I knew two things about British folkie prog rock group Renaissance:

1) I loved the rollicking 1978 single Northern Lights. Annie Haslam’s soaring vocals were a great counterpoint to all the punk around at the time. I bought the single.

2) As a big Yardbirds fan at university, I knew after the group broke up, vocalist Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty formed Renaissance with Relf’s sister Jane whilst Jimmy Page went off on his own and formed Led Zeppelin.

I’d never been curious enough to link these two facts. I knew Relf electrocuted himself in 1976 so he couldn’t have been part of the Northern Lights set up. And that’s where things stood until Christmas.

Occasionally YouTube throws something interesting at you. I was probably down a Yardbirds wormhole a few days ago and then YouTube threw ‘Kings and Queens’ from Renaissance’s first album at me. It shows a hippy-ish Keith Relf playing guitar, with his sister singing, Jim McCarty whacking the skins, some prominent piano work on a long prog-rock type song. Interesting but not really my scene.

Later, whilst I was in the bath, I asked Amazon to shuffle songs by Renaissance. Again, diverting but not really my scene. Until one song came on - Face of Yesterday - which I thought was interesting enough to put on a playlist. A playlist I listened to whilst walking up Wolstonbury Hill. Yes, this confirmed it, Face of Yesterday was my new favourite song!

It’s a dreamy ballad with classical influences and some excellent scat vocalism

And this is where things get a little murky.

Face of Yesterday was recorded in 1970 for the album Illusion. It’s Jane Relf singing. But YouTube threw another curve ball at me; the video of the band shows quite a different lady singing the song. She has a completely different voice - lower, maybe more timorous but compelling nethertheless. And this lady is an absolute stunner! And also, she’s not Annie Haslam. A third female vocalist…

Well, it appears the vocalist on the video is Binky Cullom. And the band? They’re all new guys too and none of the original five appear in the video. How’s that even possible? Well, it seems that Relf, Relf, McCarty et al one by one dropped out during 1970 during the recording of Illusion. Relf and McCarty remained interested enough to recruit new musicians to replace them. And they did. Five times.

So, the six members of Renaissance on the video of 1970 touring the Illusion album are not the original five. Clear?

Not finished yet.

Over the next year, next month for Binky, five of the six also left. New members, came and went until 1972/1973 when the Renaissance that I knew, the Northern Lights Renaissance with Annie Haslam, came into being. This lineup was stable and lasted for years and produced a certain sound built around Annie’s vocals. But it was different sound. And a different group.

Final plot twist, four of the original five, minus Keith Relf, as he was dead, got together again in 1977. But as another group had the Renaissance name, they called themselves Illusion, yes, after that chaotic second album where they all walked out first time.

And what Renaissance song did Illusion re-record? Face of Yesterday!