BLACKMORE'S NIGHT

Some time had passed between the release of the first album by Blackmore's Night before I bought it, which means that not much more time had passed before the second one, Under a Violet Moon came out. My disappointment in the earlier gave way to my admiration for Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist of many of my earlier years, and so once again I made my way to the nearest Tower Records and bought a copy. I was hoping for something better, but alas, did not find it. That the word 'moon' appears in both titles should have been my first warning signal. Still, there are improvements.

The first improvement is the better production. The sound is much more present and clear. Several of the problems from Shadow have been solved - the music is less the same and more dynamic. Blackmore is not carrying the bulk of the instrumentation, and he even plays electric guitar on a few tracks. This adds more verve to the proceedings, but do not expect to hear the wild workouts he is so justifiably famous for. The orchestrations are real and not synthesized. Jen Johansson's keyboard work fills in a lot of space and adds more depth. There is a sophistication to the music, of a level which should only be expected from one with Blackmore's experience. With all of these characteristics in its favor, Under a Violet Moon is not a better album than its predecessor.

About half the album is the same old boring renaissance fantasy songs, that is, they are dull and uninspired, bringing out the worst qualities of both Blackmore and Candace Night. Even some of the acoustic instrumentals suffer from this problem. The vocals remain unemotional, but they are better.

The opening title track is among the better songs. One of my favorites, oddly, is Wind in the Willows. There is an illuminated child-like (as opposed to childish) quality to this song: John Ford's vocals add a much needed contrast to Candace Nights, yet this is the one song where I actually like her vocals. Spanish Nights is a good upbeat tune with lots of energy, while Gone with the Wind is the most powerful track with its kettledrums, male choir, and brass ensemble.

Even with the improvements, the low-quality songs which make up half the album keep this one on the same level as their first release - two stars. I have given up on Blackmore's Night.

When I first heard that Ritchie Blackmore had an acoustic band, I went to the nearest record store (part of the now-defunct Tower chain) and bought the only copy they had there. I was very excited when I first put it on, and pleased with the instrumental opening of the first and title track. This excitement actually lasted quite a while - over several listens, but then something crept in, something I had difficulty identifying. After some time it came to me. Yes, there was something wrong here, and it has become a major problem for me whenever I listen to Blackmore's Night. It is the vocals. Before I explain the problem I have with them, allow me to list what I do like about this album.

The main thing I like is Blackmore's guitar playing. That might seem obvious for one who grew up adoring the things this man could do with six strings. In the olden days of Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore played some of the most outrageous guitar around. Now, however, his playing is subdued - tasteful and elegant. The acoustic instrumental passages, such as Possum's Last Dance, are quite enjoyable. A change for the better. Huzzah! Also on the positive side is the melodic nature of the songs. They use traditional folk melodies and put original lyrics to them, with the occasional classic, such as Greensleeves. Ah, but there is where the problems come in.

Technically speaking, Candace Night is a decent vocalist. She is not great, however, and her biggest problem is a lack of emotion. Yes, she enunciates her words so we can understand the lyrics, but there is no feeling to them. Medieval Babes may have been a more appropriate venue for her, but no, she is married to Ritchie Blackmore, and thus has the opportunity to front the new (relatively) band of a rock 'n' roll legend. Because of the vocals, much of the music sounds the same, especially since Blackers repeats himself. Another problem I have, and this is not so much the fault of the band as it is of its fans. This is not renaissance music. This a fantasy of renaissance music, in much the same way that a renaissance fair is a fantasy of the renaissance itself. Now I have been to a good number of such fairs, and have enjoyed them immensely, but I never for one second thought that it was a period of time I could actually live in. I have read so many reviews about this band that contain the phrase, "if you like renaissance music you will like this band." No, you won't. This is modern contemporary folk rock inspired by a variety of folk traditions. That they even sing a song about being from the renaissance and feel more at home at a renaissance faire does not help the problem. I am sure they think such things when they drive home in their new Mercedes.

As to my favorite tracks, there is the previously mentioned Shadow of the Moon; Play Minstrel Play features a guest appearance by Ian Anderson, always a plus in my book; Ocean Gypsy is different from the original Renaissance version, which is the better and a good example of where Candace Night fails as a vocalist and where Annie Haslam shines, but I still like the song. Good instrumentals, besides what's already mentioned include Memmingen and Mond Tanz. I cannot take the songs Renaissance Faire and Greensleeves seriously. They are, in a word, awful.

In conclusion, there are some good qualities to this album, but they tend to wear thin with the negatives. For Blackmore, I will give it three stars, for Night, only one. That balances out to two stars.

Ghost of a rose i love this blackmores night album and is a great place to start with if your thinking of getting a blackmores night,way to mandalay is a great song and i love everything about this and i love the sound of how this song starts love the sound of this and candice night sounds in great form here and blackmores guitar is great sounding to with i think must be his stratocaster in midle part of this song everything is great about this song love every minute of this song.3 black crows starts with that 16th century kind of sound and sounds great to,and candice here her voice just goes very well here i think as the sound of this song really goes perfect here,and blackmores acoustic guitar sounds nice and relaxed here[i cant think what the instrument is but its one which sounds very 16th century]a great song again,ahhhhhh next is diamonds and rust [joan baez originally] and this is brilliant with candice sounding very on form and sounding she loves this song and blackmore guitar sounding very beautiful and so great with candices voice and with background singers sounding very nice here to this version is such a joy to hear i love everything about this song,one of the best blackmores night songs,cartouche starts very nice and candice singing a bit more little faster here and sounding great and when she ahhhhs she sounds nice and the back ground singers are on form here to when they come in,and the violin sounding so comfotable here to,and blackmores acoustic guitar a bit little down in the mix but kind of fits well in here as i think this song is more for the violin and is a good thing to,queen for a day is a fine song with candice on fine form here sounding very nice and the sound of all the instruments here are so relaxing and reminds me of blackmores night singing this around a fire in a forest in the moon light,blackmores guitar here is really nice and a bit after a while it gets going a bit more and really sounds great and blackmores acoustic guitar sound is great with the violin to and clapping toward this going really well to,ivory tower starts with like a quire sound and sounds great and 16th century kind of like and then candice sings and again on grwat form and the quire going to sounds great and an occasional beat[2 beats]sounds just great to,i really like the quire sound in this song i can imagine been in a church with no roof with a fire going and ghost as the quire but thats my thought,nur eine minute is a blackmore acoustic song and i think blackmore is on fine form here and is short but is a nice little song,ghost of a rose with blackmore acoustic guitar and candice sounding nice to and calm everything about this song is great and when the ghost of a rose singing bit comes in i love it especially after a little bit in and when the violin part with blackmores acoustic guitar it sounds great even though only for little bit then it back to main sound of the song again and this is another great song,mr peagrams morris and sword is another blackmore song and this sounds great to[it says in booklet that "performed on a flyde mandolin"] which reminds me abit of a song of shadow of the moon,loreley starts with violin and clapping and acoustic guitar and candice singing great here and the viloin here is great and the clapping all way through sounds just right for this song and blackmore acoustic sound like it keeping the song together great ,this really is a great song and again everything about this is great,where are we going from here starts really nice and with acoustic guitar and candice sounding really beautiful here this song is really nice as blackmore on acoustic here really sounds like he loves playing toward candices voice and the violin sounds great in background to a great song to play with just a lamp on in room or in your back garden a great song,rainbow bvlues[jethro tull song] is a really relaxing nice song with candice singing quiter than blackmore on stratocaster sounding great here really fits in well here a good tull song for blackmore to chose to do here to,with blackmore solo sounds great to and nice to hear him doing a solo to although not a long one but sounds great to candice at end sounding really nice to,all for one is a song i really enjoy as like it is a drinking song [wine] with blackmore on stratocaster sounds really nice and with more of a rocker kind of with drums here and all blackmores night band sounding like they really enjoying them selfs here with background singers sounding really great,candice is great here and blaxckmore sounds enjoying himself to this song is likeit sounds like a blackmores night anthem like as got everything here and with a quire bit in background in bits sounds great on this song to and this song is really enjoyable its one of my favorite blackmores night songs for the enjoyable drinking wine sound,dandelion wine[last song]starts with acoustic guitar and candice on fine form again and both together sounding great this to me is a perfect ending as the lyrics say in one bit"so heres to you all our froends surely we will meet again dont stay away too long this time",all on form here and a brilliant ending to a great album and addictive one to,what must be said is diamonds and rust "judas priest"done this song and i love that version to and blackmores night version is nice to hear done more quieter although the priest version is great to,anyway i give this 4 stars as this is great place to start blackmores night i think,but shadow of the moon is best start i think,but this is just as good nearly still 4 stars.

Now "under a violet moon"isnt a bad album for a second album,it starts with under a violet moon which for me is the stand out track on this,this album is more acoustic sounding than shadow of the moon and i think its not as good as shadow,but that doesent mean its not worth having,i quite like all the songs on this but not that keen on wind in the willows[which has a man singing on this mostly who is someone called john ford the bass player],i do think that this maybe isnt the best blackmores night album as it kind of is the same like all the way through,but is a good album but i think they could of made a few different songs in this [maybe more of ritchies stratocaster guitar like],this is more acoustic album but ritchies acoustic guitar does sound nice and relaxing,i have to give this 3 stars as i think it could of been better,although candice is in fine form but i just cant help thinking she might of been better if the songs were better like,maybe this isnt a blackmores night to buy like as the first one,theres better than this album,but 3 stars is fair.

This first blackmores night album is a good album,yes it is different from what blackmore done before like but dont let that put you of shadow of the moon,yes when i first heard this it took me a few listens to enjoy it[the reason why was because i liked blackmores deep purple and rainbow stuff and this is like diofferent],anyway this has some good songs on this,shadow of the moon is a great track i love everything about this song candices voice is really nice and she sounds really attractive to and blackmores guitar sounds nice to,the other songs i love on this are,ocean gypsy,writing on the wall,no second chance,spirit of the sea,wish you were here,all these songs are all worth having in the blackmore collection,the other songs are good but the ones i mention are the best i think,also renaissance faire is one i like to,this album as ive said is like different from blackmore and ive heard that he was fed up of playing the same music for like 30 years and i think hes done well here as if you get bord of something you,ll get to hate it,and blackmore ive heard has said that when he was in hotel rooms in the 70s hed play renaissance music on his guitar in the room,so at least hes playing the music now what he truely likes and loves,and i take my hat of to him for doing this style of music although he has has had mixed reviews,but if you really listen to this hard you,ll really understand that this is a great album as candice can sing really nice and i think her voice really goes really nice towards blackmores acoustic guitar,i give this 4 stars,if any of you havent heard blackmores night give this a chance it is folk renaissance style but dont let that put you of,as on a night in with the lights of or with a lamp on this really sounds and feels great to me,4 stars.

May be I am wrong, but after two first BN albums ( and I was very disappointed by them both) I purchase the third one! Yes, you can see now how much I believed in old Deep Purple and Rainbow hero!

Of course, nothing happened. I mean, nothing new, same Castles, same Knights, same Dragons, same medieval ballads. Some new age ( read - refreshment of style) elements, and - same acoustic sweety, same old-fashioned Hats, same light-and-sweet Candice voice. Get bored? Hey, I just started!

To be honest till the end, I think this album is better,then previous one. More different, more focused. But in fact you can take any of them, or just few songs,to make a loop and push "repeat".

May be I'm wrong once again, but for me all this project looks as a family business. Selfsinging,selfplaying,making some savings for later days. I think, it will be better just to open good restaurant somewhere in Blackmore's beloved Germany....

P.S. Another wing of the same family business is " Over The Rainbow" project with old Rainbow guys + Jurgen Blackmore ( yes, Richie's son ) on guitar. With classic Rainbow songs they are traveling around the world - how proggy is it ? Over The Rainbow plays in the middle of October (2009) in my town, do you think I am going to pay for a ticket?

So, after my disappointment with first Blacmore's Night album, I still had enough faith and bought the second one. Yes, you absolutely true, no surprises ...

To be honest, after I listened ( many ,many times) this, second,album, I realize, that Blackmore didn't joke an album ago. Yes, I just have another portion of medieval mostly acoustic ballads with very rare guitar solos and light voice of Candice somewhere near all that ... jazz.

Yes, I was to much disappointed to have any opinion about that music at all. Some time later I returned back to it, so no mistakes now.

You will have there the same music as in debut one, may be a bit more pop-arranged . In fact, for me it sounds as two-three nice simple children theatre play songs repeating again and again. First song even sounds attractive, second-good enough, after third you understand, that you are listening the same single in repeat regime. It isn't easy to listen the album till the end.

For folk maniacs only!

I bought this first Richie's album ( in fact as solo album) many years ego. My expectation was to hear some extra guitar music from Deep Purple and Rainbow guitar hero.

What did I get instead? Collection of mostly acoustic folk ballades! OK, nice melodies, theatrical middle ages atmosphere, few simplistic guitar solos, some pretty back vocals. That's all!

I don't think that this music is bad, but for sure you don't need to be a legendary Richie Blackmore for playing this naive,theatrical and often childish ballads.

I believe, that the project was born just to support Blackmore's girlfriend of the moment C. Night, so his name was good marketing trick. But I honestly believed that it's a beginning and the end of side-track of great musician. I made a mistake,you know now.

Once again, the music isn't so bad, but very simplistic, songs are each other, the level of musicanship is very basic. Can see on it as amateurs musicanship, but not the serious work.

Ian Anderson support the project playing flute. It didn't help

While I enjoyed very much Ritchie Blackmore´s debut with Candice Night, not all their CDs after that were particulary convincing. They all had nice melodies and all, but were a bit repetitive and some lacked the spark their stunning debut surely had. So I was not realy thrilled about this new release by the duo. But reading the good reviews they got from many websites, I decided to give it a shot. And I was quite surprised by it.

Ok, this is not perfect, but it does have some very strong and passionate stuff here. Beginning with a fine instrumental called God Save The Keg, it leads to the Cd´s best track, the 8 minute epic Locked Within The Crystal Ball. This is another classic in the same vein of Shadow Of The Moon. Great melodies, great arrangement, great vocal performance and fantastic guitar runs by Blackmore. This track alone is worth the price fo the CD. But there are some other good ones still: Gilded Cage, The Circle and The Peasant´s Promise are among Blackmore´s Night best. The remaining tracks are not that outstading, but they are good anyway.

Special mention should be given to the CD´s covers: one is another Rainbow tune. This time they chose Rainbow Eyes (from Long Live Rock´n Roll) and I must admit it turned out to be much better than the original version. It seems that the duo found some harmonies and subtleties that were missing from Rainbow´s interpretation. And, believe it or not, their cover for something so kitsh as the classic Falling In Love With You (yes, THAT song!) became really good! They completely changed its rhythm and gave an excellent rock guitar arrangement. That choice of tune could be a disaster but they managed to turn it into a very interesting moment of the CD. Kudos for them!

Conclusion: maybe their best CD since Shadow Of The Moon. Four strong stars.

Heavy knights and fair ladies

The third album by Blackmore's Night represents as huge jump in production value from the previous album, just as that one was so much better than the debut - this band seem to be getting better through the years, this time going for a more personal approach and really finding their own sound. And its funny to think that perhaps some of this personal approach was buried not 500 years ago, but rather on the recent past - Ritchie's rocker past, that is.

This is clear from the very beginning, where, after a small vocal intro by Candice Night, Written in the Stars bursts into a heavy electric guitar riff heavier than everything Blackmore's Night had ever offered up to this point, and more reminiscent of the heydays of Deep Purple and Rainbow, featuring some great drums mimicking galloping and battlehorn-like synths. The keyboards and guitar really add richness and depht to this track, where for the first time Candice Night's vocals serve more as an accompaniment to the music rather than the opposite. It's probably the strongest opener they ever had. The Times they are a Changin' is a clever break from the energy of the first track. It's another cover, this time of the Bob Dylan song, but done in a very delicate, Tudor-like mood, with woodwinds, delicate percussion and acoustic guitar. And, once again, like most of Blackmore's Night covers, they make it pretty much their own, reducing the original to a forgettable footnote in music history. I Still Remember follows, a gentle ballad opened by an Eastern flavoured intro just before Candice begins her delicate and soothing singing. Soon enough Blackmore reaches for the Strat offering some great accompanying chords and a great guitar solo. Not as heavy a song as the first track, but miles above what Blackmore's Night have gotten us used to, with Ritchie finally showing why he is considered one of the greatest guitar players in rock history. The following track, Home Again is a great tavern folk song, a clear invitation to sing-a-long to its catchy chorus, given extra life by the cheerful choir after the melancholic build-up by Candice. Great acoustics and woodwinds. Crowning of the King picks up from the mood of the previous track, a cheerful and majestic track filled with great trumpets and horns passages and delicate acoustic guitar and woodwind sections. Fayre Thee Well is the first of the mandatory small Blackmore instrumentals, here served by overlaid acoustic guitars. Ultimately it serves as a nice intro to the mammoth title track that ensues: Fires At Midnight displays its dark mediaeval credentials from the first chords, soon followed by the delicate vocals by Candice over a lush keyboard-created atmosphere in the background. The acoustic guitar is also heard somewhere in there. At this point, it not a very exciting track like the previous ones, but there is something quite hypnotic in it - soon the heavy sounds of drums and bagpipes are heard in a galloping instrumental passage. The drums remain for the reprise of the first sections, Candice's vocals a bit stronger this turn. The heavy instrumental section repeats, as if challenging Candice, before crumbling to Earth as Ritchie comes to the aid of his lady with his weapon of choice, the mighty Stratocaster, delivering a scorching solo. All parts of the song come together for an exciting finale. Progressive rock? Hell yes.

Like the second track, Hanging Tree serves as a quiet contrast to the power of the preceding song, a gentle acoustic ballad with an pretty chorus and very rich arrangements, the strings being worthy of special mention. It is followed by the slow-starter Storm, opened by a great acoustic guitar solo and an almost a-cappella vocal intro by Candice. The guitars suddenly speed up, accompanied by violins and bass, as well as some keyboard bursts. The drums then introduce the really fast-paced rhythm of this song, only stopping for short periods of time where we hear the great interplay between acoustic guitar and violin. Candice's vocals are full of energy on this track, and the instrumental passages are sublime and quite exciting, featuring one of the finest rock solos delivered via acoustic guitar I ever heard. By now this album has already surpassed any previous Blackmore's Night offering, with nine excellent songs. So it is only natural that it should go a bit downhill from here on. Mid-Winter's Night is a return to the gentle Renaissance-inspired bucolic love ballads of previous works. Not by any means a bad track - composition, instrumentation and arrangements are all top notch, but the end result is ultimately too boring, especially after all the energy displayed on the first two thirds of the album. All Because of You is the exact opposite, but this one resembles too much a so-so pop song with great guitar (see later Fleetwood Mac) rather than a proper folk-rock song. Again, not bad, but sub-par. Waiting Just for You really picks up from Mid-Winter's Night, beginning like another bland love song, but somewhere in the middle it kind of picks itself up with the help of some good drumming and backing horns and keyboards. Praetorius (Courante) is the second and last instrumental, a bit more cheerful than the first, this time benefiting from the accompaniment of woodwinds rather than just having the acoustic guitars. Like the previous ones (both on this album and others), it is quite pleasant to hear in the moment, but not something very memorable once you turn off the stereo. Banzai-Ten is another gentle ballad-like song, this time inspired by medieval Japan with all the musical influences that carries. Village on the Sand is actually an island amidst the second half of the album, an excitingly catchy electric guitar-driven folk-rock piece, bringing to mind the question "how would Jethro Tull sound if they sang about pirates?". Great rhythm, instrumentation and electric guitar work by Ritchie. Candice's vocals could use a bit more energy (like the one she usually displays live), but as they are they're not enough to ruin the song. It fades away with a Ritchie solo, soon to be followed by the farewell final track Again Someday, a small acoustic guitar-driven piece with Candice singing us a lullaby.

Fires At Midnight was actually my first venture into the realm of Blackmore's Night, and I was delighted at the time. This album remains one of my all-time favourites, and I still find it the best they've ever done. Compared to previous albums, there is a clear improvement on many levels: composition, arrangements, percussion (no more drum machines!) to name a few. It is also a bit more Prog and a lot more Rock (what a delight hearing Blackmore doing what he does best!) than the first albums, which for this listener is an obvious plus. In fact, Fires At Midnight could have been an almost perfect folk-rock album, but Blackmore's Night creativity might have been their own worst enemy here - at 70-plus minutes, the album is simply too long for its own sake, and this is especially damaging when the material for most of the second half of the album is miles away from the quality of the first nine tracks. Personally, I would have been happy (perhaps even delighted) with the absence of the tracks between Storm and Village On The Sand. Still, 55 minutes of great music in a 70 minute album is not a bad bargain. This is an album that should really please the more open- minded progheads, the Deep Purple fans, and less demanding folkies. 4,5 - almost but not quite there.