Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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Blackmore’s Night
It is fascinating that this CD even exists. Ritchie Blackmore was once a rock and roll guitar god and a singular presence in Deep Purple, the man responsible for “Smoke on the Water,” “Highway Star” and “Child in Time.” In the early seventies, some fans even considered him on par with Jimmy Page. Many years have passed since then, and styles have changed drastically. To his credit, Blackmore ignored subsequent trends and decided to follow his own muse. Unfortunately, that muse has led him down an ancient back alley.
While his peers stick to the blues, or folk music, or dabble in electronics, Blackmore has reverted to some comic-book rendition of seventeenth century Europe. “The Village Lanterne” (note the ‘E’ in ‘Lanterne’) is a faux-Renaissance-era project that plays off of the tired, hippie-fied notion that interprets olden times as something romantic and wonderful. The booklet is full of photos that show Blackmore is full period regalia, with a head-to-toe leather-and-lace ensemble that could have been stolen from the movie set for “The Princess Bride”. Every ancient fantasy needs a wench, and vocalist Candice Night fits the bill willingly, posing with Blackmore in front of castles and hearths. I swear to God, in one photo the band poses by a stone edifice, and a 20th century sign over a doorway in the background appears to read “Toilette.”
But that’s just the appearance. Let’s talk about the music. From start to finish, ye olde CD assemblie of newe madrigals hath been wrought as a comical farce. “The Village LanternE” sounds like a Spinal Tap project gone array. If they had covered “Stonehenge,” I would laugh approvingly, and note that the project at least had some self-aware humor. Instead, it is bloatingly fatuous and about as authentic as a day at Epcot. In all fairness, I must say that the rhythms and melodies do suggest ancient English balladry, and the playing is technically excellent throughout, but the arrangements have much more in common with Uriah Heep than Fairport Convention. Lyrically, the songs are about windmills, faerie queens, and ye Olde Mill Taverne. The lyrics are naïve, but the descriptions that accompany them are…remarkable (“The lantern burns brightly outside the door beckoning you to step inside and be with those whose company is like a warm embrace.”). In 1667, Blackmore and Night would’ve been burnt at the stake for witchcraft. In 1967, this stuff would’ve been swallowed whole. In 2006, few people will bother, except maybe the few holdouts who still like to play ‘dungeons and dragons’.
Grade: 
 
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