initially almost tunnel-focused on complex rhythms and big percussion before making way to Tout's finger-stretching keyboard passage and Camp himself on vocals. This is one of those prototypical early seventies-sounding idealistic numbers along the lines of classic Moody Blues and demonstrates the band could deliver a solid folk- tinged rocker even without Haslam, although wisely they restricted that demonstration to this one song.

The entire band contributed to "Back Home Once Again", a slightly more commercial- sounding composition that nonetheless fits well on the album and reveals hints of the direction they would subsequently take in the studio. This is the one song here that would not rank among the finest in their catalog, but still measures above anything else on record store shelves at the time.

Thatcher provided the lyrics for the remaining three tracks and as a result the overall mood shifts to a decidedly more English feel with restrained string passages, sparse piano and a much slower tempo starting with the subdued and brief "She is Love".

"Northern Lights" was somewhat surprisingly not the opening track on the album, indicating possibly the band did not expect it to fare as well as it did as a single. Hard to believe though as the melodic, rhythmic opening and Haslam's dominating vocals with precise echoing made this an easy and obvious choice for a radio hit. The nostalgic, distinctly English lyrics clearly struck a chord with the band's fans back home and helped to rocket this one to a Top-10 place on the singles charts there. The song is clearly what drove the album up the UK charts despite the fact this incarnation of the band had never had a charting record in the UK before. Musically "Northern Lights" holds it own on the album despite a much simpler layout that favors bass, acoustic guitar and harmonizing backing vocals behind Haslam as opposed to the intricate orchestral arrangements that dominate the rest of the record. The conventional verse/refrain/chorus arrangement indicate the group was in fact attempting to create a single, but everyone in the band's camp must surely have been pleasantly shocked with just how tightly the song was embraced.

And in true Renaissance fashion the band closes with an epic-length, pompous orgy of tempo-shifting musical explosions with the title track that ends the album. Drummer Terry Sullivan is credited on this song but in reality he mostly penned only the opening while Camp and Dunford fleshed it out into what would become something of a swan-song to the band's classically-inspired prog-rock background. Haslam covers virtually every octave in her range at one point or another, while Camp grounds each progressive shift in the arrangements and Tout breaks out every keyboard in his arsenal for a piece that seems to cover most of the band's musical history in just over ten minutes. It would never get better than this, and one has to wonder whether the group knew it as they put the finishing touches on the song and the album.

I don't rate very many albums as true five-star masterpieces and to be honest there are a couple things that could have led me to dialing this one back just a bit, most notably "Back Home Once Again" which is very good but not masterful. The album artwork could have been more imaginative as well, especially considering the band was known to that point for great attention to their packaging. But it's what's inside that counts, not the cover. And one song, unless its filler or a real stinker, shouldn't mark an entire album either. So five stars it is, and the strongest recommendation I can possibly make for a Renaissance album. If you've never heard the band or just want to find that one album that defines their classic sound most accurately, this is the one. I'd also recommend the first Renaissance album even though it features an entirely different lineup, but this is the one every Renaissance fan, nay every progressive music fan, needs to have in their collection.

peace

ClemofNazareth | 5/5 |

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