Prologue (Renaissance album)

Prologue
Cover design by Hipgnosis
Studio album by Renaissance
Released	October 1972
Recorded	June–July 1972
Studio	Nova Sound (London)
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	41:03
Label	Sovereign
Producer	Miles Copeland Renaissance
Renaissance chronology
Illusion (1971) Prologue (1972) Ashes Are Burning (1973)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Prologue is the third studio album by the English progressive rock band Renaissance, released in October 1972.^[2]

In 1972, Renaissance's then-new management disbanded the then current line-up (one of several short-lived transitional line-ups), retaining only ex-The Gentle People singer Annie Haslam and former Rupert's People keyboard player John Tout to build a new band around. The new members added at this point were bassist Jon Camp, drummer Terence Sullivan and guitarist Mick Parsons. Shortly thereafter, Parsons died in a car accident. Electric guitarist Rob Hendry was brought in at the last minute to replace him for the recording sessions of June and July 1972, and left the band soon after the album was completed.^[3]

Because Prologue was a new start for the band, with a line-up that now included none of the original members, it would frequently be referred to as their "first" album (for example, on the Live at Carnegie Hall album, both in a song intro and on the inside cover).

Though all the songs are Renaissance originals, they were not written by any current members of the band but by former members Jim McCarty (from the first line-up) and Michael Dunford (ex-Nashville Teens, from the transitional line-ups), along with lyricist Betty Thatcher. Dunford would become part of the band again after Hendry's departure, but was not officially a band member during the recording of Ashes Are Burning in 1973.

In 1978 Prologue was reissued, together with the following album Ashes Are Burning, as a double album called In the Beginning (Capitol Records, USA). The original double LP with gatefold sleeve included the complete Prologue, but one song from Ashes was edited. The 1988 CD version of In the Beginning (on one disc) had edited versions of "Rajah Khan" and of two songs from Ashes Are Burning.^[4] Prologue was re-issued on CD in its original form by Repertoire Records in 1995.

In 2018 Esoteric Recordings announced a re-mastered and expanded edition of the first Haslam era album which was released on the 28 September 2018.^[5]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.^[6]

• Annie Haslam - lead vocals (all except track 2), backing vocals, percussion
• Rob Hendry - electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, chimes, backing vocals
• John Tout - acoustic and electric keyboards, backing vocals, arrangements
• Jon Camp (listed as "John Camp") - electric bass guitar, lead vocals (track 2), backing vocals, tampoura, arrangements (uncredited)
• Terence Sullivan - drums, percussion

• Michael Dunford - arrangements
• Francis Monkman - VCS3 synthesizer solo on track 6

• Miles Copeland - producer, live photos
• Mike Weighell, Mick Glossop - engineers
• Hipgnosis and Ronchetti & Day - cover art