Renaissance – Ashes Are Burning

Biography
Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, best known for their 1978 UK top 10 hit “Northern Lights” and progressive rock classics like “Carpet of the Sun”, “Mother Russia”, and “Ashes Are Burning”. They developed a unique sound, combining a female lead vocal with a fusion of classical, folk, rock, and jazz influences. Characteristic elements of the Renaissance sound are Annie Haslam’s wide vocal range, prominent piano accompaniment, orchestral arrangements, vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser, and versatile drum work. The band created a significant following in the northeast United States in the 70s, and that region remains their strongest fan base.
The original line-up included two former members of The Yardbirds, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, along with John Hawken, Louis Cennamo and Relf’s sister Jane Relf. They intended to put “something together with more of a classical influence”. Renaissance was born, and the band released a studio album in 1969, and another in 1971. Subsequently, John Tout replaced Hawken on keyboards, followed by a period of high turnover of musicians until the “classic line-up” of Haslam, John Tout, Michael Dunford, Jon Camp, and Terry Sullivan was established, although none of them was in the original band. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_(band)

Album & Cover
Ashes Are Burning is the fourth studio album by the British progressive rock band Renaissance, released in 1973. It was the first of several Renaissance albums to feature an orchestra playing along with the band on some songs. Michael Dunford, who had been working with Renaissance in a composer-only role, had rejoined the band by the time this album was released. However, he wasn’t officially part of the band when the album package was designed, so he doesn’t appear in the cover photos and is listed as a guest musician. The song “Can You Understand?” uses a quote from “Tonya and Yuri Arrive at Varykino”, a theme from Maurice Jarre’s score for Doctor Zhivago. According to David Samuel Barr, a friend of the band who wrote the liner notes for the Tales of 1001 Nights compilation, Dunford had thought this melody to be a public domain Russian folk tune. Because of confusion over the Jarre quote, some live collections (including Live at the Royal Albert Hall : King Biscuit Flower Hour Vol. 1 and some unauthorized releases) mistakenly credit “Can You Understand?” entirely to Jarre. “Can You Understand?” is also cited by Jon Camp as being a case where he and John Tout made major compositional contributions without being credited for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_Are_Burning

Not much to say about this album cover… not very Hipgnosis.

Cover Location:
Who Did What: Photography – A. Powell
Label: Capitol ST-11216(US), Sovereign SVNA 7261(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Music By – Michael Dunford
Arranged By [Strings] – Richard Hewson
Bass, Guitar, Vocals – John Camp
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Terence Sullivan
Engineer [Assistant] – Richard Goldblatt
Keyboards, Vocals – John Tout
Liner Notes – Chris Welch
Lyrics By [Poem] – Betty Thatcher
Producer, Arranged By [Music] – Renaissance
Producer, Engineer – Dick Plant
Vocals – Annie Haslam