Renaissance - Turn of The Cards

 

Renaissance is one of the more symphonic prog rock bands from U.K. in the 70's. A little folky, a little classical, a little jazzy, and surprisingly a little poppy actually. I found a copy scratched to shit for a buck at my local record shop in the clearance bin and decided why not, the cover looks cool. The cover was done by Hipgnosis who created some of the most iconic covers of the 70's (Pink Floyd, ELO, Led Zeppelin). It sounds great despite the blemishes. The songs tend to be long, as most prog bands preferred, but Renaissance does an ace job of not falling into boring repetition or soggy soloing. Pretty relaxing stuff, like a mellow mix of Yes and the Dead with female vocals.