THE VILLAGE LANTERNE

First of all, pardon my Chantrainesque review. Are we still in Prog-Land here? I really can't say, given the amount of band entries lately. However, Blackmore's Night was allready inducted in the Archives before the recent wave of Prog-Related entries, so as prog we will judge it. Well, Ritchie Blackmore is back on the Strat, so the "Rock" part on "Progressive Rock" is definetly here. As for the "Progressive", one really cannot see anything but the logical and unimpressive following of previous albums. Of course that is not bad, because last albums were good, especially the amazing "Fires at Midnight". So I'll just leave this notice: hard rockin renaissance music is back, and it's packing heat. Hopefully other listeners will provide a more thorough review, for time is not on my side. Cheers.

Ritchie Blackmore and his partner Candice Night have reached new heights on their latest release The Village Lanterne. I just read an article in Classic Rock Magazine bemoaning the fact the we have lost one our most beloved rock gods to tights and frolicking acoustic guitars. That is rubbish, Ritchie still rips off some amazing licks on the electric guitar, and he actually does so more frequently on this new release compared to previous outings. He has mellowed and changed direction, however with great success; just ask the legions of fans worldwide. Blackmore has carved out yet another niche in musical history with a series of superb recordings. I have covered every release, and absolutely loved them all. I know I probably say that every time I have an opportunity to do a review and probably always will.

Now for the die-hard Deep Purple fans, including me, Blackmore decides to reach back to his past with a different slant. He provides a very exciting tribute to the music of his past. "Mond Tanz / Child In Time" is the perfect blend of Blackmore today, reaching back to the classic lineup of Deep Purple; he gives all of himself for this song and satisfies the old and new fans all in one take. His playing is just as fierce and compelling as it ever was, with one big difference, the spine tingling voice of his partner Candice Night. What an incredibly effort this track is, it gives me chills every time I hear it. Then Rainbow gets the nod twice, first on the disc one version of "Street Of Dreams," which is absolutely haunting, the guitar playing is masterful and Night does a great job with tune, making it her own. And to top that off the bonus disc features Joe Lynn Turner, the vocalist that originally recorded the song with Rainbow. Turner does a duet with Candice, renewing one of his best performances with the compliment of the elegant vocalist to sweeten the pie. That turns out to be an instant classic as well. There is more where that came from. Those that have followed this band over the years have reason to remain faithful as ever. They do not disappoint at all with great tunes such as "25 Years," "St. Teresa," which features some blistering blues-rock from Blackmore, and "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Any More," which is destined become a fan favorite at their live outings. There is one very short instrumental titled "The Messenger," and it is extraordinary. Blackmore proves again that he is equally adept with the acoustic strings and his respect shows for classical music. Blackmore's typically fluid playing is ultimately a great tribute the masters of the past.

These songs are so joyous in spirit yet the album as a whole is somewhat darker than anything they have ever done before. "Windmills" is a good example of the darker more intense side of the songwriting; it gives you goose bumps in all its regal old time glory with subject matter around a character that fights the good fight to the end for his freedom.

This is a great album, in fact, there is not a track on the album that is not memorable, and it is a perfect 10 as far as I am concerned. The only thing that I have to complain about is the bonus disc, the two tracks were great, but the bonus video did not work for some reason. I received the special German edition and the video is in PAL however, my PC does play this type of disc so I am baffled as to why I cannot view it. That was a disappointment but it did not deter me from listening to the best ever Blackmore's Night album so many times I have lost count. Keep up the great work Ritchie and Candice, you have a lifetime fan here that will always look forward to any music you release.

Note: On CD2 of this German version "All Because Of You (Radio Edit)" is replaced with a CD Extra Part-Village Lanterne Interview & Castles and Dreams DVD trailer.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

Oh my! Is this the bottom of the pit?

Ritchie is recycling his Blackmore's Night formula since "Ghost of a Rose". I think that nobody cares for Candice's lyrics (as always, forgettable or - in the best cases - plain), so it's the music the main factor of atraction in this group. Besides a curious (nothing more than that) cover of 'Street of dreams" (with former Rainbow Joe Lynn Turner in the bonus track - at least in my brazilian cd) and the "Child in time" play, nothing atracts me in this album. I'm one of the biggest Ritchie fans in the rock circles here in Rio, but I can't stand for more of the same albums, totally predictable and without inspiration. I hope Ritchie is happy with his partner and music, but I'm not. Why don't put a hard rock band with Candice? Repetition by repetition, I prefer it in the Rainbow formula.

If you don't know Blackmore's Night, try "Shadow of the Moon" or the unbeliaveble low- rating "Under a Violet Moon". For a good collection, the DVD "Castles and dreams" is the best option. But don't lose your time with "The Village Lanterne" unless you're a completist or a die-hard fan.

PS: Blackmore's Night doesn't have ANY smell of prog.

2.5 stars really!!!

Well, the least we can say is that our legendary Ritchie has the persistence and drive to pump out new albums regularly, even if they pretty well all sound the same. If this writer keeps writing reviews about a band that he alreadu said most of what he had to say, it is because his status of prog folk specialist entices him to review albums that fall onto this sub-genre and therefore the cheesy Anglo-Saxon groups (BN and Mostly Autumn) just scratching the surface of the genre, but monopolizing too much of the spotlight are highly irritating as they are obscuring much worthier groups. But this is only one small reason why I do review them, the main fact is that the albums are widely available and after also available in the library system, hence the occasion is there.

So onwards for Blackmood's new adventures in his fantasy world with his Fair Lady in tow. I guess our friend Ritchie must by now invested in a dairy farm dependence to a castle lost in the middle of the mountains, because each new album brings their loads of clichés and the load of cheese delivered is ever increasing as well. The fact that more and more of their drumming is synthetic is also not helping out my opinion, and pretty soon, given his direction, he'll be knocking on Rondo Veniziano's door for assistance. Well I guess I'm overdoing it a tad, but I'm just trying to stress a point that an old dog like him should avoid. Another irritating thing are those liner notes almost justifying each track's coming too. I mean do you really want to explain your blunders or even how you got your "brilliant ideas".

Really, the album sometimes sink into the insufferably cheesy clichés, almost drawing to the ridicule, if it was not for the old axeman's pure virtuosity and highly emotional playing (his acoustic guitar on The Messenger is divine but ruined by the arrangements around it), but there are some rather pleasant tracks as well: the enthralling World of Stone (but I might be influenced by Candice's portrait holding an instrument, right next to the track's lyrics ;-), the surprisingly strong St Teresa, and Windmills.

BTW, the reprise of Purple's Child In Time and Rainbow cheesy hit Street Of Dreams are not exactly what you'd be hoping for (whatever that might be), but the first one did not amuse me (but it took balls and a solid touch of bad taste to adapt it, even if the results are not as bad as I'd first feared, but I am not smiling), while the second left completely cold, just as the original did.

After such a brutal (but fair IMHO) review, I can only salute Mr Blackmore's drive to keep his project right on line, the way he wished it for over a decade, which is the first time in his lengthy career, since all of his previous groups kept changing personnel and sound. Hats off to you, Sir!! I think you finally found your peace!!

Burning for you

This 2006 collection is Blackmore's Night's fifth studio album and their latest release at time of writing. "The village lanterne" finds them developing and refining their craft further. While no new barricades are broken here, there is an overall air of confidence and competence; the result of each consecutive album being another step up the ladder.

The album begins in relatively soft mood, with the opening "25 years" and the following title track both being highly melodic numbers charged with emotion. The latter builds through a renaissance flavoured instrumental, while telling a tale inspired by a Siegfried legend. Candice Night delivers one of her finest vocal performances on the song, her controlled vocals cumulating in a powerful climax.

It is only when we get to "I guess it doesn't matter anymore" that we find the first of the up-tempo songs, this being high energy pop orientated romp. Later, "Just call my name" follows a similar pattern. The two part "Faerie Queen/Faerie dance" sounds remarkably like a Loreena McKennitt number, Night adopting an unusually high key for the vocals. The second half of the song is a traditional (perhaps Eastern European or Romany) sounding folk dance.

As has become the modus operandi for the song-writing, Ritchie Blackmore is largely responsible for the melodies while Candice Night provides the lyrics. Ritchie provides a couple of his customary instrumentals which serve as high quality link numbers. In a rare excursion from this pattern, the centre piece of the album is three cover versions interrupted by a Blackmore instrumental. The first of these is Joan Osbourne's "St Teresa", a song which had previously been an unrecorded feature of the band's live act. Here, after a soft acoustic instrumental introduction, the song is given a full blown up-tempo rock treatment.

After Ritchie's gentle acoustic "Village dance", we have perhaps the biggest surprise of all. Ritchie revives his instrumental "Mond tanz" from the "Shadow of the moon" album, giving it a fresh arrangement along the way. This then segues into a rendition of Deep Purple's "Child in time". While Blackmore's Night's cover of "Soldier of fortune" may have been no great surprise, who would have thought that Ritchie would have been prepared to take one of Deep Purple's most famous anthems and adapt it for Blackmore's Night? The rendition here is in heavily edited format, devoid of the epic screams and long guitar/keyboards solos, but the delightful vocal talents of the Sisters of the Moon duo and some lead guitar from Ritchie make for a fine alternative take on the song. OK, so strictly speaking it might be argued that this is not a cover version, but in reality it is.

The final song of this quartet is a cover of Ralph McTell's best known composition "Streets of London". Here, it is as if Blackmore's Night have benefited from all the previous cover versions of this song, thus creating the definitive version (apart perhaps from McTell's non-orchestrated original).

"The old mill inn" is an unashamed attempt by Blackmore and Night to secure free drinks at their local for life, by name-checking the entire staff and clientele. By way of contrast, the following "Windmills" reverts to gentle acoustics and a reflective melody to tell a traditional tale.

The second CD with the deluxe edition of the album includes two extra tracks. The more interesting of these is a second version of the final track on the album "Street of dreams" which features vocals by Joe Lynn Turner (once of Rainbow). Also included is a PC video featuring a 20 minute interview with Blackmore and Night, plus a trailer for their "Castles and Dreams" DVD.

Overall, there is a slight but perceptible turn back towards the folk side of the band after the stronger rock influences of the last two albums. There is though no great change here, if the previous albums appealed to you, there is no doubt that this one will too.

Will this band ever change?

Blackmore's Night - The Village Lanterne (2006)

Overall Rating: 10

Best Song: St. Teresa, but don't quote me on that.

No, I don't think this band will ever really change, evolve, progress, become enlightened, stray, experiment, revolutionize, revitalize, re-make, or innovate. Well, Ritche Blackmore's been at the forefront of musical vitalization ever since his Deep Purple days, so why should we expect him to do anything but "old man music" since he is, effectually, an old man, now? We shouldn't, and we should all just accept this for what it is, and what it always will be: Medieval folk rock from a talented old prick. But, that doesn't mean we need to love every bit of it, now do we?

To hell with dragging this thing out, because you all know what my main problems will be with this record. Why? It's the same damn thing as with every Blackmore's Night, Pinky! Trying to take over the world! Wait, no, there's just too much material here, and not enough glorious ideas, so it gets really boring, really fast. That's it, you can leave now. You can all go home, this is my full conclusion: The Village Lanterne is host to numerous pretty melodies and songs, but they could never be stretched to an hour's length, so the album drags, and even though it's softer than their previous entry, there's still a high level of energy, but it all gets kind of boring, and it's basically the same as everything else they ever did, with no visible highlights because ever single god damn song sounds like a remake of the song that came before it. It only gets a 10 because, even if it's not any better than anything that came before it, it's not exactly worse. There, are you happy? Now go home!

Actually, there are some pretty neat licks if you dig deeper, like the guitar line to "I guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" where Blackie Richmore shows us a thing or three about rockin' out! (not really). Still, it's a cool line that goes away too quickly, but there is a stronger emphasis on electrifying the entertainment, and that's what this is, entertainment. I don't guess in all his days of studying rocking metal, Blackmore ever really had the time to study the heart, very well. But, as I stated before, it's all quaint, adequately performed entertainment, and there are some eye-popping flash moments...if you are devoted to digging through all the overlong, folky mess.

I think that if Blackmore's night would take the ten best minutes of each of their disks, so far, and tossed out the rest, they cold put all that together, and have possibly the single greatest medieval folk rock albums of all time. I also s'pose the same could be said for all those post-Thick Jethro Tull records, too. I'd say there are about 14 minutes of true brilliance on the record, which is about one minute per song. The rest is leather-armor filler, like the utterly predictable acoustic ditty "the Messenger", with the flippy guitar straddles and the "atmospheric" keyboard swells. Even so, it's still some mighty sweet playing, but you knew that, already. Sometimes the melodies aren't so shimmering, and feel rusty, sometimes the melodies are silky and sweet, lifting you up, more often than not, though, they'll be totally generic and just cute. I said it, Ritchie Blackmore is no longer biting or frenetic, his music is just....cute. Most the songs are painfully simple, and a trained ear can spot how second hand the whole damn record feels, as if they aren't even trying to blow people away. It's the dangerous air of contentment that has destroyed many a prolific artist who would rather release their music than bide their time, waiting for inspiration to come.

The Village Lanterne is easily interchangeable with anything else they've ever done, and even if it's pretty, even gorgeous on rare occasion, and unarguably well performed, it's still completely inessential. When I listen to it, I'm left barely able to recall a few segments of music, and not even whole songs. Sometimes it really rocks, like in "St. Teresa, arguably the hardest and most energetic track, even housing a stellar guitar solo fest, but all of them have, here and there. Like with most of their efforts you'll find folk re-imaginings of their old material, or old material from others. Here they do a remake of Deep Purple's wildly popular Child In Time, and while I can't say it bests the original (Hell no, it don't.), it's still a cool track. There's also the Rainbow radio hit "Street Of Dreams" closing the ordeal. While I never much cared for that band after Dio left, and the track screamed commercial orientation, I like this version. In fact, I prefer it. Still, I don't see why you'd need this album if you've already bought the last four Blackmore's Night releases (who? who?), because there isn't a single new musical idea, present. Get it if you just HAVE to have more renaissance fair background music in your collection.

***

As my first experience with Blackmore's Night, it was the cover of Child In Time that piqued my curiosity and led me to purchase The Village Lanterne. I liked the album cover too. It certainly harkens back to the good old days when mischievous pixies flapped their wings and wiggled their tushies in front of men in tights struggling to hide their erections. Ale was tastier too.

The first thing I noticed listening to the album is that it's not really all that traditional as far as the Renaissance Faire scene is concerned. The album starts strong with some tribal drumming to add some power to the familiar folksiness, and the occasional little synthesizer melody pops up to sort of "proggify" the track, or at least spice up the proceedings with a little 70s rock influence. And that's how the band works on this effort. Blending the olden folk melodies and instrumentation with some rockin' grooves and a little new age yoga influence to diversify the potential audience a bit. For the most part, this actually works. It certainly helps when you can play guitar like Ritchie, who hasn't sacrificed his skills to adapt to the changing times...there's plenty of guitar workouts here, both electric and acoustic and skillfully entertaining to boot. Candice can certainly sing, and she captures that 'days of yore' lilt perfectly. She can sound a little awkward or out of place in some of the rockier tracks, like Natalie Merchant donning a brass bra, but she charms her way through them. "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" is a particularly fun upbeat track, with lyrics concerning Resurrection Mary...not an ancient story at all...but a good tale nonetheless. The band as a whole is quite impeccable regarding their talents, certainly above average for this particular niche.

Child In Time has to be one of the odder covers I've heard by any band...although since Ritchie is involved it can't really be considered one...a reinterpretation would be a more fitting term. I can't say when I first heard the original Child In Time that I immediately pondered how it would sound as a medieval jig, but it didn't wind up sounding atrocious by any means.

I'm not sure if I'll venture too much further into this band's catalogue since from what I gather there isn't too much variation concerning the formulas that Blackmore's Night has established for themselves, so I'll just be content to put this puppy on when the rare but occasional yearning for fine mead, dragons and wenches needs a soundtrack.