Renaissance

I well remember when this album was originally released in 2001, and especially remember the quality of Annie Haslam’s vocals and the sumptuous arrangement. In many ways, if you wanted to precis the strengths of Renaissance, this would be it.
The remastering on this edition is superb, with the highs of Haslam’s vocals effortlessly presented and a strong dynamic range across the whole album – my memory has the original a little flatter in the dynamics.
The album is supplied with a 2 CD copy of the band playing in Japan, shortly after the release of the album. As ever, with Esoteric, the remaster is excellent, and the set is supplied with a delightful booklet.

So, Renaissance split up in 1979 and reformed with a new line up featuring keyboards player Peter Gosling and made two albums under this line up. In 2000, the core of Renaissance – Haslam, Michael Dunford & Terence Sullivan – got together, adding original keyboards player Jon Tout, Mickey Simmonds(keyboards), Annie Haslam’s ex-partner Roy Wood on bass and some keyboards.
In many respects ‘Tuscany’ was a return to the classic sound of Renaissance, and it was particularly well received in Japan (where it was 1st released) and latterly in Europe.

‘Tuscany’ is classic Renaissance but also a touch more mature, all round a stunning album.
The ‘In The Land Of The Rising Sun’ album is contemporary with ‘Tuscany’ and putting the two together is a work of genius.