Blackmore's Night
Dancer And The Moon

Have they finally reached the point of no return? It would be a real shame, it's a fantastic and original project that I have loved and still love quite a lot, but, alas, all the clues now seem to point in that direction. Ritchie Blackmore is certainly not in his prime anymore; sooner or later the creative vein diminishes, even for someone well above average like him, and as for Candice, well, we're talking about an excellent singer, good songwriter, and magnificent "host" at concerts, but she doesn't seem to possess particular qualities of leadership and personal inspiration.

After two excellent efforts like the energetic "Secret Voyage" and the more relaxed and multicolored "Autumn Sky," I was eagerly awaiting the eighth album by this golden couple but, alas, my expectations were disappointed. In the time between AS and this new "Dancer And The Moon," Candice Night had attempted a solo venture with the album "Reflections"; a well-presented, polished, and clean but very lacking in personality and originality album, honest workmanship but nothing more. Unfortunately, "Dancer And The Moon," despite Blackmore's presence, who could have been attributed to the compositional flatness of "Reflections," reveals itself to be of the same, identical strength as the latter. After fifteen years of honorable career, a physiological decline could have been expected, but here we are witnessing a real vertical collapse.

In the past years, Ritchie and Candice had produced a couple of albums, "Ghost Of A Rose" and "The Village Lantern," decidedly prolix and not always effective, but still rich in great moments, while "Dancer & The Moon" has very little to offer except for a re-proposition in a minor key (but very, very minor, Richard Benson would say) of what the duo had already experimented with in previous releases. You can listen to it once, twice, three times, and the feeling remains the same: a low-profile, stale, and manneristic album; they try with "The Temple Of The King", absolutely wasted in such a modest context, they try with "Troika", a bit of lively (and cheeky) Russian folk, which almost always works, but the effect is pleasant and nothing more. Indeed, the album is pleasant overall, and for Blackmore's Night, it is truly the bare minimum, but it slips away without ever truly impressing; the covers of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today", good AOR enriched by neoclassical nuances, and Ken Hensley's "Lady In Black", sterile reproduction of stylistic elements that no longer surprise, pale in comparison to the evocative power of their previous re-interpretations, "Ocean Gypsy" and the more recent "Celluloid Heroes" above all. It seems there's nothing to be done, there's no soul, no momentum, practically everything feels manneristic and already heard, starting from ethereal and faltering ballads like "Spinner's Tale," "The Last Leaf," "Somewhere Over The Sea The Moon Is Shining" and its electronic remix "The Moon Is Shining Somewhere Over The Sea", an almost "desperation" move that certainly doesn't help the album's flow; finally, the concluding instrumental "Carry On... Jon" will please nostalgic fans of Ritchie's blues guitar but nothing more.

Decidedly above average, the short and sweet "The Ashgrove" and the rhythmic title track are undoubtedly the two most notable and worthy unreleased tracks of the brand's reputation, but for the rest, the overall performance of "Dancer And The Moon" is practically on par with a thirtieth AC/DC album photocopy, good for some listening for completists and enthusiasts of the project like myself, while to newcomers, I strongly recommend a broad overview of the first three albums and the two immediately preceding this misstep, all beautiful, refined, and rich in style and personality. Could the maxim "those who have climbed the ladder of power must know how to descend with equal dignity" begin to apply to Ritchie Blackmore and his lady? I would never have said so, but according to the reality of the facts, it seems the B&N are heading in this direction. I'd obviously be very happy to be proven wrong, but unfortunately, I don't see great margins for recovery, their story, for better or worse, has now been written.