BLACKMORE'S NIGHT: "All Our Yesterdays"

Rating: RRR
Label: Frontiers 2015
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Once not very long ago or very far away. We used to laugh until the break of day. Now the days are colder. I can't help to wonder why". The Eastern European influenced opening title track speak of better, happier times, and distant memories of the past. "Hey hey, hey hey. We'd dance the night away. I wish that we could stay in All Our Yesterdays". Words that sums up each and every person's inner thought(s) as he or she is getting older and grey? Are we looking at their swansong? One final hurrah before it's time to hang up the shoes? No idea really, but he's not getting any younger, the man in the hat.

Not an act to miss at your local folklore and renaissance festival, Blackmore's Night is a musical and spiritual collaboration between vocalist, multi-instrumentalist Candice Night and the legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple,Rainbow). Their latest offering to the savage Gods of yesteryears, the mixed album with eight new original numbers and five olde covers.

They've actually included THE song that all Blackmore's Night compositions are based upon. No. I'm not talking about the olde renaissance music. It's Mike Oldfield's smash hit of 1983, 'Moonlight Shadow', and it's still THE best modern medieval influenced pop tune ever. Easily the best song on the record but never quite as good as the original. The Sony/Cher duet of "I Got You Babe" on the other hand, one of the most overrated songs ever. Cheesy and cringe worthy to the extreme, it's not a duet as Candice had to sing it all by herself (where's Ritchie? you bastard!). The traditional 'Allan Yn n Fan' and the work of 'Long Long Time' are more than decent covers.

The instrumental "Darker Shade Of Pale" could just as easily have been left-over from any of the Rainbow albums. Will O' The Wisp, medieval influenced stuff and the lyrics speak of an ancient rock, castle ruins, a forest, as well as the crescent moon. There is also a path that Candice saw as she watched the Disney/Pixar film Brave with her children. Entranced by an early scene in which the heroine, Princess Merida is led through the woods to a cottage by a will o’ the wisp, a light that floats over swamps and moors. Very much the traditional folklore theme styled music as expect from the two. Solid stuff.
blackmoresnight.com