Novella

About

Taken from a very rare test pressing made by CBS Records in the months between Renaissance's departure from their original UK label 'BTM' and subsequent signing to Warner Brother. This is a glorious piece of progressive rock, with the unusual twist of having no electric guitar at all. The music is held together by precise orchestration and the sublime, sweet vocals of Annie Haslam. Novella was released in the USA and Canada in January 1977 on Sire Record. It was released by Warner Brothers in the UK in September 1977. The mismatch in dates occurred because the band's original UK label 'BTM' went bust. In order to release the album in the UK, they needed to find a label and distributor. Talks were held with CBS Records UK. This test pressing was made for a scheduled release in January 1977 on CBS. However the band never completed their contract with CBS and instead signed to Warner Brother. CBS no longer had the rights and therefore only test pressings exist of this CBS catalog number and there is now no reference to it in the CBS discographie. Quite separate from the contractual shenanigan, the sound quality on this test pressing was compromised by uneven playback on CBS' cutting machine, the azimuth (affecting accuracy of the stereo image in time) was incorrect. The resulting cut was very poor listening and Whether this had anything to do with CBS's decision to drop the band (or fail to sign them) we'll never know. However with the aid of digital editing techniques not available back in 1977, It's a very simple job to fix the azimuth error and it all sounds glorious now with Annie's voice bang central and the band in their proper locations in the stereo field. In another twist, the left-right locations are reversed in the eventual Warners cut. LP Track listing A1 - Can You Hear Me? (14:03) A2 - The Sisters (6:59) B1 - Midas Man (5:49) B2 - The Captive Heart (4:18) B3 - Touching Once (Is So Hard To Keep) (9:32) Personnel Acoustic Guitar - Jon Camp, Michael Dunford Orchestral Arrangements - Richard Hewson Bass - Jon Camp Drums - Terence Sullivan Keyboards - John Tout Lead Vocals - Annie Haslam Percussion - Terence Sullivan Vocals - John Tout, Jon Camp, Michael Dunford, Terence Sullivan Music by: Thatcher (tracks: A1, A2, B1), Tout (tracks: A2), Camp (tracks: A1, B2, B3), Dunford Recording details Recorded at De Lane Lea Music Centre, Wembley, November 1976. Mastered at De Lane Lea Music Centre, Wembley, December 1976. Engineer: Dick Plant Assistant Engineer: Barry Kidd Produced and arranged by Renaissance .

via Last.fm

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