Over the last few years, Cherry Red Records' Esoteric arm has delivered deluxe editions of many classic Renaissance albums. The imprint recently turned the spotlight on the band's more recent work on-stage with Tour 2011: Live in Concert, a deluxe 2-CD/DVD set. The legendary band gained acclaim in the '70s for their string of prog gems, including Prologue (1971), Ashes Are Burning (1973), Turn of the Cards (1974), Scheherazade and Other Stories (1975), and Novella (1977). The classic line-up
Esoteric Recordings, the progressive rock arm of Cherry Red, has built a reputation for excellent reissues of prog classics, some once-overlooked and others legendary favorites. Among those landmark recordings that have received the Esoteric treatment is Renaissance's Live at Carnegie Hall. The 1976 release became one of the defining live albums of the decade and has recently been newly remastered and expanded to a 3-CD set as part of the label's ongoing Renaissance reissue series. Live at
Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint has continued its series of clamshell box sets exploring a particular period or genre in rock history with a new set dedicated to one of the U.K.'s most fertile periods. The 3-CD Lullabies for Catatonics: A Journey Through the British Avant-Pop/Art Rock Scene 1967-74 offers 49 nuggets at the intersection of pop and rock, psychedelia and pastoral folk, prog and glam, famous and unknown. Following up previous volumes like I'm a Freak Baby, Dust on the Nettles, and
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! We kick off with not one, but two, releases from The Zombies! The Zombies, The Complete Studio Recordings (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are being celebrated this week with two comprehensive vinyl box sets - one for the U.S., and one for the U.K. market. The 5-LP, 61-track U.S. version, from Varese Vintage, includes the band's two American albums in mono - She's Not
February promises to be a packed month for music fans, as Esoteric brings listeners a new, expanded reissue of Renaissance's 1973 classic, Ashes Are Burning, as well as a reissue of The Byrds, the reunion album by the legendary folk-rock group. Also on the way are reissues of Tear Gas's self-titled album, an expanded edition of Greenslade's Time and Tide, and a new 3-CD set called Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968. Meanwhile, Esoteric's Reactive imprint will issue a 4-CD set
Originally formed by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, Renaissance underwent many line-up changes before they became the jazz-inspired progressive folk act that brought us the classic Ashes Are Burning. Featuring vocalist Annie Haslam, John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass, vocals), Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion) and Michael Dunfor on guitar, Ashes Are Burning was Renaissance's breakthrough album. With classics like "Can You Understand," "At The Harbour," and the epic,