Renaissance - A Song for all Seasons (Apenas R$ 12,00)

A Song for all Seasons (Apenas R$ 12,00)

Tracklist:
01. Opening Out
02. Day of the Dreamer
03. Closer than Yesterday
04. Kindness (At the End)
05. Back Home Once Again
06. She Is Love
07. Northern Lights
08. A Song for All Seasons

Total time: 44:40

There were a lot of changes going on in the Renaissance camp when they entered Trident Studios in the winter of 1977 to record 'A Song for All Seasons'. 

They had left BTM in the wake of 'Novella' and signed with Warner Brothers Records, a move that along with a management change (Miles Copeland out, John Scher in) presumably gave them access both to better representation and better studio conditions. 

As part of this change the band were also persuaded to take on a producer in the form of David Hentschel. 

Hentschel was best known for transforming Elton John ('Goodbye Yellow Brick Road') into a mainstream superstar, as well as for overseeing the dismantling of the progressive version of Genesis. 

This could have spelled trouble for fans of the band's progressive music, but in the end resulted in arguably their best album yet.

The group was also experimenting with electric guitar again, something that would become a major part of their sound as the decade wound to a close. 

Thankfully Michael Dunford's spacious acoustic guitar sound remained well-represented on this album, particularly on the shorter works like "Closer than Yesterday", "Back Home Once Again" and the album's mega-hit "Northern Lights". 

In a welcome change the band reverted to heavy use of synthesized orchestral arrangements on this record, something they would rapidly move back away from on subsequent albums but used quite effectively here. 

ELO conductor and keyboardist Louis Clark led the arrangements, most of which were actually performed by band keyboardist John Tout. 

And finally, this album marks the beginning of a shift away from lyricist Betty Thatcher in favor of collaborations between bassist Jon Camp and Dunford, as well a greater presence of the sort of extensive instrumental passages that marked the band's early records.