For rock and metal fans, the name Richie Blackmore should stir some good memories. (For those that may not know, Blackmore was a founding member of Deep Purple and Rainbow.) With such a storied history playing in two of the most legendary rock bands, some fans may have been taken by surprise when in the nineties Blackmore released Shadow of the Moon, a renaissance revival kind of album that featured his longtime partner Candice Night on vocals. While the instruments used to make that album weren't entirely traditional to the era it represented, it still wasn't an album one would call a rock album, either—though rock elements were present. Some would call it folk rock, but folk rock is simply "heavy" folk—which is not rock music at all.
Fans of Blackmore's past musical output seem divided over his jaunt back in time with Blackmore's Night.
To date, Blackmore's Night have put out seven studio albums (one being a Christmas album of originals and standards), two compilation albums, a live album, and a DVD. For their ten year anniversary, fans were treated to Paris Moon, which puts another nick in the live CD and DVD categories. Paris Moon is a DVD/CD release; each disc featuring a live performance filmed and recorded at the Olympia in Paris. The DVD has nineteen songs plus one introduction track, while the CD side has only eleven—nine from the Olympia performance and two studio tracks.
Paris Moon was my first encounter with the band (I've since picked up nearly all the studio albums). Previous to hearing it I was as skeptical as anyone, as much from listening to Blackmore fans whine that he's bending to the will of his hot girlfriend (plausible, I must admit) and because of the simple fact that—rock legend or not—going renaissance seemed to be a bit lunatic. But after watching Paris Moon, I'm convinced. Blackmore's Night is much more than I ever expected, and far more than those aforementioned whiners think.
Candice Night does a fantastic job fronting this band. Her voice is sweet and her presence commanding. She does great speaking to the crowd, explaining things like what certain songs are about, the writing process, or where the lyrical inspiration of a certain song came from. Blackmore himself takes the backseat for most of the show, but does show off his chops from time to time, like on "Ariel," one of the most rock-like songs the band has done. The rest of the band members get to show off from time to time as well ("Durch Den Wald Zum Bauchus"). Aside from Night classics like "Fires At Midnight," "The Village Lanterne," and "Under A Violet Moon," they pull out some classic rock covers (with a thematic twist, of course), such as "Rainbow Blues" (Jethro Tull), "Diamonds And Rust" (Joan Baez), "Soldier Of Fortune" (Deep Purple), and a very interesting take on "Saint Teresa" (Joan Osborne).
The multi-angle DVD is a pleasure to watch, but the music is so laid back that for me it plays better as a musical background than a visual piece. (Since I have little time to watch television or movies of any sort, this is probably just a very biased opinion based on my personal lifestyle and likely won't be any sort of common opinion.) It's unfortunate that the full DVD isn't represented on two CDs. With that said, the entire package here is outstanding. The two bonus studio tracks on the CD are a radio edit of "All Because Of You" (from Fires At Midnight) and "The Village Lanterne" (from the album of the same name). Both are good additions to the album, but largely pointless when considering that there are only nine live tracks on the CD when there are nineteen on the DVD.
Overall, Paris Moon might be the best way to start with the band. You get a nice smattering of some of the band's most liked songs, which span all their albums, some great covers, and a solid, intriguing performance by all. Plus there's a visual companion, if you want to watch it all as it happens. There's also some behind-the-scenes and interview footage. Either way, Paris Moon is a winner.
Video: Introduction/Past Times With Good Company/Rainbow Blues
Website: http://blackmoresnight.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/blackmoresnight1
Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.
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