Novella

about this album

Taken from a very rare test pressing made by CBS Records in the months between Renaissance's departure from their original UK label 'BTM' and subsequent signing to Warner Brothers. This is a glorious piece of progressive rock, with the unusual twist of having no electric guitar at all. The music is held together by precise orchestration and the sublime, sweet vocals of Annie Haslam. Novella was released in the USA and Canada in January 1977 on Sire Records. It was released by Warner Brothers in the UK in September 1977. The mismatch in dates occurred because the band's original UK label 'BTM' went bust. In order to release the album in the UK, they needed to find a label and distributor. Talks were held with CBS Records UK. This test pressing was made for a scheduled release in January 1977 on CBS. However the band never completed their contract with CBS and instead signed to Warner Brothers. CBS no longer had the rights and therefore only test pressings exist of this CBS catalog number and there is now no reference to it in the CBS discographies. Quite separate from the contractual shenanigans, the sound quality on this test pressing was compromised by uneven playback on CBS' cutting machine, the azimuth (affecting accuracy of the stereo image in time) was incorrect. The resulting cut was very poor listening and Whether this had anything to do with CBS's decision to drop the band (or fail to sign them) we'll never know. However with the aid of digital editing techniques not

tracks

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