BLACKMORE'S NIGHT
The Village Lanterne
SPV Records 2006
www.blackmoresnight.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
Legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and vocalist Candice Night return for another dose of the medieval music that would fit right in during the Lord Of The Rings movies.

Genre
Renaissance rock / folk / pop / rock

The Good
The mellow sound midtempo “25 Years” opens up the disc with a rather underplayed vocal delivery from singer Night. “Village Lanterne” has a great opening, and sounds like one of those inspirational songs played over movie montage scenes, all building to a rising crescendo to end the song. For those fans still waiting for Ritchie Blackmore to return to his rock roots, you’ll still find yourself waiting at the end of this album, but you’ll be glad to know that there are signs that he hasn’t forgotten where he started out.

Three songs (not including the second version of “Street Of Dreams” on the album) really stand out as more rock song than renaissance music. “I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” has a strong drum presence to go along with a real solid rock guitar riff. The cover of “St. Theresa” is far different from the original version of the song; it’s got a real driving rock sound here. The last of the three songs is “Just Call My Name (I’ll Be There)” and it further demonstrates that while Blackmore has moved on his musical evolution, he’s still capable of looking back and pulling out his guitar god card anytime he feels like it.

The song “Olde Mill Inn” is an ode to an actual bar, and it’s one of those old time “having a grand old time down at the local watering hole” songs. While most of the songs that aren’t covers were written by both Blackmore and Night, Candice Night wrote both the music and lyrics for the song “Call It Love.” I found myself pleasantly surprised at how good a love song it is. I’m picky about that type of song, and this one is a song I’d love to hear on the radio. The songs mentioned here are probably the best ones on the album, but just about every song is worth being heard.

The Bad
I found the chorus in “World Of Stone” rather weak. Surprisingly, I didn’t enjoy the Deep Purple cover “Mond Tanz / Child In Time.” It just did nothing for me.
The album booklet bugged the heck out of me. I like to read the lyrics as I listen along, and the songs are out of sequence in the booklet so you have to hunt around to find the particular track you are looking for. The first two songs on the disc are the last two songs listed in the booklet, etc. You can just chalk that up to my own personal pet peeve.

The cover of the Rainbow song “Street of Dreams” that features Joe Lynn Turner is decent, but I did notice that Turner’s vocals do seem to get buried under Candice Night’s vocals when they are both singing at the same time. Maybe it’s my mistaken impression, but I would’ve thought they’d have done more to have them both combined in the mix equally. When Turner isn’t singing the lead vocal alone, it’s almost as if he’s there to be a back up singer.

The Verdict
Once again, Blackmore’s Night takes the supremely beautiful vocals from Candice Night, the guitar mastery from Ritchie Blackmore, mixes it up and comes out with a real great collection of music. Some may find the idea of a band that specializes in a musical sound from the Middle Ages more than a bit weird, but if you listen with an open mind, you’ll find that Blackmore’s Night is a band for any age. The band has their original music, throws in 3 or 4 covers, and includes 3 bonus tracks for good measure. I can’t put it more simply than this: An excellent album!

Did You Know?
Singer Joan Osbourne originally performed the song “St. Theresa.” The drummer for this album, Anton Figg, is a member of The CBS Orchestra, the house band for the David Letterman Show. Ritchie Blackmore has performed with some of the greatest singers in rock history including Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow) and Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow).

Rating: out of 5

-- Jay Roberts