(KEVIN RENICK reminisces and previews THE HISTORY OF RENAISSANCE, Starring Annie Haslam and Jim McCarty In Conversation and In Concert at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville IL, November 21 and 22)
In the musically rich 1970s, genres were starting to get codified more than ever: You had hard rock, classic rock, country and country-rock, folk, punk, the emerging thing called “new wave,” disco, the beginnings of rap, and of course electronic music with its infinite variations. Over half the receptive listeners out there became enthusiastic about what was quickly labeled early in the decade as “progressive rock,” a musically ambitious and often instrumentally complex sonic universe inhabited by groups such as Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Jethro Tull among others. A name not often enough included with these sonic titans is Renaissance, very likely the first prog ensemble to be fronted by a woman, that being the vocal powerhouse and uber-energetic Annie Haslam. While Haslam was not the first woman to perform in the band (that would be Jane Relf, who joined with brother Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty, both from the Yardbirds, and Nashville Teens keyboardist John Hawken to form the first incarnation of the British band), she joined in 1971 after the group’s first two spotty discs and became THE voice of Renaissance from then on with her amazing five-octave range. On truly magnificent ‘70s classics like ASHES ARE BURNING, TURN OF THE CARDS, SCHEHERAZADE AND OTHER STORIES, NOVELLA and SONG FOR ALL SEASONS, Haslam led her classically trained and ambitious cohorts to a rarefied place in the music business, building their audiences gradually and performing around the world. They sounded like nobody else, establishing a style conceived by McCarty and Relf as “fusing folk and classical influences with the bluesy rock they’d been playing” previously. The Bolton-born (Lancashire County) Haslam proved a perfect fit with guitarist/composer Michael Dunford, brilliant pianist John Tout, drummer Terry Sullivan and bassist Jon Camp. She’d auditioned for the band after a colleague showed her a MELODY MAKER ad from an “international pop group looking for a female singer.” Within just three weeks, she was on tour with her new comrades. “It felt right,” Haslam told me during a phone interview (and later answering a few email questions). “Jim McCarty was doing my audition at Island Records. And I got a warm feeling inside. I wasn’t really nervous. My nerves only came out on stage.”
In the period leading up to Renaissance, Haslam had done some cabaret singing locally, with one of her parents in attendance one night being heard to say “That’s my daughter, she’s better than Barbra Streisand, you know!” Her friend, Harold Miller, put her in touch with vocal coach Sybil Knight, who thought she had the chops to be an opera singer. She trained with Knight for a short time. “I had no idea what I wanted to do,” said Haslam. “There were a couple of people she wanted me to see. I was being told I could ‘probably be a big star.’ But… I wanted to get somewhere on my own merit.” After soaking up the influence of peers like Joan Baez and early Joni Mitchell (Haslam mentioned Joni’s “Michael From Mountains” as a personal favorite), Haslam got down to the serious work of letting her amazing voice and “perfectionist nature” propel the new Renaissance lineup forward.
“The touring was quite extensive when I first joined in 1971,” she said. “Within three weeks we were touring Germany, but I think the very wonderful surprise was that only four years later we were performing three sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic! The ‘70s were magical, with so many pioneers of new music, particularly what would be named as progressive rock, like Yes, Genesis, the Moody Blues and Renaissance.”
I tell Annie that the LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL album was my own introduction to the group, when a manager who was a fan played it in the record store I worked for at the time. She described the whole experience as magnificent. “It was hard to put into words,” she said. “We had gotten there in just four years! Everyone was dressed to the nines. I think we were using the Rolling Stones’ mobile unit. Everyone was filming in those days, but that was a mistake. We didn’t do it for some reason.”
Regardless, Renaissance had an evolving sound that had no peers at the time. Haslam credited Dunford as “the major writer,” and called Camp’s distinctive Rickenbacker bass “the sound of Renaissance.” It’s also worth mentioning lyricist Betty Thatcher’s role in the group’s compositions. She wrote many of the memorable songs during their ‘70s’ heyday. “Betty lived in Cornwall and first started as a poet. She became a friend of Jane Relf, the first original vocalist in Renaissance, and that was her introduction into songwriting. Betty was a quiet person, but came up with some incredibly beautiful and very interesting subject matters that were integral to our unique style of music.”
Any fan of “classic” Renaissance can speak of the distinctive and often epic nature of lengthy compositions such as “Mother Russia,” “Can You Understand” and “Ashes Are Burning,” all of which average roughly ten minutes, something quite common for “prog rockers.” The thrilling instrumental sections combined with Haslam’s soaring and immediately identifiable voice made for a sound that proved captivating and global in its reach. But, I remarked to Annie that many of their shorter songs were also perfectly crafted little pop gems. These would include “Carpet of the Sun,” the gorgeous early classic “Spare Some Love,” “I Think of You” and “Midas Man,” all personal favorites.
“’Spare Some Love’ was always a great ‘live’ song with a strong catchy melody,” Haslam said. “I wish now we had brought it back into the show, but it’s hard… as we have always been very fortunate to have so many songs to choose from when it’s time to go on the road. It was always difficult choosing which ones made it… ‘I Think of You’ is a simple love song that apparently has been used as a wedding song on many occasions. And ‘Midas Man’’ is one of my favorites about money and greed. I love the moodiness and drama, and a bit of darkness in there. It’s very atmospheric.” Haslam was very close to Dunford, and told me that the day after he passed away (November 20, 2012), she “woke up to my Bose radio/alarm with Michael Dunford playing the opening guitar chords to ‘Midas Man.’ It was a message from him for sure, and of course it made me cry.”
There is both strength and vulnerability in the Renaissance sound you hear in these songs, and her characterization of the “moodiness and drama, and a bit of darkness” in what the UK quintet conjured is more than apt. Though you have to be patient and listen closely sometimes, you can hear real poetry and a concern for the human condition permeating this music. Haslam comes across as someone truly tuned in to the big picture of life, and someone proud to make enduring music about it.
“It is timeless music,” she said. “Music is so profound, so lasting. It can change your whole life. From all the amazing fan letters and reviews we’ve gotten over the years… the feeling, the effect we’ve had on people. I’ve always thought it was about more than the music. And I’m not gonna pop off until I’ve done what I was supposed to do on this planet.”
Many other thoughts zoomed by as I chatted with Annie, and I knew I couldn’t get it all down. There was the story about her family having special seats to see her early on at the Royal Albert Hall, sessions doing “guide vocals” with Renaissance at a studio just a stone’s throw from Abbey Road, covering the Mary Hopkin classic “Those Were the Days” and meeting Bowie producer Tony Visconti, getting friend and music legend John Wetton into rehab when he was on a downward spiral from alcoholism, recording the Yes classic “Turn of the Century” with Steve Howe for a Yes tribute album, and much more. I let Annie go only reluctantly, as she had so much to say that was meaningful and personally resonant. Not to mention giving me crucial understanding of the story of a group I always loved but in some ways remains somewhat unheralded. Annie was regularly tossing off comments that I doubt I’ll forget.
“It has never been an easy world,” she said. “We need to evolve and do good things to keep the good going… ”
The historic Wildey Theatre in downtown Edwardsville, Illinois will present THE HISTORY OF RENAISSANCE, featuring Annie Haslam and Jim McCarty in conversation and music (the current Renaissance also features Rave Tesar (keyboards), Mark Lambert (guitars, and vocals), Geoffrey Langley (keyboards and vocals), John Galgano (bass and vocals), and Frank Pagano (drums, percussion and vocals) for two shows, Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22. Visit the Wildey Theatre web-site for further information and to purchase tickets.
