- Jon Camp -- bass, guitar backing vocals

- Louis Clark -- drums, percussion

- Dick Donovan -- keyboards

- Annie Haslam -- vocals

- Roy Wood -- everything

- Renaissance (Annie Haslam)

Genre: rock

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title:  Annie In Wonderland

Company: Sire

Catalog: SR 6046

Year: 1977

Country/State: UK

Grade (cover/record): VG / VG

Comments: gatefold sleeve; promo sticker on cover; little bit of wear on edge seam

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 5271

Price: $20.00

In the States Annie Haslam remains a largely unknown quantity.  If Americans recognize her name at all it’s a result of her association with the band Renaissance, as an artist, or through her relationship with the ever-eccentric Roy Wood (they’re married).

Recorded during a hiatus from Renaissance, for all intents and purposes 1977’s “Annie In Wonderland” served as collaboration with then-fiancée Wood (she’d previously appeared on a couple of Wood’s solo albums).  Not only did Wood produce the set, he was the prime member of the backing band, wrote about half of the material, design the cover art, and took most the pictures that grace the inner sleeves. As a member of Renaissance Haslam’s performances were often quite good, though the band’s mixture of progressive and classical motifs was frequently over-the-top pretentious.  That meant her crystal clear, multi-octave voice was frequently wasted. To his credit Wood largely abandoned the pretentious elements in favor of a far more conventional and commercial collection.  Okay, the pseudo-classical scat-propelled ‘Rockalise’ could have been a Renaissance effort.  Exemplified by tracks like ‘I Never Believed In Love’ and ‘If I Were Made of Music’ (the latter written by Renaissance bassist Jon Camp who also played on the album), Haslam sounded quite comfortable working in a more commercial genre and several of these tracks would have sounded right at home on top-40 radio.  Elsewhere Wood’s weird side was represented in the strange hybrid of English folk and African chanting (‘Hunico’) and the decision to cover Eden Ahbez’s ‘Nature Boy’. The only real missteps were a couple of eclectic covers that apparently represented Haslam personal favorites – Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘If I Loved You’ (I think it came from the musical ‘Carousel’) and a needless adaptation of Dvorjak’s ‘Going Home’.  While I’ll readily admit to not having heard Haslam’s complete solo catalog, of the four or five LPs I have heard, this remains my favorite.

In England several singles were pulled from the LP:

‘’ b/w ‘’ (catalog number)

‘’ b/w ‘’ (catalog number)

For anyone interested, here’s a link to Haslam’s entertaining website:

www.anniehaslam.com

"Annie In Wonderland" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Introlise (instrumental) – 0:30

2.) If I Were Made of Music   (Roy Wood) – 4:29

3.) I Never Believed In Love   (Roy Wood) – 3:38

4.) If I Loved You   (Rodgers – Hammerstein) – 4:38

5.) Hunico   (Roy Wood) – 7:32

(side 2)
1.) Rockalise (instrumental)   (Roy Wood) – 6:08

2.) Nature Boy   (Eden Ahbez) – 4:53

3.) Inside My Life   (Jon Camp) – 4:50

4.) Going Home   (Dvorjak – W.A. Fisher) – 5:06