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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great live recording, wonderful songs..., November 17, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Loreena McKennitt: Live in Paris and Toronto (Audio CD)
That said, this is not her best work (which are: The Mask and Mirror, and Book of Secrets). The first CD here is essentially a repeat of Book of Secrets and while some songs work better live (Highwayman comes to mind) some are not as good (the Mummer's Dance which is "perfect" on the Book of Secrets CD, here it is a bit rushed and the awesome power and sense of "controlled abandon" is lost in this live version. For me, Mummer's Dance on Book of Secrets CD is as close to perfection in music as I ever hope to hear). The second CD here is well worth owning. Just about every song is better than the studio version. Loreena made a fairly radical shift in her music over a period of several years (starting with "The Visit") and by the time this tour takes place (1998) she was quite comfortable with her new sound (and her band of "idling Porsche's" as she calls them ;-). The result is that all these older songs benefit. Not that the old versions are bad, they were great, just these versions are slightly better. My only problem (and its minor) with the second CD is that it ends anti-climactically. The real heart of the record is "The Bonny Swans" followed by her haunting song "The Old Ways". The two encores given here (All Souls Night and Cymbeline) just don't measure up. Keeping them was faithful to the performance but marrs the CD, in a very small way. BTW: I saw her San Francisco performance, it was wonderful and just like the recordings on these CDs.
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Let your indulgence set me free.", June 5, 2005
This review is from: Loreena McKennitt: Live in Paris and Toronto (Audio CD)
This is a wonderful album on many reasons. Like most McKennitt fans I held off from buying it because I already had the songs on other CDs. This first CD is really a complete performance of The Book of Secrets, and the second is a carefully chosen selection from The Visit and The Mask and The Mirror (plus a hidden bit, which as you will see shortly could probably be considered a lament and a memory). By and large McKennitt stays very true to the original recordings. Tempo's are generally slightly slower, although there are exceptions like The Highwayman, which is a full minute faster here.
There are subtle differences everywhere in phrasing and the inner working of her group. In a piece like The Mummer's Dance, for instance, you become much more aware of the workings on the strings. And songs like The Lady of Shallot and Dante's Prayer reach a level that can only be described as perfection. Live performance is the acid test of a musician's powers, and everyone in the group, from the likes of Brian Hughes and Hugh Marsh to La McKennitt herself, achieves everything that could be desired.
This was McKennitt's last album, put together in 1999. Suddenly a brilliant and fertile career came to a halt, with nothing about why every being said. The sole clue to the hiatus is two lines in the album folder dedicating the album to the memory of Ronald Douglas Rees and mentioning the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search And Safety. Ronald Rees was Lorena McKennitt's fiancé and he died unexpectedly while she was wrapping up this album. For some time she was completely silent, but has gradually increased her performances again. Now a visit to her website reveals that another album is in progress. Good for us, and very good for Loreena as well.
If for no other reason than that on two CDs you have many of McKennitt's songs done beautifully you should by this. For the newcomer, I can't imagine a better introduction to the work of a woman who is scholar, minstrel, and beauty. For the fan it is a reward for the affection of a singer/songwriter who has stayed steadily true to her vision of what should be, rather than fall to the lure of pop culture.
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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sometimes you smoke the pipe to watch the smoke, November 21, 1999
This review is from: Loreena McKennitt: Live in Paris and Toronto (Audio CD)
Lorenna Live is not about the music. It's the mood. She carries "an evening" so beautifully and magically. It takes you out of your surroundings and put you into the embrace of her sound. It has become my favorite rush hour commute music. I can stay in that subway car for ever with that album.
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