Prologue (Renaissance album)

Infobox Album
Name = Prologue
Type = Studio
Longtype =
Artist = Renaissance


Released = 1972
Recorded = 1972
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 41:29
Label = Harvest Records
Capitol Records
Sovereign Records
Producer = Renaissance
Miles Copland
Reviews =
*"Allmusic" Rating|3|5 [http://wm10.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jxfixqy5ldde link]
Last album = "Illusion"
(1971)
This album = "Prologue"
(1972)
Next album = "Ashes are Burning"
(1973)

"Prologue" was a 1972 album by progressive rock band Renaissance.

Information about the album

In 1972, Renaissance's then-new management disbanded the lineup at the time (one of several short-lived transitional lineups), retaining only Haslam and Tout to build a new band around. The new members added at this point were Camp, Sullivan, and guitarist Mick Parsons. Shortly thereafter, sadly, Parsons died in a car accident. Electric guitarist Rob Hendry was brought in at the last minute to replace him, and left the band soon after the album was completed. [http://www.nlightsweb.com/lib/renhist.htm The History Of Renaissance ] ]

Because "Prologue" was a new start for the band, with a lineup that now included none of the original members, it would frequently be referred to as their "first" album (for example, on the "Live At Carnegie Hall" album, both in a song intro and on the inside cover).

Though all the songs are Renaissance originals, they were not written by any current members of the band but by former members Jim McCarty (from the first lineup) and Michael Dunford (from the transitional lineups), along with lyricist Betty Thatcher. Dunford, of course, would become part of the band again after Hendry's departure.

The piano intro to the song "Prologue" was borrowed from the beginning of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude.

"In The Beginning" reissue

In 1978 "Prologue" was reissued, together with the following album "Ashes are Burning", as a double album called "In The Beginning". The original double LP included the complete "Prologue"; one song from "Ashes" was edited. The 1988 CD version of "In The Beginning" (on one disc) had edited versions of "Rajah Khan" and two "Ashes" songs. [ [http://www.nlightsweb.com/lib/rendisc.htm Renaissance Discography ] ]

Track listing

EMI-Sovereign SVNA 7253 UKand in other EU territories as [IE 064 93685]
# "Prologue" (Dunford) - 5:39
# "Kiev" (McCarty-Thatcher) - 7:38
# "Sounds Of The Sea" (Dunford-Thatcher) - 7:07
# "Spare Some Love" (Dunford-Thatcher) - 5:11
# "Bound For Infinity" (McCarty-Thatcher) - 4:23
# "Rajah Khan" (Dunford) - 11:31

Personnel

*Annie Haslam - lead & backing vocals
*Jon Camp (listed as "John Camp") - bass, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Kiev"
*John Tout - keyboards, backing vocals
*Rob Hendry - electric guitar, backing vocals
*Terence Sullivan - drums, percussion, backing vocals

VCS3 solo on "Rajah Khan": Francis Monkman

References