Renaissance – Prologue

Prologue is the third studio album by English progressive rock band Renaissance, released in 1972.

In this particular year, the line-up at that time disbanded and only former Gentle People singer Annie Haslam and former Rupert’s People keyboardist John Tout remain, who are also the core of the band. New members added were bassist Jon Camp, drummer Terence Sullivan and guitarist Mick Parsons. Shortly afterwards, Parsons was killed in a car accident, leading to a last-minute replacement on electric guitar by Rob Hendry for the recordings in June and July 1972, and then, after the album was completed, to leave.

Because Prologue was a fresh start for the band, with a line-up that did not feature any of the group’s original members, it is often referred to as their first album, such as on the Live At Carnegie Hall album, the intro song as well as the interior of the album cover.

All the songs were not written by the members of that band, but by former members Jim McCarty, from the group’s first line-up, and Michael Dunford, formerly of the Nashville Teens and part of the group’s transitional line-ups, along with lyricist Betty Thatcher; Dunford would rejoin the band after Hendry’s departure, but was not officially a member of the band during the recording of the follow-up album Ashes Are Burning in 1973.

Prologue is a transitional project, rooted in more mainstream hard rock sounds, including psychedelia, than what followed. One can detect the difference, which may satisfy some listeners and turn others away, with the rather heavy guitar sound of ‘Prologue’, Rob Hendry’s electric instrument clearly either providing the primary beat or playing in the background of the tracks at various times behind Annie Haslam’s vocals and alongside John Tout’s piano.

“Kiev” may also scare off some of the group’s old fans, as Haslam is not on lead vocals, with the men’s vocals more prominent.

The ethereal, “Sounds Of The Sea” is more like the music the group played in later years and shows Haslam singing at the high level she would become famous for.

“Spare Some Love,” with its prominent folk acoustic guitar, sets the stage for what would be heard on the band’s better-known second album, Ashes Are Burning.
“Bound For Infinity” marked the final creative input from co-founder Jim McCarty, the ’60s version of Renaissance, and it’s enough even if it doesn’t quite match the group’s subsequent sounds.

Finally the eleven-minute epic “Rajah Khan”, with its raga-rock elements, including sitar-like passages from Rob Hendry’s electric guitars and Francis Monkman’s extended VCS 3 synthesizer solo, is a more advanced and virtuoso offspring of late 60s psychedelia.

Through this excellent album I select the track “Kiev”.

Tracklist

1. Prologue 5:39
2. Kiev 7:39
3. Sounds Of The Sea 7:09
4. Spare Some Love 5:05
5. Bound For Infinity 4:17
6. Rajah Kahn 11:14