On Renaissance's fourth album, released in 1973, the band, led by Annie Haslam's unmistakable voice, Jon Camp's sinuous bass, and John Tout's magnificent Renaissance-inspired keyboards, demonstrates a clear and solid shift towards symphonic folk rock.
In this work, the band achieved the necessary maturity to showcase the perfect balance between folk, rock, and classical music.
From the opening track, "Can You Understand", Renaissance perfectly demonstrates the appealing synthesis of folk music and symphonic rock, emulating the philosophy of classical music with a powerful emphasis.
This track shows influences from Russian classical composers such as Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. The sweet ballad "Let It Grow" showcases Annie Haslam's vocal excellence in a state of grace, while the arranged and acoustic "On the Frontier" leaves us with that lingering taste that the band has for Renaissance music.
The melodic and orchestral "Carpet of the Sun" gives way to the more ambitious "At The Harbour", which together with the closing "Ashes Are Burning", in which Wishbone Ash guitarist Andy Powell participates with a superb guitar solo, are the most progressive moments of one of the most brilliant albums of the British group, which would culminate with the later and outstanding "Turn of the Cards" and "Scheherazade and Other Stories".
