''Renaissance'' is the debut 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 December 1969.

Track listing

The single version of "Island" (a different recording from the album version, with faster tempo, more overdubbed backing vocals, and no classical themes at the end) was backed with a non-LP

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 ...

, "The Sea." Some CD editions of the album include both of these tracks.

Personnel

Renaissance

Jane Relf Jane Relf (born 7 March 1947) is a British singer, best known as the original vocalist for the progressive rock band Renaissance. She is the younger sister of Keith Relf of the Yardbirds. Renaissance In January 1969 Keith Relf and Jim McCa ...

- lead vocals (3,4,6,7), backing vocals, percussion *

Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, The Yardbirds ex-drummer Jim ...

- guitar, harmonica, lead vocals (1,2,5), backing vocals *

John Hawken John Christopher Hawken is an English keyboard player, best known as a member of The Nashville Teens, Renaissance, and the Strawbs. He also played in Spooky Tooth, Third World War, Vinegar Joe, Illusion, as well as being a session musician. ...

- piano, harpsichord *

Louis Cennamo Louis David Cennamo is an English bass guitarist, whose lengthy career has included extensive recording and touring with a number of important British rock/blues/progressive bands. Career Cennamo left school at 16 and undertook his earliest imp ...

- bass *

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only member of the band to featur ...

- drums, percussion, backing vocals, brief 2nd lead vocal (2)

Production

Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul Smith, 8 May 1943, in Richmond, Surrey, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched leading g ...

- producer *

Andy Johns Jeremy Andrew "Andy" Johns (20 May 1950 – 7 April 2013) was a British sound engineer and record producer who worked on several well-known rock albums, including the Rolling Stones' ''Exile on Main St.'' (1972), Television's ''Marquee Moon'' (19 ...

- engineer

Releases

''Renaissance'' was initially released in the UK in 1969 by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

as catalogue ILPS-9114; it was also released in America on Elektra as EKS-74068, and by Island in Germany as 87 609 ET. In 1998, ''Renaissance'' was reissued by

Mooncrest Records Mooncrest Records is a British record label that was formed in 1973 as a subsidiary of Charisma Records. They issued albums by Shirley Collins (''No Roses'') (1971), Iain Matthews (''Journeys from Gospel Oak'') (1972), Nazareth (band), Nazareth ...

in the UK as ''Innocence''. This reissue included six bonus tracks, but the packaging included no explanation of what they were. Besides "Island" (single version) and "The Sea" (see above), there were the following: *"Shining Where the Sun Has Been": pre-Renaissance demo (1968) recorded by Keith Relf and Jim McCarty under the name "Together." *"Prayer for Light" and "Walking Away": tracks recorded, post-Renaissance, by Relf and McCarty (written & sung by Jim) for the unreleased 1971 film ''Schizom''. *"All the Fallen Angels": Demo, 1976. Keith's final recorded performance. Also released on the album ''Enchanted Caress'' (1979), under the name Illusion. On 29 November 2010,

Esoteric Recordings Esoteric Recordings is a UK independent record label specialising in 1970s progressive rock, folk, psychedelic, and jazz-rock reissues as part of Cherry Red Records. Its releases include both catalogue reissues and new works from artists who s ...

released a remastered and expanded edition (including both sides of the band’s first single).

Notes and references

;Notes ;References {{DEFAULTSORT:Renaissance (Renaissance Album) Renaissance (band) albums 1969 debut albums Albums produced by Paul Samwell-Smith Island Records albums Elektra Records albums Repertoire Records albums Mooncrest Records albums Esoteric Recordings albums Symphonic rock albums