Prologue Kollobe

The first album by the '70s (i.e. Annie Haslam) version of Renaissance is a transitional work, rooted in more standard hard rock sounds (including psychedelia) than what followed. One can spot the difference, which may please some listeners and put others off, in the fairly heavy guitar sound of "Prologue," Rob Hendry's electric instrument playing both lead and rhythm parts prominently at various times behind Annie Haslam's soaring vocals and adjacent to John Tout's piano. "Kiev" may also startle some longtime fans, since Haslam doesn't handle the lead vocals, the male members' singing being much more prominent.

One of a rapidly growing body of live Gentle Giant performances from the '70s that have begun surfacing on CD, Prologue is the next thing to a bootleg: the fact that the title is misspelled as "Prolouge" on the back cover and the spine is sort of a dead giveaway. The two-CD set encompasses two shows dating from the periods of In a Glass House and The Power and the Glory, respectively; the first disc and part of the second come from an April 5, 1974 concert in Munster, Germany, and the balance of the second disc is filled out with four numbers from an October 10, 1975 show at the Philadelphia Spectrum…

We're celebrating 10 years of CTS by giving away a FREE compilation album spanning the history of our career. It includes cuts from all of our studio albums including a bonus track from our untitled EP released in 2005. We hope you enjoy and be sure to check the tour dates below to see when we're coming to you're area!!!

The prologue is a unique feature of early baroque opera: an opening scene where an allegorical figure enters the stage to prepare the audience for the musical drama to come. Thus Prologue is the musical introduction of Italian star soprano Francesca Aspromonte and her exclusive, long term engagement with Pentatone, promising great joy as well as drama in the years to come. Prologue is a highly original album consisting of several prologues from early-baroque operas by Monteverdi, Caccini, Cavalli, Landi, Rossi, Cesti, Stradella and Scarlatti. Strung together, they form a representation in a single act, a theatre full of small, complete dramas: the opera before the opera. Francesca Aspromonte is quickly establishing herself as a shining star in the Baroque firmament. She has curated this album together with musical director Enrico Onofri, who leads il pomo doro, one of the most important and successful period ensembles of today.

The first album by the '70s (i.e. Annie Haslam) version of Renaissance is a transitional work, rooted in more standard hard rock sounds (including psychedelia) than what followed. One can spot the difference, which may please some listeners and put others off, in the fairly heavy guitar sound of "Prologue," Rob Hendry's electric instrument playing both lead and rhythm parts prominently at various times behind Annie Haslam's soaring vocals and adjacent to John Tout's piano. "Kiev" may also startle some longtime fans, since Haslam doesn't handle the lead vocals, the male members' singing being much more prominent. The ethereal, flowingly lyrical "Sounds of the Sea" is the cut here that most resembles the music that the group became known for in the years ahead, and shows Haslam singing in the high register for which she would become famous.

The Symphonic Prologue to Dante's classic 'La Divina Commedia' is indeed quite brilliant, a very emotionally charged piece full of tragedy and victory in a rich orchestral garb. The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra play with superb conviction and intensity, and are quite admirably conducted by Gomez Martinez. The same goes for the First Symphony, an intensely personal work all round that shows Woyrsch's admirable sense for long symphonic breadth that is uncannily prescient of Mahler and his contemporary Rott, whose First Symphony is one of the gems of late romantic expressionism. Again, both orchestra and conductor are completely immersed in the beautiful music that permeates the symphony and their performance is certainly one of the best that one could hope for.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded edition of the classic 1972 album by Renaissance, "Prologue". Formed in 1969 by former Yardbirds members Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, Renaissance had by 1971 undergone a series of line-up changes and had evolved into a completely different band from the one that had recorded the albums "Renaissance" and "Illusion". By June 1972 Renaissance had settled into a line-up featuring the highly gifted vocalist Annie Haslam, John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass, vocals), Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion) and Rob Hendry (guitar, mandolin, vocals). The album "Prologue" was recorded in June and July 1972 and featured material written by Michael Dunford (a member of the group who had decided to eschew performing with the band to concentrate on song writing) and lyricist Betty Thatcher. Featuring such classic material as the album title track, 'Kiev', 'Spare Some Love' and the epic 'Rajah Kahn', "Prologue" was also notable for the presence of guest musician Francis Monkman (of Curved Air) who would play VCS 3 synthesiser on 'Rajah Khan'.