Prog-rock band Renaissance asking fans for support to finance the next album

xarkon

xarkon

Experienced
First saw this band open for Yes - probably 1977 or 1978, I think. Saw them a total of five times; one of my favorite bands ever because of their mix of classical, jazz, and rock.

While they're not the same without Jon Camp (the bassist during their peak periods), the guitarist and singer have pressed forward over the past few years. They're asking fans to support development of the next album. If you're interested, see here:

New Renaissance Studio Album: Grandine il Vento by Renaissance — Kickstarter



I have no affiliation with the band other than being a fan.


Dave
 
Wow, Renaissance!!! What a flashback I just had! I was a HUGE fan back in the days of Prologue and Ashes are Burning... Haven't really kept up to date. What other albums would y'all recommend?

(sneaks upstairs to pull out Prologue for a good listen)

By the way I saw them live once in Ottawa, in a tiny little place (Barrymore's, for the "locals" who know Ottawa), and it was a treat. I always liked Annie Haslam's voice, John Camp's bass tone and style, and the whole band's forrays into classical in a prog kinda way!
 
I find it just plain STUNNING a band of their stature would have to go these lengths when the airwaves are so full of 'american idols' and other such nonsense.

That's a real testament as to what the music companies (corporations) have done to totally decimate not just the music industry but so many other facets of our lives as well.

It's just a shame that truly gifted artists are not just 'allowed' but 'forced' to fall by the wayside while worthless bean-counters live in opulence beyond our imagination.

I mean really............what if anything has Simon Cowell contributed to the world of music aside from one of if not THE worst show on TV.
 
hmm, weird. These days you can record on a PC with professional results, so who knows why they don't just do that themselves. If the music is good, it'll sell itself without the need for $100,000+ productions.
 
Dpoirier said:
Wow, Renaissance!!! What a flashback I just had! I was a HUGE fan back in the days of Prologue and Ashes are Burning... Haven't really kept up to date. What other albums would y'all recommend?
Click to expand...

Every album through Azure D'Or is great.

My first recommendation for anyone new to the band is "Live at Carnegie Hall." Great recording of the band in a live situation, first-class performance.

The other studio albums after "Ashes are Burning" are:

Turn of the Cards - "Mother Russia" got a fair amount of airplay on AOR stations
Scheherazade and Other Stories - "Ocean Gypsy" is my favorite from this album
Novella - this is my favorite Renaissance album
Song for All Seasons - probably my second favorite
Azure D'Or

Any and all of these are recommended.

After that were "Camera Camera" and "Timeline." It's pretty clear that for these last two albums, they were told "nobody wants to listen to what you're doing. Be a New Wave band." That was the beginning of the end for that iteration; everyone left, and Annie Haslam carried on with other musicians, doing a combination of Renaissance and other tunes. Last time I saw them was at the Rainbow Theater in Denver (gone now, I believe) in an acoustic set.

There are a variety of other releases labeled as "Renaissance." One is called "The Other Woman" where Michael Dunford tried an approach with another vocalist. It's an interesting branch, and she's a good singer (can't recall her name at the moment) - but really, Annie was THE VOICE. There are also some CDs of outtakes etc, as well as other live albums. Some are OK, some not so much, some just repackaging of existing material. For example "Tales of 1001 Nights" (volumes 1 and 2) are a repackaging of live and studio cuts from albums through Azure D'Or. They wisely left out the New Wave material.

Annie later rejoined with Michael Dunford, the guitarist, and other musicians; "Tuscany" and a live album of a Japan tour was the result. I think this was early to mid-2000s. Tuscany is OK - not their best work, but worth a listen. However, about a year or so ago, they released an EP called "The Mystic and the Muse," which is more of a return to the traditional Renaissance compositional approach - and much more interesting. I would expect more of that on the next album.

Their main web site is Renaissance. The old fan site was Northern Lights - The Renaissance Fan Site, but that is now static since the band is active again.

Dave
 
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A mate just made a self-financed documentary about the Polish resistance movement during WWII. He raised over $50K to take a crew to Poland using the website Kickstarter. It's a lot easier to sell a finished product like this to Discovery or NatGeo than to try and pitch them an idea.

The real advantage of self-production is you have absolute control over what happens next. When a record company pays for your recording, you are pretty much at their mercy from then on. But if you self-produce and if you can sell the product in decent quantity (either directly or via a distributor) then you can do very nicely. If you can sell 20-30 thousand units, you'll make more than enough to support your band for a year.
 
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