''Azure d'Or'' is the ninth studio album by the English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, released in May 1979.

Overview

With this album the band stopped using an orchestra, choosing instead to overdub multiple instruments themselves in an attempt to emulate an orchestral sound.Liner notes from the ''Tales of 1001 Nights'' compilations It was also the band's first album to exclusively feature short songs with no long "epic" pieces. "Forever Changing" was the only Renaissance song on which drummer Terry Sullivan wrote all the music. His only other writing credit with the band was on the title track of the preceding album, '' A Song for All Seasons''. A pre-release track listing, published in the Renaissance Appreciation Society newsletter, included the song "Island of Avalon". This song ended up being omitted from the album; the band members weren't sufficiently pleased with it, having not invested their usual amount of time in it. It was ultimately used as the non-album

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to "The Winter Tree" in April 1979;The History Of Renaissance
/ref> it was the only such B-side of the Haslam era of the band. It was released on CD in 1997 on the compilation ''Songs from Renaissance Days''. Following this album's release, Renaissance underwent major changes that left it with a very uncertain future. In 1980, following a short tour of Israel, both John Tout and Terry Sullivan left the band. Tout (who was dealing with some personal stress due to the death of his sister) had made a major mistake during a concert and walked offstage. After this it was mutually decided that he should leave the band. Terry Sullivan, a longtime friend of Tout's, then left the band as well on principle. On top of all this, the band's label, Warner Brothers/Sire, dropped the group due to disappointing sales of ''Azure d'Or''.

Track listing

Personnel

Renaissance

Annie Haslam Annie Haslam (born 8 June 1947) is an English vocalist, songwriter and painter. She is best known as the lead singer of progressive rock band Renaissance since 1971, and for her long and diverse solo singing career. She has a five-octave vocal r ...

– lead (1–2, 4–7, 9, 10) and backing vocals *

Michael Dunford Michael John Dunford is a football administrator, who is currently Chief Executive at Plymouth Argyle Football Club. Career His first role in football came as General Manager of Derby County, a role he was at from July 1992 until 5 November 19 ...

– electric guitar (1, 5–6, 8–10), 12 string acoustic guitar (1–2, 4–9), classical guitar (5, 8),

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(4),

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

(5, 10) *John Tout – piano (1–2, 4–7, 9–10),

Yamaha CS-80 The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice set ...

(1–6, 8–10), Yamaha CS30 (1–2, 6, 8, 10),

ARP String Ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United States by ...

(1–4, 6–7, 10), ARP Pro Soloist (4–5), ARP 2600 (8),

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

(8), Yamaha electric piano CP 70 (8),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

(9–10) *Jon Camp – backing and lead (3) vocals, bass (1–2, 4–10), bass pedals (4–10), cello (1), 12 string acoustic guitar (5), electric guitar (6–8) *Terence Sullivan – drums (1–2, 4–10), percussion (1–2, 4, 6–9), timpani (5–6, 10), glockenspiel (5), gong (6), chimes (6, 10), xylophone (10), backing vocals (4)

Production

David Hentschel David Hentschel (born 18 December 1952) is an English recording engineer, film score composer and music producer who engineered on George Harrison's ''All Things Must Pass'' and Elton John's ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'', as well as for such a ...

– producer, engineer *David Bascombe – assistant engineer *Dick Plant – vocals recording * Gered Mankowitz – art direction and photography

References

{{Authority control 1979 albums Renaissance (band) albums Albums produced by David Hentschel Sire Records albums Warner Records albums