Renaissance – Opening Out – The Albums 1977–1979 (Esoteric Records/Cherry Red, 2025)
This 3CD clamshell box set collects Renaissance’s Warner Bros.-era studio albums from 1977 to 1979: Novella, A Song for All Seasons, and Azure D’Or. Together, they capture the band’s gradual shift toward a more accessible sound without abandoning their symphonic roots.
Released in 1977, Novella marked the band’s UK debut on Warner Bros. The band was led by vocalist Annie Haslam, the classic lineup, Michael Dunford (acoustic guitar), John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass, vocals), and Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion). They delivered masterful, expansive symphonic suites such as “Can You Hear Me?” and “Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep).” Novella charted in the U.S. Top 50 and helped broaden their audience in the UK.
The 1978 follow-up, A Song for All Seasons, proved a commercial breakthrough. It featured the beautiful hit single “Northern Lights,” a Top 10 success in the UK and across Europe, the album was also well received in Japan. Produced by David Hentschel (Genesis), it is considered one of the band’s most polished and enduring works.
Azure D’Or (1979), the weakest of the three recordings from a progressive rock perspective, saw Renaissance embrace a more mainstream, hooky, pop-leaning production, again with Hentschel at the helm. This album also marked the end of the group’s classic lineup.
The Opening Out – The Albums 1977–1979 booklet contains insightful extensive liner notes with candid comments by Annie Haslam and other members of the band, along with group photos and artwork from the three albums.
Track Listing
Disc One
Novella
1 Can You Hear Me?
2 The Sisters
3 Midas Man
4 The Captive Heart
5 Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep)
Disc Two
A Song for All Seasons
1 Opening Out
2 Day of the Dreamer
3 Closer Than Yesterday
4 Kindness (At the End)
5 Back Home Once Again
6 She is Love
7 Northern Lights
8 A Song for All Seasons
Disc Three
Azure D’Or
1 Jekyll and Hyde
2 The Winter Tree
3 Only Angels Have Wings
4 Golden Key
5 Forever Changing
6 Secret Mission
7 Kalynda (A Magical Isle)
8 The Discovery
9 Friends
10 The Flood at Lyons
Bonus track
11 Island of Avalon (B-side of single)