Turn of the cards

Turn of the cards
Renaissance studio album
Publication (s)	May 1974
admission	1974
Label (s)	BTM Records (UK) Sire Records (US)
Format (s)	LP
Genre (s)	Art rock , progressive rock
Title (number)	6th
running time	40:55 min
occupation	Singing: Annie Haslam Keyboards, background vocals: John Tout Bass, vocals: Jon Camp Drums, percussion : Terence Sullivan Acoustic guitar, backing vocals: Michael Dunford
production	Dick Plant Richard Gottehrer Renaissance
Studio (s)	De Lane Lea Studios , Wembley
chronology Ashes Are Burning (1973) Turn of the cards Scheherazade and Other Stories (1975)
Single release 1974 Mother Russia / I Think of You released in the US only

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Turn of the cards   US 94 11/02/1974 (21 weeks)

Turn of the Cards is the fifth studio album by the British progressive rock group Renaissance . It was recorded and released in 1974.

background

Turn of the Cards was the first release from BTM (British Talent Managers) Records. The label was founded by Miles Copeland III , who was already the producer of Prologue . All pieces on the record are identified as being the work of Michael Dunford and Betty Thatcher, but this is incorrect.

Things I Don't Understand is a song by Michael Dunford and Jim McCarty that was played in concerts long before the album was released. On the US release from the Sire label, it is correctly identified as a work by Dunford / McCarty.

Running Hard's intro corresponds to the piece Litanies by Jehan Alain . Cold is Being based on the Adagio that Tomaso Albinoni is attributed. The notes on the CD released in 1994 by Repertoire Records read: "Thanks to Albinoni for Cold is Being, and also thanks to Jehan Alain for the opening piano of Running Hard."

Mother Russia was written in tribute to the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn , who was expelled from the Soviet Union in February 1974 . The text is inspired by Solzhenitsyn's first work, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich .

The orchestral arrangements are by Jimmy Horowitz.

Track list

page 1

1. Running Hard - 09:36
2. I Think of You - 03:08
3. Things I Don't Understand - 09:28

Page 2

1. Black Flame - 06:25
2. Cold Is Being - 03:02
3. Mother Russia - 09:18

Reviews

“Opened from a long piano intro,“ Turn Of The Cards ”develops into another exciting journey into the microcosm of this British band of gods. They may not be as bombastic as YES, not always as catchy as KANSAS, with fewer hits like GENESIS; but compositionally / dramaturgically they play in their league! There are not even electric guitars and still an old Metalhead like me keeps dropping the jaws. "

- Ralf Henn on metal-observer.com

“The highlight of this album and one of the best Renaissance titles ever is the closing" Mother Russia ", a song about Alexander Solzhenitsyn (" Archipel Gulag "), who was expatriated from the Soviet Union in 1974. It's not always just dragons and elves that are dealt with in the prog ... "Mother Russia" contains some elements of Russian folklore to match this topic. "

- Jochen Rindfrey on babyblaue-seiten.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mother Russia b / w I Think of You , discogs.com, accessed September 6, 2012.
2. ↑ Charts US
3. ↑ There are not even electric guitars , metal-observer.com, accessed on September 6, 2012.
4. ↑ one of the best renaissance titles ever is the final "Mother Russia" , babyblaue-seiten.de, accessed on September 6, 2012.

Web links

• Turn of the Cards at Allmusic (English)
• Turn of the Cards on Discogs
• Reviews of Turn of the Cards on the Babyblauen Seiten