Renaissance: The Transitional Lineup

For those who are just getting into Renaissance, the lineup changes in the early years of the band are pretty confusing. Not just because of the amount of lineup changes in a short period of time, but also because there's simply not a lot of information out there on the subject. The process by which the original lineup of the band transformed into the well known "classic lineup" is something of a mystery for new listeners. I began listening to Renaissance totally blind, not knowing anything about the band. So imagine my surprise when after listening to the first two albums, and getting to know the original lineup, I discover this video:

Yup, that was definitely a Renaissance song, but...

Turns out this is just the most well known of many transitional lineups of the band. And this wasn't the only video either, there is a whole playlist of this Renaissance playing on Belgian TV here. Personally my favourites are the pretty (but too short) version of Face of Yesterday, and an awesome rocking version of Widdicombe Fair. 

An already established fan of Renaissance may recognize John Tout behind the piano, and Michael Dunford on the guitar, both of whom are a part of the future classic lineup of the band, but who are these other members? How did this lineup come to be and then fall apart? This blog post is dedicated to answering these questions, and analyzing this short lived version of Renaissance.  

The Origins of the Transitional Lineup

If you are unaware of the story behind the original lineup of the band's demise, then check out my previous blog post here. To be very Brief, the original five member lineup fell apart during the recording of their second album 'Illusion' in 1970. Guitarist/singer Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, and bassist Louis Cennamo all left in a rapid succession. Some may wonder why the band didn't just end there, and the answer is very likely obligations with Island Records.  Renaissance were required by contract to produce two albums, and at the very least, Illusion needed to be finished. It was now left to singer Jane Relf and pianist John Hawken to do this. However, they couldn't do it alone, new members would need to be recruited. 

 

Jane Relf and John Hawken would be the only original members of the band in this new lineup

Specifically, four roles needed to be filled: a male singer, a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. Hawken would draw mostly from members of his previous band The Nashville Teens to fill these. 

Michael Dunford

By far the most important member of all the transitional lineups, Michael Dunford entered as the band's new guitarist. In 1960 he and John Hawken had founded a band called 'The Cruisers Rock Combo'. Two years later, this band merged with two singers from a local rival band 'The Nashville Teens' to become...'The NEW Nashville teens'. However come 1963 Dunford had quit, which turned out to be a poor career decision as the Teens would go on to play with Jerry Lee Lewis on an acclaimed live album, and then have a smash hit with the song 'Tobacco Road'. In 1965, Dunford would form two bands 'The Plebs' and 'The Pentad' with another former Nashville Teen and future Renaissance singer Terry Crowe (more on him right below). 

Terry Crowe 

Crowe had also briefly been a member of the Nashville Teens in their early years, singing with them around the time they recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis in 1963. But like Dunford, he would leave right before the band would make it big with Tobacco Road. Afterwards he formed The Plebs with Dunford, but this project did not last long, with the band only recording one single before seemingly disbanding. Very fortunately, video footage of The Plebs does exist 

The Plebs with Terry Crowe on vocals and Michael Dunford on guitar

After the breakup of The Plebs, Crowe and Dunford formed The Pentad. Once again, the band issued one single before splitting. After this, Crowe and Dunford disappear from the historical record for the rest of the 60's and re-appear in 1970 when John Hawken would invite them to join Renaissance. 

Neil Korner

Bassist Neil Korner was another Nashville Teens alumni, though unlike Crowe and Dunford who had played with the band before the commercial success, Korner had joined well after it. Before becoming a Nashville Teen, he was a member of The New Vaudeville Band, playing on the album 'Winchester Cathedral' though he did not play on the famous title track. Afterwards, he joined the Nashville teens around 1968 and played with them a cover of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower'. 

Korner and John Hawken in the back left

Though he did not play with Crowe and Dunford while in the band, he would join them in 1970 as a member of Renaissance at the invitation of Hawken.

Terry Slade

Terry Slade was the odd man out in this new lineup, as he was not a member of the Nashville Teens like the others. He had been a session drummer before joining Renaissance. After leaving the band in 1971, he played with various British groups, most prominently the George Hatcher Band.

The Proto-Transitional Lineup (AKA: The Summer Lineup)

The first duty of this new lineup (which I will refer to as the summer lineup from here on to avoid confusion later in this post) consisting of Relf, Hawken, Crowe, Dunford, Korner, and Slade was to complete Illusion. To this end, they recorded a song written by Dunford: Mr. Pine. After recording was complete, it was decided that the band would embark on a European tour to support the new album, though it was not yet released.  In the summer of 1970, the band began the tour, playing mostly shows in Germany, where the first Renaissance album had been very successful. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a single photo of the summer lineup, but there is a live recording of them playing in Germany.

Though the recording is incomplete and the quality is not great, this gives some much needed insight as to how this version of the band sounded. They play 4 songs: 'Kings And Queens' from the debut album, 'Golden Thread' and 'Face Of Yesterday' from Illusion, and Widdicombe Fair, a traditional English song. The new members do a commendable job playing what are  relatively complex songs for a rock band. Korner in particular successfully emulates Louis Cennamo's bass paying, no easy task considering it was his sophisticated and loud style that drove Renaissance's songs. Slade also deserves a mention for his pure hard-hitting energy throughout. 

 I already mentioned Widdicombe Fair at the beginning of the blog post, but this song was never recorded or played by the original lineup of the band, so how did it end up becoming a part of the Summer lineup's set? Well, turns out Widdicombe Fair was a song played by the Nashville Teens. Though they never officially released a proper studio version of the song, it was a staple of their live shows, and an old demo version does exist. 

One listen will reveal that the arrangement is identical to the version played by Renaissance, and with that we can pretty easily deduce why this song was added to the their set: Hawken chose a song that he and the other three former members of the Teens would already know. 

Though there is no direct evidence, I speculate due to reasons stated later in this post, that 'Island' from the debut album, and Mr. Pine were also part of the band's set at this time.

The Departure of Relf and Hawken

During the tour, Jane Relf decided to leave the band due to both stress from the constant performing and the fact that her brother Keith was no longer in the band. A new singer needed to be found immediately to complete another leg of the tour.  

Anne-Marie "Binky" Cullom 

Binky Cullom was an American singer found on short notice, and would be Relf's replacement. There is very little information about her I've been able to find, and she doesn't seem to have been involved in any other musical projects besides her brief tenure in Renaissance. She would later marry drummer Terry Slade after leaving the band. 

No photos or live recordings exist of the band in this very short lived configuration. And once the tour was completed, Hawken too decided he would leave, joining Spooky Tooth on tour in support of their album 'The Last Puff'. However, Renaissance were still scheduled for more shows in Europe, So a suitable replacement was found for him.  

John Tout

 The man who would complete the transitional lineup was John Tout, who would later become part of the Classic Lineup and stay with the band until 1979. Though Tout was relatively unknown at the time of his joining, he could boast of playing with none other John Lennon on his 'Imagine' album, though incorrectly credited as a guitarist rather than a pianist. 

The Transitional Lineup (AKA: The Fall Lineup)

The only full promotional image of the band, courtesy of Renaissance Fanfare. Note the text in the bottom left reading "Renaissance II". 

Like the summer lineup that immediately proceed it, the new transitional lineup (which I will refer to as the fall lineup) seems to have exclusively played in Europe. The TV performance of the band was filmed in Belgium in  November of 1970. It's interesting to think that in January of the same year, the same band had been made up of entirely different members who also performed on German TV. 

The set the fall lineup plays on this program is also the same as the summer lineup, only the fall lineup also plays Mr. Pine. This leads me to believe that  Mr. Pine had probably also been part of the summer lineup's set, if not already for the reason that it was a song that all of them had recorded and would have been well rehearsed for live performances.  But this TV show is not the only glimpse at the fall lineup's sound, as we have another live recording, and this time, a complete one, from Bern Switzerland. 

The same set they played on TV, but with one more song: Island. Once again, this leads me to believe the song was performed with the summer lineup, and this would make a lot of sense for two more reasons: Island was the only single the band had released, and if not for Island, Jane Relf would have only had one lead vocal with Face of Yesterday. 

Regarding the two new members, Tout sticks as close to Hawken's piano playing as much as possible. Comparing it to the summer lineup recording, Tout is not quite as fluid and smooth as Hawken was, but this is pretty understandable considering he was not only new to the band, but easily had the hardest job of any member. Cullom however takes a different approach. She does not emulate Jane Relf's singing style and instead makes the songs her own. Listen to Face of Yesterday and you can hear how her cadence and emphasis on the syllables was different from Relf's. 

The End of the Transitional Lineup

The fall lineup came to end with the year of 1970, when Binky Cullom decided to leave. On January 1st, 1971, Annie Haslam became the new singer of the band, and not only continues to sing, but leads the band to this very day. This can be seen as a landmark in Renaissance's history, all of the original members were gone and the classic lineup would begin to take shape. Throughout 1971, the band would go through even more personnel changes which deserves a blog post of it's own. 

The band in 1971 with Annie Haslam

Temporary Band Theory 

Alright, this section is not a history and analysis like the rest of the post, rather this is a theory I came up with while doing research. And as a disclaimer, this is pretty much entirely conjecture, so take it how you will. My theory is that Renaissance, as a band, was not supposed to last after 1970, but was allowed to keep existing by Keith Relf and Jim McCarty. 

The catalyst for me coming up with this theory was a single sentence on John Hawken's old website (which can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine). When talking about his departure from the band, it says the following:

"John also worked to turn over the name Renaissance to the group who would fulfill all obligations and contracts still outstanding for the band." [referring to the fall lineup]

I found the phrasing here very interesting. The fall lineup was assembled solely with the purpose of fulfilling a few obligated tour dates, nothing more. Or at least that's how it sounds according to Hawken, the leader of the band at the time. But after he was gone, who was in charge of Renaissance? Let's backup for moment. With the original lineup, there can be no dispute that Keith Relf and Jim McCarty were the leaders of the band. Renaissance was born out of their acoustic folk project 'Together'; they had the fame from The Yardbirds; In the very early days of the band they were sometimes billed as "Keith Relf's Renaissance"; on both the debut and Illusion, they are the first two members of the band credited; and they were the songwriters of the band. 

Something that I mentioned in my pervious post about the band is that Relf and McCarty did not completely "quit" the band. It was always their intention to be involved in managing, producing, and songwriting for Renaissance. It's as if they were hoping to be like Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys. However, within the band itself, it's evident that Hawken became the de facto leader in their absence, and not just because the new members were his former bandmates. In an interview with Keith Relf in 1975, he says this regarding the breakup of the original band:

"we packed the band in and gave the pianist the name. He then kept it going for a couple of weeks and got his mates to join him. Then, he left the band and left his mates with it"

So Hawken owned the name Renaissance, at least after Relf and McCarty left. And he seems to have assembled the fall lineup with the assumption that the band was effectively finished and just needed to fill some outstanding tour dates. But who did the name go to after he had left? It would seem back to Relf and McCarty. Annie Haslam claims that both of them were present at her audition along with Dunford and Tout, but no Hawken was present. 

Another description of the band's breakup I discovered on the forums of Progachives from a user named 'Joolz'. Their post contains quotes supposedly from the band history section on Renaissance's old website, and it reads the following:

"After the Illusion album's drawn out completion and the European tour, Dunford and McCarty, still behind the scenes with Renaissance, continued to handle turnover in the band's lineup. Jane Relf quit after the tour completed in the fall of 1970 and was replaced by American female vocalist, Binky Cullom from late October to December 1970. John Hawken, dissatisfied with the new vocalist among other reasons, left to join Spooky Tooth and was replaced by keyboard player John Tout around the same time."

Now there is the problem of accuracy in this source. Reading the whole band history, it claims that Jim McCarty left the band because he hated to fly, and that Hawken wasn't present when the band recorded Mr. Pine. So I'm treating it with some skepticism and I think Hawken's website overall is more reliable. However that doesn't mean we can't find value in this band history. There are two points in particular which I would highlight. Firstly, Dunford's emphasized role in managing the band with McCarty. This seems likely to be true, both due to Dunford becoming the primary songwriter of the band, and his presence at Annie Haslam's audition. Secondly,  the reason behind Hawken's departure being conflict with Binky Cullom. This is not mentioned on Hawken's website, but that would make sense considering he probably didn't want to trash talk a former band mate from 40 years ago. 

So with all this information gathered, I think we can understand what happened to Renaissance in 1970. As effective leader of the band, Hawken assembled the summer lineup to support Illusion. Jane Relf left during the tour and was replaced by Binky Cullom. Possibly motivated by conflict with the new singer, he and Jim McCarty assembled the fall linuep with the assumption that they would disband after completing the outstanding tour dates. However, Relf and McCarty, along with the increasing influence of Michael Dunford decided to let the band continue into 1971 and beyond.