Her voice!!! RENAISSANCE - MOTHER RUSSIA Reaction - First time hearing

[@garybrown3361]

In their masterpiece, “Scheherazade and Other Stories”, you are treated to a Progressive Rock Opera where she shines and her soprano upper range is in full display, especially at the climax. JUST WOW!!!!!!

[@jimmyjameson8705]

Its about imprisoned russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn...Annie is an angel from heaven

[@joelford5159]

Of course it is.

[@hxgvchess5164]

Does KZbin let you edit comments? "Aleksandr." With an "s."

[@jamestaylor2920]

She has a once in a lifetime voice, five octave range with poise and presence, powerful enough to project above such a collection of master musicians, so clear and crisp that you can hear the Russian ice freezing solid. I was introduced to Renaissance in the summer of 1981. I am so very thankful for friends that exposed a young 18 year old to such experiences. That was 41 years ago. I mourn their loss everytime I hear Renaissance and I remember all those good times. "Ocean Gypsy where are you, The shadows followed by the stars Have turned to gold, turned to gold"

[@kentclark6420]

How is Carly doing these days?

[@jamestaylor2920]

@@kentclark6420 better than Lois as the actresses playing opposite of George Reeves and Christopher Reeve are both dead. Surprisingly George and Christopher are also both dead. Coincidence, I think not.

[@williamosborne6866]

This beautiful track is a tribute to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was banished from Russia by the Communist regime for his writings. Another incredible song, not mentioned very often, is "Can You Understand": kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3fFgYuLr7KWl80

[@briane5706]

Lyrics by Betty Thatcher, music by Michael Dunford. R.I.P. to them and Keyboardist John Tout.

[@leoscone4036]

I saw a lot of great concerts in the late seventies: Yes, Genesis, Frank Zappa, Gentle Giant. But only once did I ever have front row center seats. And that was for Renaissance. Annie Haslam was absolutely phenomenal, swaying in her flowing dress, that pristine voice effortlessly coming through her, just fifteen feet away. Wonderful band. Blessings.

[@lisarainbow9703]

Annie Haslan has an amazing voice, indeed. "Ashes are Burning" is another great song by Renaissance.

[@MisterWondrous]

Renaissance, like Dead Can Dance after them, never bothered to write bad songs. You can play anything by them and I will be here to listen to it. I've memorized most of their songs. Thanks for being such a formidable lion king of music. "Kiev" another timely song of theirs. Look up "Gulag Archipelago". Peace on Earth.

[@glenonoko4918]

Harri - yes do indeed consider doing the Renaissance song "Kiev" Very timely, and I think you will be blown away by the song. It's also one where the bass player sings the lead and Annie sings harmony.

[@RandyHall324]

Love this one so much! Annie's voice is sublime, and the musicianship is top notch.

[@bobduerwald9805]

Congratulations Harri! You found Renaissance. They were big in the early 70's. Most of their concerts were in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania area. I saw them 3 times.. never disappointed. On their studio albums Annie's voice is always crystal clear. Try Ashes Are Burning, At The Harbor, The Sisters, and the magnificent Song Of Scheherazade.

[@joelliebler5690]

I saw them at The Bottom Line in the early 1980’s!

[@kentclark6420]

I saw them in Seattle, late 70s, at the Paramount Theater. A beautiful, majestic opera house.

[@tommhill9948]

Saw them in college…and again, plus talked to them on the Moody Blues cruise in 2017, 41 years later. So grateful for their music all my life!

[@kentclark6420]

I'm so glad a few reactors are bringing such an underrated group to light. Shout out to reactors like Harri and justJP!

[@gerwinpot4230]

See Doug Helvering...he also had an interview with Annie last year + did Sheherazade...

[@jackcade68]

Seriously! Any reactor that presents this kind of unappreciated genius on his channel should be cherished.

[@Barbus1959]

I saw them live several times in the late 70s, way better live with solos from different band members and even an orchestra backing them at the Royal Albert Hall, fond memories of a bygone time. Thanks for reviewing them and rekindling them.

[@kentclark6420]

@@gerwinpot4230 I have seen his Renaissance reactions, and interview, and Doug is a talented musician, too! It's replies that I missed!

[@williameckert1623]

They also do a song called Kiev. Given what is going on in the world today you should check it out.

[@randidennis7790]

Yep...written by Jim McCarty and Betty Thatcher. And when one hears the lyrics, one will see it is apt to now.

[@lisarainbow9703]

If I recall correctly, this is a tribute to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famed Russian author & dissident who was imprisoned....

[@pauldover1403]

It's based on "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" which was written by Solzhenitsyn and based on his own prison camp experiences. Lyrics by Betty Thatcher.

[@lisarainbow9703]

@@pauldover1403 Thank you, I still recall reading that novel in high school--- it was rather profound.

[@joelliebler5690]

Yes that is basically what it is about and how the Soviets controlled the citizens!

[@paullavan3097]

Annie always sang in bare feet. She needed that freedom I guess. But my God, what a voice. Perhaps even THE voice.

[@michaelmeyerson5051]

Renaissance is my all time group. They often toured and played with orchestras. All of their albums have orchestras on them. Please react to Scherazade from their Live at Carnegie Hall album. It's 26 minutes in length, but it's a class. Thanks and peace be with you.

[@karensilvera6694]

I've seen them twice and the hair just goes up on my back and stays there for the whole concert.

[@daviddemar551]

The song is about dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn.On the band's 1977 double LP Live at Carnegie Hall Annie Haslam introduced the song and said it was about him before she sang the song. The aforementioned album is fantastic. I recommend that you also react to Scheherazade or Ashes Ashes Are Burning. At the Carnegie Hall Concert the band performed with a full symphony orchestra.

[@hdebard]

yes , we grew up with these dissidents of the USSR

[@angelicamarch3407]

Renaissance!!! Wonderful Band!!! Annie Haslam, Yes!!!

[@rakjr6]

70's progressive album rock. No radio-friendly 3 minute songs here. Yes, heavy classical music influence and a very talented group of musicians. I am ancient enough to have seen them live.

[@TheoZoffrok]

I'm with you about their excellence as a band. One small note however - they *did* manage to have one hit (in the UK at least) with a radio-friendly 3 (or maybe 4) minute song, the very lovely Northern Lights.

[@joelliebler5690]

Symphonic progressive!

[@kentclark6420]

@@TheoZoffrok Wasn't Carpet of the Sun a hit over there?

[@TheoZoffrok]

@@kentclark6420 Not released as a single in the UK, as far as I can see. It was in the USA, but didn't trouble the chart compilers.

[@LuvWFT]

This band even in the 70's was overlooked. however they were some of the best musicians at that time and Annie's voice is beautiful. funny she lives about 30 min from me now and gives a Christmas concert every year.

[@michaelmeyerson5051]

I too live nearby. Annie is still touring par5 time with the current version of Renaissance. And many shows feature a chamber orchestra. I last saw Annie last October at the Keswick Theater. It was a celebration of her 75th b.

[@greybeard2280]

Yes Harri my friend, you did a reaction to "Can you Understand?" by Renaissance back in December requested by me...lol! Renaissance is my favorite folk/prog rock band next to Curved Air. I can take this one off my future request list...lol. There is still so much to show you with this group my friend. John Tout (pianist) was amazing in this track, and of course Annie's beautiful vocals. I love that you got a chance to react to this one. Whether in studio or live Renaissance is the best!

[@paullavan3097]

Annie Haslam has one of the greatest voices I have ever heard. Just spellbinding.

[@djpoopypants4741]

Very important song in my childhood

[@edwardallen4051]

Fabulous live band back in the day

[@williameckert1623]

Saw them several times. Outstanding!

[@greybeard2280]

Annie Haslam is still touring with Renaissance, and she hasn't lost it. Amazing woman in her 70's, and still has the 5 octave voice going.

[@michaelhogan6770]

Perfect pitch and control with little or no vibrato. I saw them live many times in the Philly area, including the Academy of Music (wow, they made the hair on my arms stand up). There is none quite like her or even nearly skilled vocal wise.

[@dsusan17]

The beginning the piano and guitar are beautiful and delicate. Her voice is lovely. Your analysis is spot on Harri.

[@clannad99germany70]

The song was about Archipel Gulag and Solzhenitsyn, a political prisoner and writer in the USSR then, 70ies. Annie had a beautiful voice, even not very known in Europe and the US, and of course even not here in Germany, Renaissance was one of my all time ProgRock favorite bands, I bought the first album in summer 1973 on a vacation in the Netherlands, called "Prologue", and I just loved this kind of "classical driven" Rock, ProgRock fairytalish music of that UK Band. Annie lives since long near Philadelphia, US. Michael Dunford, the master mind of that band passed away in 2012 I guess.

[@johntiggleman4686]

The studio version has so much more orchestration and dramatic sound.

[@DavidTateVA]

I got hooked on Renaissance at college in the early '80s. They had several very distinct periods/styles, but I loved them all. Early stuff like the eponymous album; middle stuff like Ashes are Burning and Scheherezade and Turn of the Cards; later stuff like A Song for All Seasons and Azure d'Or. And oh my word I was in love with Annie Haslam. I would tag them as "Orchestral Rock" as opposed to prog; but then nobody is really prog if you compare them to Gentle Giant or groups like that...

[@TheoZoffrok]

I *love* this band, for the reasons you give: superb musicianship, sublime singing from Annie Haslam, always engaging songs. One of the things that Renaissance stand out is that Annie Haslam is one of a *vanishingly* rare breed: women in prog! I mean, who else is there, apart from perhaps Sonja Christina from Curved Air?

[@pauldover1403]

Nightwish can be very proggy. Floor Jansen is very much female. Try listening to "All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World" kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJ-ylYRrjLONgM0

[@TheoZoffrok]

@@pauldover1403 I'll be honest, I've never heard Nightwish, so you may be right; however, two points: firstly, I was thinking more about what could loosely be called the Golden Age of Prog, ie the 1970s; secondly, Wikipedia's entry for Nightwish strongly suggests that they are squarely a metal band!

[@pauldover1403]

@@TheoZoffrok Hi, listen to that link and tell me it's metal as people normally understand it. There is a considerable amount of overlap with some bands.

[@georgespiggott1515]

Annie Haslam posted on her page that Renaissance and Curved Air will be performing three shows in Brazil June 2022.

[@78yestor93]

Azeem Ali Khan - Annie is not rare she is unique since with Renaissance back in the 70s they singularly pioneered Symphonic Rock!!

[@famat161]

Good choice. "Can You Understand" is wonderful, sublime, etc. Folks out there. Which song of theirs ends with Annie singing a note that's way up there in the stratosphere?

[@stephaniethurmer5370]

Ashes Are Burning Live from Carnegie Hall album

[@Bill-en7kw]

Also song of shaharizad

[@brucefelger4015]

AlexanderSolzhenitsyn Russian novelist

[@williameckert1623]

Exactly! That is who the song is about.

[@noahwaterman1796]

Profound lyrics and singing with the soul of the land history

[@anthonybalistreri5226]

Annie is an amazing talent.

[@johntaggart8270]

I’ve just watched this video. Always interesting to hear other musicians’ (particularly classical musicians’) opinions of pieces like this. Mother Russia is a fine piece, with highlights for me of the fine vocals, bass guitar line, and complentary piano chords with little flourishes.

[@pencilpauli9442]

Very much prog rock with a strong classical leaning. Beautiful playing by all but loved John Tout's touch on the piano. Please check out: Ashes are Burning Things I Don't Understand Ocean Gypsy and any other Renaissance track! lol

[@laurabrevitz3944]

My first introduction to Renaissance was "Song of Scheherazade," a truly wonderful album. Not a bad song on it.

[@marieke1521]

Saw Renaissance in the late 1970s (while at University) when they performed a concert in Atlanta. They were amazing - and Annie's voice was crystal clear! Always one of my favorite groups, they got a lot of airplay on Auburn University's radio station at the time.

[@klat2baraada579]

The song was written for the benefit of a Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He was an outspoken dissident, and was imprisoned for years in a Russian gulag, for the crime of writing private letters criticizing Stalin and the Soviet system, and almost died there. The song was written to bring attention to his plight and add to public pressure for Russia to release him, which they eventually did.

[@alanberger6176]

Annie hurt hit her back and was wearing a back brace one of the several times I saw them in concert. Couldn’t tell the difference. Bonus fact: Annie has at least 1 album with Steve Howe (YES), and was considered as a replacement when Jon Anderson left Yes

[@BazzFreeman]

It's so nice to see younger people discovering this music. This is the stuff I grew up with, rock and roll to get the blood pumping, and this perfection in sound. And no autotune :) Love the jacket, by the way.

[@melissabrooke1146]

Wow, new to me!

[@markhehir7253]

This song is a tribute to Russian fiction writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who had been forced by the USSR government to leave the Soviet Union earlier in 1974. This song, along with most of Renaissance's material was written by Betty Thatcher, who is a British poet and lyricist who was invited by former Renaissance members Keith and Jane Reif to be the band's lyricist.

[@joelliebler5690]

They are a symphonic progressive rock band back in the 1970’s and became just rock with a hint of progression later after their incredible keyboard player left the band! The song is indeed how The Soviet Union controlled their people lithe way Ras-Putin is doing today! A masterpiece by them is Ashes Are Burning, And another one showing Annie’s vocals is Carpet of The Sun.

[@paulrosenberg4227]

Saw them live in Red Rocks. Magic. Annie's voice? Ethereal.

[@daviddemar551]

Omfg you saw them at Red Rocks!!!!! That must have been beyond amazing. To be honest I'm a little jealous.But more importantly, I'm very happy for you.😮

[@paulrosenberg4227]

@@daviddemar551 a special night under the summer sky and stars...one of my best concert experiences ever. Tx man!

[@randidennis7790]

May I recommend reviewing their last two albums, 'Tuscany ' and 'Grenadine il Vento' . While neither sold well, both were amazing return to form, for them, with new musicians.

[@cojaysea]

Interesting pick !

[@phillebo]

What a voice! Preternatural.

[@ememnicholas565]

Been listening to this band and album since a good friend gave it to me back in the mid 70's. Her voice sounds like they picked it up off the recorded album version of this song, it is almost exact. What's this song about? Harri, have you read any Russian history?

[@randidennis7790]

Being a longterm fan of Renaissance, I can tell you that Annie Haslam's voice is for real. No matter the material, she brings it....and is still doing so now, in her 70's. Not many can do that....

[@stephaniethurmer5370]

This song is about the Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[@kevinlese633]

One of my favorite bands

[@sheldonwheaton881]

At the Harbour, The Sisters are great songs!

[@gailmcgarry5852]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is what it's about from what I understand

[@janicemartell1211]

Renaissance great band. I am not sure how people first heard of them, since most of their songs were long. They definitely didn't get the air play they deserved. I am listening to this two years after it was first posted. It has been 100+degrees for a couple of weeks where I am at; hence the only thing I am not enjoying is seeing that jacket you have on-I am hot just looking at you LOL.

[@paulhooton6261]

I'd put in my 5cents worth for Ocean Gypsy

[@wallacecallow2255]

I hope you'll have time with all your zillions of requests to do another Renaissance reaction. They have SO many great classic songs. 'Day of the Dreamer', 'Can you hear Me', 'Ashes are Burning', to name a few.

[@karlmoles6530]

Red blood, white snow, he knows frozen rivers won't flow.

[@Warloo100]

It's about the Russian writer Alexander Soshenizin who got locked up in a Gulag for years back in the Soviet Union,. He later got released and emigrated, if I remember correctly, to the UK. That was back in the 70's.

[@windnchgo]

The song is about and in support of Russian author and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn

[@mikehale6235]

Hi Harri, My favorite is Day of the Dreamer on the later Song for all Seasons album. I am not aware of a taped live performance of this one but the studio version is great.

[@wgdavis5353]

Hi Mr. Harri, I am not the expert, I think it would be Ren, sounds like Ben, you know.. ♠W.G.

[@julilla1]

Ah, very pretty. When I saw the title I thought you were doing the Sisters of Mercy song. Nope, very different! 😄

[@SalManila1]

YOU SHOULD LISTEN To Running Hard Renaissance!

[@peterbarvoets8912]

her voive has a five octive range.

[@Tsongkapa1]

Its about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the dissident writer who would up in a gulag. Imprisoned for one's art.

[@tonyrock5313]

listen to Carpet of the sun Renaissance

[@famat161]

When I click on "Ashes are Burning" I am brought to "Mother Russia" rather than Ashes are Burning. Something is wacky.

[@barrywhite3467]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3OYaGuCqr2Vhqs The concert this came from

[@RoaryJP]

Annie is an amazing vocalist. But I can't be the only one that hears Veruca Salt singing "I Want It Now" whenever I hear Annie sing.

[@JohnReitz-ps2ct]

More music from and for them uncool boomers...

[@jdhill9730]

Progressive Rock is not a great platform for female vocalist. This is a major exception.