PARIS MOON

"Ladies & Gentlemen, Welcome to Progressives Airlines Flight 19 to Paris France. This is your captain speaking. As we prepare to leave the gate here in New York, we are getting ready for some incredible in-flight entertainment. When we reach our cruising altitude at 36,000 feet, we will begin the revelry. When boarding the craft, you have surely noticed that all our cabin personnel are attired in medieval clothing, our chief purser dressed as a minstrel and we in the cockpit are equally clad in our regal costumes. From the overhead bins, we will release your pewter drinking goblets, into which our crew will pour your choice of potent hydromel, exquisite Chateaux Bordeaux clarets or for those who eschew alcohol, ginger beer! We will also be serving roast Cornish hens (without cutlery for security reasons, of course). Dancing will be permitted in the aisle and singing along will increase your air miles 10 fold. So, sit back, relax and get ready for our video presentation of Blackmore's Night concert Paris Moon. Have a great prog flight". Ah, daydreaming again! Maybe one day! Legend has it that Ritchie Blackmore is a very stubborn and moody musician. Perhaps he should be more famous for his audacity, to have dared the very real possibility of unbearable public humiliation for this legendary "hard-rock" guitarist (that's how it was called back in the early 70s) to go off on an acoustic/baroque/renaissance /troubadour mission and still command universal respect. Ritchie can do whatever he wants and if he really believes in this musical curve (his facial smirks and his body language clearly shows the same consummate expression of concentration as when he sizzled through Deep Purple classics) well than more power to him ! It turns out that this DVD is totally valedictory of his craft, the musicians are supremely talented (each taking an early solo to demonstrate quite clearly they are not 2 note session-yawn-players) and with the effervescent and charming Candice Night as the focal/vocal point, this simply cannot go wrong. I tried desperately not to like this, even though I have all the records, because I, wrongly as it turns out, assumed it might come across as pretentious live. Hey, guess what? All the musicians are clearly enjoying and savoring every moment, the seasoned veteran crowd seemingly knowledgeable and jubilantly singing along with Candice impishly teasing her brooding husband along "You request songs, he still plays what he wants! Welcome to my life!". By the time they kick off track 3: "Play Minstrel Play", I had tossed all my critical prog-expert reservations into the moat and felt like a member of the audience, begging to be entertained. What a delightful musical experience, the novelty of just enjoying a show! In a way, it's like attending a Tull or a Springsteen live concert: I know many people who do not really drool over the recordings but in concert: at any price! There is everything for everyone here: joyous, raucous sing alongs (Under A Violet Moon, Home Again), stunning remakes ( Deep Purple's gut-wrenching "Soldier of Fortune", Baez' simply gorgeous "Diamond & Rust" & Ralph McTell's compelling "Streets of London") , hauntingly reworked medieval ballads ( "Renaissance Faire", "Word of Stone", "The Village Lanterne" and the utterly amazing "Fires at Midnight") , a touch of irascible Blackmore Fender Strat magic on the electric "Ariel", "Loreley" and the blistering "Saint Teresa" as well as numerous baroque instrumental interludes .When Ritchie cranks up the hurdy-gurdy on the "Clock Ticks On", chills run up the collective spine! We can all acknowledge that Blackmore is quite a guitar maestro, perhaps in a "show-offish" way but the real great ones (we all know who they are) have that right, it's only their creative urge pushing them along. He seems to be having a real good time in his golden age, financially comfortable, seemingly happily married to a beautiful, talented and funny maiden, surrounded by an already ten-year old family of trusted band mates. So much for being an intolerant dictator! I rarely feel the urge to revisit a live DVD on consecutive nights but this one is so much FUN! "This is Captain Blackmore again; we are now on the approach to the City of Lights, please fasten your belts. I hope the flight was worthy of five stars and on behalf of my co-pilot Candice and our entire crew, we wish you pleasant journeys" 5 lunar arrondissements