Renaissance - Novella (1977)

 

Dan:

I recall finding Novella in a cutout bin sometime during the 1980s. It was the American pressing with a different cover (I prefer the UK cover shown here). Cutouts of never-played but judged-to-be disposable releases by the record companies made up a fair amount of my collection. Between Spec's and the Happy Note in Miami, cutouts were plentiful in the 70s and 80s.

I liked the album a lot but at some point decided to part with it. Forty years later I was perusing Steve's CD collection and ran across several spines reading "Renaissance." I wondered: could those be by the same artists that made Novella? You betcha! So I decided to give them a listen. 

By the end of a few bars I was reminded that this was one of the best bands of the 1970s. I remembered most of their songs and loved the grandiose arrangements using symphony orchestras to play their live performances at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. Since Novella was not in Steve's CD collection, I downloaded the deluxe edition which also includes the full Royal Albert Hall concert. Now I was swimming in Renaissance music and enjoying it immensely. 

The band featured the miraculous voice of Annie Haslam, strong compositions from within the band, and a solid stage presence in premier venues. Their compositions were normally extended pieces that drew from classical sources, such as Scheherazade, and told stories of fanciful days of yore.

However, Renaissance fell out of favour with the prog audience while other groups soldiered on with lesser material. New genres were appearing (disco, new wave, punk), so a beautiful soprano voice and symphonic arrangements might have seemed a trifle quaint as the 1980s loomed. 

Key tracks on Novella include "Can You Hear Me?", "Midas Man," and "Touching Once." "Can You Hear Me?" is a typical Renaissance song that begins with a small overture, setting up a vocal section which moves from soft and gentle to stratospheric. It stretches to 13:39 minutes in length. The shortest song is 4:16, but most songs are in the 5-to-7-minute range. Each of these has been featured in Renaissance's concert performances. 

Past the heyday of the 70s, Renaissance lives on via numerous releases of tour material. I have not personally investigated these, reasoning that more concerts would not reveal more insights than did the Carnegie and Royal Albert concerts. They also appear not to be widely distributed and some are on dubious labels. 

If you're drawn to symphonic rock as a subgenre of prog, you should definitely check out Renaissance's other 1970s recordings: Prologue, Ashes Are Burning, Turn of the Cards, Scheherazade and Other Stories, A Song for All Seasons, and Azure D'Or. All of these feature Annie Haslam's vocals, whereas two earlier albums do not. 

Steve:

I remember being captivated by "Can You Hear Me?" coming out of Dan's stereo. I wasn't even sure if I liked it at the time, but it was so different from what I'd heard before, and delivered with such operatic conviction, that I was impressed at the very least. Even so, Renaissance was not one of my staples as I was getting into progressive rock more intensely. Rather, Novella was an LP I picked up in my twenties, if only as a memento of my youth. Since then, I've acquired the rest of the Renaissance discography on used vinyl (not the Jane Relf-era stuff, although I do have one Illusion album). Occasionally, I listen to some of their albums in succession. I have to be in the right mood, but boy, do they hit the spot when I am.

While Annie Haslam is the most outstanding member (with her powerful and expressive vocals, how could she not be?), composers Michael Dunford and Jon Camp (not to mention lyricist Betty Thatcher) accomplish the trick of creating huge productions with fairly modest and acoustic means. Although orchestral arrangements are frequently used, the band also uses piano/acoustic guitar arrangements, although the bass is definitely electric and helps drives the melody much like Chris Squire does for Yes (same Rickenbacker bass sound, if I'm not mistaken).  

While the heart of their discography is Prologue through Azure D'Or (i.e. the 1970s), I also have the few albums they made in the 1980s, which are assumed to be worthless by a lot of fans, many of whom have not bothered to listen. I will personally vouch for Camera Camera and Time Line, which might have scared off fans with the album covers alone. While these albums do rely on more modest song structures and keep up with the times by using synthesizers, they still display plenty of artistry. Peter Gabriel, Yes, and Genesis went in the same direction, so why not Renaissance? All I'm saying is give them a chance, and you may be pleasantly surprised.