★★★★★
To many, the name Renaissance conjures the classical-prog outfit who scored a 1978 hit with Northern Lights, but the original group actually formed in 1969 when Keith Relf and Jim McCarty fled The Yardbirds to explore subtler musical seams. Recruiting Relf's singing sister Jane and bassist Louis Cennamo, their epoch-making sound was born when pianist John Hawken from Nashville Teens injected panoramic classical explorations, creating one of the most distinctive sounds on the UK club circuit...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
A significant transitional record in the career of one of our most loved and lauded folkrock bands, Prologue is really also an epilogue. After the collapse of the original band and a year or two of shuffling about, the new Renaissance emerged, built around the classically-inspired keyboard playing of John Tout and the honeyed soprano vocals of Annie Haslam. This, the first album of the new incarnation, set the standard for the rest of their successful career; and all the elements are in place...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-01-31
★★★★★
I don't normally review EPs as a rule because they are usually either a predecessor for some new record on the way or leftovers that didn't make the cut on a previous release. But in the case of Renaissance's The Mystic and The Muse, a collection of three new songs from the brilliant classical prog-rock pioneers of the '70s, I felt compelled to share my thoughts...
- www.ink19.com
2010-09-20