Illusion (Renaissance album)
| Illusion | ||||
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| Studio album by Renaissance | ||||
| Released | 1971 | |||
| Recorded | Spring/Summer 1970 | |||
| Studio | Olympic Studios and Island Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, symphonic rock | |||
| Length | 42:31 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Keith Relf | |||
| Renaissance chronology | ||||
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| Original UK release cover | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Illusion is the second studio album by the British progressive rock band Renaissance, released in 1971. It was originally released only in Germany and did not receive a wider release until 1973. It was first released in the UK in 1977, with a cover that had the original front and rear cover artwork swapped.
The original Renaissance line-up fell apart during the recording of this, their second album. Jim McCarty was the first to leave in 1970, when the band was about to start a European tour, because he hated to fly. Keith Relf and Louis Cennamo left next, subsequently forming the new group Armageddon. McCarty continued to be associated with Renaissance as a songwriter, however, receiving writing credits on the new band's first, second and third albums.
John Hawken kept the band going by recruiting new members, including Michael Dunford and Terry Crowe, former bandmates of his from The Nashville Teens. New bassist Neil Korner had previously been part of The New Vaudeville Band (though he did not appear on their big hit, "Winchester Cathedral".) This new line-up, which recorded "Mr. Pine", was one of several short-lived transitional line-ups that existed between the original one and the classic one featuring Annie Haslam.
"Mr. Pine" is the only track on a Renaissance album where members of the original line-up (Hawken, Jane Relf) are heard together with a member of the classic lineup (Dunford). It includes a theme that was later used in the far better-known Renaissance song "Running Hard" (from Turn of the Cards, 1974).
In order to complete the album, the (already disbanded) original line-up got back together, minus Hawken and plus guest keyboardist Don Shinn, to record "Past Orbits of Dust".
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