#Renaissance #Annie Haslam #progressive rock #British progressive rock #symphonic prog #classical #orchestral #1970s
The 1978 Renaissance album ‘A Song for All Seasons’ is the ideal entry point for showcasing the individual talents and collective chemistry of the band. Underpinning the whole piece is the glorious, soaring, five-octave ranged voice of protean singer and artist, Annie Haslam. In a decade replete with stunning female vocalists, Haslam can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anyone, using her voice with the precision of a surgeon using a scalpel, yet maintaining the searing beauty in her delivery.
Haslam’s vocal talent notwithstanding, Renaissance are an accomplished collective of musicians. A Song for all Seasons boasts the considerable keyboard talents of John Tout. A classical pianist by inclination, his distinctive, layered style provides a crucial backdrop over which Haslam’s precision vocals can truly be enjoyed. With John Camp and Michael Dunford providing an intricate and layered guitar sound, and Terry Sullivan on drums, this album sees the recognized classic line up for Renaissance (if such a thing truly exists in a band with such a fluid membership).
The album itself is, therefore, an accumulation of collaborations, with the band calling on the production talents of erstwhile Genesis producer, David Hentschel and orchestral arrangements arranged by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Harry Rabinowitz. All of these diverse musical elements are encapsulated in the spectacular opening track ‘Opening Out’, a piece which actually prefaces the direction of the album. Tout’s classical piano is eschewed in favour of intricate synthesisers, there is considerable orchestration and, of course, Haslam’s vocal prowess.
The rest of the album is a concoction of musical styles. ‘Day of the Dreamer’ and ‘Kindness (at the end)’ are clearly heavily rooted in progressive rock and would not have been out of place on an album released 5 years earlier. Despite this fused style the album manages to maintain an internal coherence. The acoustic-folk of ‘Closer than Yesterday’ sits comfortably alongside accessible tunes such as ‘Back Home Once Again’. The eponymous ‘A Song for All Seasons’ nicely rounds the original album off and provides a welcome reprise of their genuine prog credentials. From: https://wearecult.rocks/renaissance-a-song-for-all-seasons-3cd-reviewed
