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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another essential Blackmore's Night album, April 4, 2006
Blackmore's Night return with a brand new album titled The Village Lanterne, in some ways their most realized effort. After several releases and years of touring together, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night seem to have a more clear idea of what they want to do with their music, and where to take it. Especially Candice Night has grown and improved immensely both as a lyricist and singer. Her voice is more mature now, with a distinct sense of confidence and passion. She sings with sheer emotion and conviction through the whole album, proving she's a key element in the unique sound of Blackmore's Night. As for Ritchie Blackmore, no words would do justice to describe his talents and songwriting skills, let alone his distinctive tone and phrasing he puts behind his compositions.
For those of you not familiar with Blackmore's Night (however unlikely that may be), they play an impressive style of Renaissance era music, combining it with elements of new age, folk, rock, and blues, among others. Though heavily acoustic guitar driven, their songs blend a rich array of mandolins, violins, cellos, tambourines, drums, trumpets, bagpipes, and keyboards. Still retaining the classic Blackmore's Night sound, The Village Lanterne is arguably their most modern-sounding release to date. This seems to be because of the recording techniques they employed in the studio, rendering some of the pieces noticeably more contemporary than their earlier work. They are not omnipresent, however. It's more like the band and producer Pat Regan decided to incorporate some new textures and a heavier focus on atmospherics on some tracks. Songs like "Olde Village Lanterne" and "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" are both marked with effective rhythmic patterns, particularly in the way the drums and percussion are played. Aside from that though, the songs are your typical Blackmore's Night numbers, highlighted by Night's convincing voice and Blackmore's crystal-clean acoustic guitar, both worth dying for. The symphonic backdrop on "The Olde Village Lanterne" lends it an ethereal new age vibe (thanks to its creative arrangement) while Blackmore fuses wonderful blues licks with 16th century folk melodies on its successor.
As with previous albums, there are mini instrumentals present on The Village Lanterne as well. "The Messenger" merges Blackmore's love for new age and acoustic guitars, utilising subtle keys and orchestral motifs; while "Village Dance" is a more laidback yet more direct acoustic number. Much like these two tracks, "Mond Tanz" (Moon Dance) is the first instrumental part of the band's "Child in Time" rework on track nine. The instrumental piece starts out as a happy, upbeat cut, secretly slipping into the classic Deep Purple anthem, where Candice Night's harmony vocals are so beautiful you may want to freeze. Blackmore throws out full-on blues-inflected riffs before the band goes back to the playfulness of "Mond Tanz" to wrap the piece up. Another "cover" song on the album is the special bonus track "Street of Dreams", found only on the Japanese import of the album. This one features Blackmore's counterpart Joe Lynn Turner, who exchanges verses with Candice Night. The two singers duet, harmonise, and swap choruses, while Blackmore plays an enchanting lead solo with a medieval touch.
Candice Night's vocals on the emotional "Once In A Garden" recall her pure yet powerful performance on the debut album Shadow of the Moon, still a personal favourite of mine. The chanting-like male back vocals and Celtic bagpipe melodies on "World of Stone" and the almost-live performed "Olde Mill Inn", or the hard-rocking "St. Teresa" all help diversify the album, with impressive results.
The Japanese version of the CD contains the aforementioned essential bonus track with Joe Lynn Turner, two booklets (the black and white one being in Japanese) and a neat packaging with a nice sticker. Though Shadow of the Moon and Fires At Midnight will remain on top of many fans's lists, I believe The Village Lanterne will make a great addition to the Blackmore's Night discography.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ritchie and Candice Weave the Magic Yet Again, April 5, 2006
I have been a fan of Blackmore's Night for awhile now, and I own all the group's albums and the DVD released last year. I really enjoyed Village Lanterne for the same reasons I liked everything else they have done. If you already like the band, you will not be disappointed in the least with the songs found on this disc. The music is beautiful, melodic, and will sweep your mind off to enchanted worlds.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A strange mix, July 26, 2006
Update: 7/20/08
Two years on, I re-read this review and thought "What an arrogant tosser!" :) I should have know better than to make snap judgments like I did in the following review. I'm not going to change it now, as I think it is still a valid first impression of the album. However, in the light of listening to these songs for the best part of two years now, I am going to re-rate them. Oh, and I take it back about Candice doing rock vocals... she's great!
25 Years: 9/10
Village Lanterne: 10/10 - this is just a fabulous song; very powerful and moving
I Guess it Doesn't Matter Anymore: 9/10 - first impressions remain
The Messenger: 8/10
World of Stone: 7/10 - I still don't like this one as much, but it is an ancient melody and having seen it performed live, I have a much greater appreciation of it now
Faerie Queen: 9/10
St. Teresa: 7/10
Village Dance: 7/10
Mond Tanz/Child in Time: 5/10 - I still like this medley least of all songs on this album, but I think the 3/10 I gave it before was a bit harsh!
Streets of London: 7/10
Just Call my Name: 10/10 - what was I thinking? This is a superb song and an incredibly clever rock love song
Olde Mill Inn: 5/10 - the only downgrade from my first review; it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. Nothing like the calibre of previous similar songs like Home Again.
Windmills: 8/10
Street of Dreams: 8/10
So this is the original review: -
I have to preface this review with an admission that I am besotted with Blackmore's Night, and it's not just because of the "come hither" looks that Candice flashes the audience when she's singing on stage, either!
This music may not appeal to everyone, and it's so ecletic as to defy any serious attempt at categorization, but one thing it is not is pretentious, as a previous reviewer has implied. Yes, the romatic illusion of days gone by that features so heavily in the melodies, lyrics and visual imagery of this band is just that - an illusion, but I don't think that Ritchie and Candice are trying to rewrite history. The romanticisation of the past has been a perennial feature of artists throughout history and even if the illusion is a lie, it does us good to get lost in it for a while. Anyone who can't escape into a fantasy world occasionally must find life pretty dull and dreary. More to the point, the very core of music is its ability to lift us out of the mundane and transport us somewhere else. It may not touch a chord with everyone, but if it does it for some (and that is patently true for this band), to mock it for so doing is just infantile.
As others have said, this latest album continue to develop the music of an inspirational team. As a composer (I think he deserves this term over the more prosaic "songwriter"), Ritchie is simply masterful. His ability to create just exactly the right phrases and harmonies, his sense of timing and his musicianship sets him in a class of his own. Candice's voice is bewitching, beguiling, heartbreaking and every other cliche you can think of for a female singer. Where I think there is a weakness, if any, is the occasional contrived or naive lyric. I'm afraid I see this just as much in this latest album as in the first, hence the 4 instead of 5 stars.
So, on to the review. My track list differs somewhat from the one listed here, as one of the bonus tracks is "All Because of You (Radio Edit)" and not "Call it Love". However, this "radio edit" is such an awful, poppy, dumbed-down version of the beautiful original from "Fires at Midnight" that I'm not even going to bother reviewing it. If this is what they need to do to get the songs played on the radio, then for God's sake just forget about the radio!
"25 Years": I left reviewing this song till last, and now I come back and still can't think what to write about it. I like the song: it's kind of folk, kind of mediaeval, kind of light rock. I guess what I'm saying is that it thoroughly has the stamp of BN on it and defies description. Listen to it! 7/10
"Village Lanterne": Both the album and its title track seem to be misnamed. The album has a much more modern feel than its predecessors, but the name seems to be more rustic and ancient. Likewise, this song ahs a modern, almost electric feel, with a marching song beat (a-rum-pah-pum-pum!), and doesn't at all put me in mind of an old renaissance village, with a tavern and a latern. However, that doesn't stop it from being a moody and beautiful song, with a stirring crescendo that is almost anthemic. 8/10
"I Guess It Doesn't Matter Any More" is the album's first out and out rock and roll track where we see Ritchie writing stuff that is at least as good as anything ever written for Deep Purple or Rainbow. Actually, I would say that it's better, as it seems to be unfettered by the chains of genre that Ritchie seemed to labour under for much of his early career. There's more tonal variety and an object lesson in the ease with which he fuses rock/blues riffs and energy to traditional folk melodies and harmonies. The introductory passage, which is reprised during the mandatory instrumental break, is so simple and so catchy that I still can't get it out of my head! The only unfortunate thing about this is that, when singing to rock music, Candice's voice moves from unique to ordinary. That's not to say that it gets worse, or that she can't sing rock, but that rock vocals do not lend themselves to displaying such a beautiful voice to its best, and so what we hear could be any one of a number of accomplished female rock singers. 9/10
"The Messenger" is an instrumental ballad (if there is such a thing), with a very pastoral English folk melody and some very modern production. It makes me think of a stream running through an English meadow in the summer, not a messenger, which brings to mind someone who is in a hurry and out of breath. I'm not sure how they think of titles for these songs, but maybe I'm just missing something in the music. It's a lovely melody, though, and fully deserves the 8/10 I'm going to award it.
"World of Stone" is much more mediaeval than any of the previous songs, with some complex vocal lines and monastic male chanting for backing. For me, the style is almost too "sacred" and reminds me of the vocal and linguistic acrobatics that church choirs go through when trying to put psalms to plainsong. 5/10
"Faerie Queen" is classic Blackmore's Night, with a delicate folksy first half that is haunting and evocative, with Candice's voice at its most enchanting. For the finale, the song moves up tempo into one of Ritchie's virtuoso guitar performances, that somehow manages to mix classic Spanish elements with a renaissance travelling minstrel style that you can almost imagine court jesters prancing to. 9/10
"St. Teresa" starts off with a slow acoustic guitar melody that you just know is going to take off before too long. Sure enough, the song breaks into a real hard rock number that wouldn't have looked out of place on "Stranger In Us All". Candice's rock lyrics are very convincing, but once again I get the feeling that this style of music just doesn't do her justice. The song is good, but not great, despite a liberal splash of some of Ritchie's classic work on the Fender Strat. 7/10
"Village Dance" is another instrumental piece that is firmly set in the renaissance. Unlike many of the other songs on this album, it seems to match its title very well and you can imagine villagers dancing round the maypole to this tune as the minstrels play. Maybe it's just my irreverence, but I found myself thinking of Camberwick Green (if you aren't English or old enough, you won't know what that means!). 7/10
"Mond Tanz/Child in Time". What can I say? I liked Mond Tanz, and I guess I also liked Child in Time - back in the seventies when that kind of music sounded good. Candice does the song well, but really, I don't think Child in Time is worthy of being played as part of a medley that includes a song from the much more musically mature Blackmore's Night repertoire. My feeling is that this was a sop to the old Deep Purple fans who continue to come to the BN concerts and demand Black Knight. Sheesh! 3/10
"Streets of London" is a cover of the old Ralph McTell ballad, which I have always loved. This is a beautiful rendition of it, and Ritchie works in some musical magic that the original composer certainly never thought of, but to be honest, I prefer the original; marginally. It's still a great song though and Candice adds some new passion to the lyrics that were not in the original, which was delivered rather precisely and prosaically. 7/10
There are parts of "Just Call My Name" that would be destined to make this song an all-time classic if the whole song was of the same calibre. The chorus is truly memorable and there are flashes of Ritchie's usual genius, but I found myself getting bored by this up-beat rock number. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the generally high standard of the rest of this band's work. It's still a good song, just not great. 6/10
"Olde Mill Inn" is an attempt to fabricate a drinking song, and as such it comes across as a bit contrived. It's not the song that I object to, which is very catchy and sounds just like it could have been sung in the gin palaces and pubs of Victorian London, but the way in which it is all laid on a bit thick. From the slightly off-time clapping and "drunken" off-tune backing voices to the cringe-worthy bartender who's name is "Kim" (oh my God, Candice, whatever possessed you to write that line?), I get the feeling that BN are trying to TELL me that I am in a pub, rather than feeling that I actually am. 6/10
"Windmills" puts BN back to what they do best and, although this is definitely not my favourite of the album, does at least seem full of the honesty and charm that epitomises most of their work. This is a folk song, in the modern sense of the word, rather than a mediaeval or renaissance tune. The lyrics, especially when contrasted to the previous track, are some of Candice's best. 8/10
"Street of Dreams" is a cover of a song from the Rainbow album "Bent Out Of Shape". It's a good song and, much to my amazement, I think that Candice sings it better than Joe Lynn Turner. Again, this is not doing Candice down, but rather a comment on her suitability for singing rock vocals. However, the vocal line for this song is so melodic that Candice actually adds something with her clear and emotional delivery that Turner's rather muddy voice lacks. 8/10
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