Anyone here hip to Blackmore Night?

[Mr Peabody]

Last I heard of Ritchie Blackmore was maybe mid to early 80's when Rainbow albums quit coming and I thought he was off the radar. I was searching around checking out music when a link caught my eye "Blackmore Night", could it be, it was him. He has teamed up with Candace Night and they have a few albums out. The samples I heard were great. Blackmore is expressing his passion for midevil music. From what I could tell from computer speakers and snippets of music Ms Night has a wonderful voice and they create a very interesting sound. I plan to try the latest album Village Lantern unless some one else has a better idea. If you all were like me and never knew they were still at work, I suggest you give them a listen.

[BarryL]

If you all were like me and never knew they were still at work, I suggest you give them a listen.

I think I have their first or second CD. His last couple of CDs have received really good reviews, and I've had them in my hands a few times but each time put them back 'cause I wanted to go back and listen to the one CD I did have.

Thanks for the post. I'm going to fish it out and have a listen.

[Wireworm5]

The 4 albums are all good, Under a Violet Moon, Fires of Midnight and Shadow of the Moon and Ghost of a Rose. The live albums Past Time with Good Company and Castles and Dreams are just the live versions of these studio albums. Overall I think the studio albums have the best versions but there are a few songs like 'Play Minstrel Play' that were done better live. Haven't heard the latest album and will have to get it.

[BarryL]

I've been listening to the one Blackmore's Night album I have, Under A Violet Moon, from 1999. I think this was his first one.

I would describe it as high quality medievel folk music. It is all very nice and well done, with baroque style accustic guitar playing and fiddles etc. Candice Night has a very nice soprano voice. This is folk music, so there is nothing flashy here.

It is extremely laid-back, and after about three listens nothing stands out as something I want to go back and listen to, and no melody remains spinning in my head. The one exception is the great folk version of Self-Portrait from the first or second Rainbow album. There is a little extra oomph to this one. So, IMO, overall, it makes for very nice folky background music.

They may have become a bit more aggressive and less laid back as they gained more confidence, so I'd start with the highly rated later albums.

[Dave_G]

The only good part of this stuff is his hot babe wife.

Other than that, it's background music for Sunday morning coffee time and read the newspaper.

He needs to bust a move out and rock again.

Dave

[Mr Peabody]

I placed my order for Village Lanterne. It's supposed to have the most electric guitar. I wanted Ghost of a Rose but it wasn't in stock where I buy my music from. They cover Child In Time and a Rainbow hit which I forgot the name, I think the album includes both versions. I may get a different impression once it's spinning in my system but the samples got me pretty excited. I get into that midevil sound. I fell in love with Nightwish although they are far from folk in most instances.

[Dusty Chalk]

The only good part of this stuff is his hot babe wife.

Other than that, it's background music for Sunday morning coffee time and read the newspaper.

He needs to bust a move out and rock again.

Thank you. I didn't have the balls to say what I was thinking.

[progfan]

I really enjoy their stuff. I have all the studio albums, the double live as well as the Castles and Dreams DVD. The DVD looks and sounds terrific; so does Blackmore's wife!

Personally, I find the Blackmore's Night catalog more consistent than the Steve Morse era Deep Purple. I suppose you could say there is a degree of sameness about BN's albums, but they do put in a little more rock with each successive release.

[Mr Peabody]

I'm glad there are some BN fans so if I like it as much as I think I will then I won't be alone.

[Dave_G]

If you can find it, Galahad's "Galahad Acoustic Quintet" smokes any of the Blackmores Night releases.

It's just weird having Ritchie doing this style of music...

I say reform Rainbow!

He will not go back to Deep Purple, Mr. Morse has filled his shoes w/o issue.

Dave

[progfan]

If you can find it, Galahad's "Galahad Acoustic Quintet" smokes any of the Blackmores Night releases.

It's just weird having Ritchie doing this style of music...

I say reform Rainbow!

He will not go back to Deep Purple, Mr. Morse has filled his shoes w/o issue.

Dave

I only have one Galahad CD and it sounds like poor man's Marillion to my ears. It's the one with the sleeping(dead?) girl on the cover.

I'd love to see a Rainbow reunion, but I'd be surprised to ever see it happen. If it's anything like the Doogie White era Rainbow, I'll stick with Blackmore's Night.

[Dave_G]

That Galahad you refer to is "Sleepers" and I like it a lot, but I like all of their releases anyway...

Prog on!

Dave

[Wireworm5]

I purchased Village Lantern yesterday and gave it a spin. I bought the deluxe edition and never listened to the songs on disc 2 yet. I didn't find the songs bad but none of the songs I thought were standouts. The recording was excellent and is a testiment to how good a cd can sound. This is my taste however and someone else may appreciate the album more than me.
In my opinion this is their weakest album so far. Ghost of a Rose would be next, but this album had two standouts ' Way to Mandalay' and 'Cartouche'.
Rating 3 out of 5

[Mr Peabody]

I got my copy of Village Lanterne in today and gave it a spin. I like it a lot. This album is not just background music. In fact, the acoustic numbers are very good. Blackmore shows his guitar skills very well, track 4 especially on acoustic. This album contains a few Rainbowesque electric tracks. Track 3 struck me as a strong track. They done 2 versions of Rainbow's Street of Dreams which are pretty good. Child In Time was alright but doesn't compare to the live version on Live In Japan, Deep Purple. This album is versatile with a renaissance theme or feel but each track has it's own character, one of Night's bonus tracks even has a Pop feel to it. It will be interesting to see how this album does compared to their earlier stuff, if the earlier stuff is more folk, the electric tracks could alienate old fans, while the album not being quite hard enough to grab Rainbow or Deep Purple fans. It works for me. I plan to get Ghost of a Rose next.

Side note, the sound quality of VL was good. Night does have a lovely voice in my opinion but she seems to stay within her range, at least on VL. Maybe that's her style but she just didn't seem to push the limits or get too emotional with the vocals. She sang very sweetly.

[Mr Peabody]

Oh, I checked for Galahad and that will be difficult to find, nothing really came up on Amazon except a possible link for sellers that I haven't checked out yet.