Search - Blackmore's Night :: Fires at Midnight

Fires at midnight

Ann G. Shepherd | perth western australia | 04/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"in my opinion this is possibly blackmores night best studio cd,if your new to this band buy this cd first as a good introduction."

Not my cup of tea

N. hayes | Ohio, USA | 09/14/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"well I have to admit that if a band always sounds the same then it would be a very dull world. The reason I start with that is because the reason I fell in love with this group was for the medieval/olden times sound that they often create. This CD has a few songs on it that capture that old time Medieval/Minstrel sound and it is delightful. Although the rest of the album's offerings are good, there is a lot of electric guitar and a certain "pop" music sound as well. It just didn't have as many songs that made you feel you were at a Ren fair. Oh well. They are still a great band, this just won't be one of their CD's I listen to very much."

Not As Strong As Their First Two Albums

Dave_42 | Australia | 04/01/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Blackmore's Night's first two albums were very strong, and so it isn't a huge surprise that their third album doesn't quite measure up. For those who are fans of their sound, there is still a lot here to enjoy, especially in the first half of the album. The group has its own special blend of Celtic and modern sounds and acoustic and electric instruments which is still quite evident on this album.



This time they do not open the album with a title track, but instead it opens with "Written in the Stars" which is a very good piece that demonstrates all that the fans of this group like. This is followed by a pleasant but not particularly special version of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin'". This is followed by one of my favorite pieces from this album, "I Still Remember" which has a driving beat which really grabbed my ear. This is followed by the nice sing-a-long piece titled "Home Again". At this point, it would have to be considered as good as any of the Blackmore Night's albums, but the next piece, "The Crowning of the King" is a bit too similar to some of their pieces from earlier albums for me. This is followed by "Fayre Thee Well", one of Ritchie Blackmore's acoustic instrumental works which is one of the better of those pieces, but I think it suffers from its placement after "The Crowning of the King". "Fires at Midnight" is the other of the really first rate pieces on the album. Some might find it a bit long at around seven and a half minutes, but for myself it all works. The piece builds beautifully to a masterful finish.



"Hanging Tree" is pleasant, but it is a couple cuts below "Fires at Midnight". "Storm" builds with some good energy as it goes along and I like the violin, but it did feel to me as if something were missing from the overall piece. "Mid Winter's Night" is another pleasant piece, but at this point it felt to me that the overall quality of the album had dropped a notch. "All Because of You" is another piece which continues the trend of decent but rather unexceptional pieces which seems to dominate the second half of this CD. "All Because of You" and "Waiting Just for You" do nothing to dispel that feeling, but one must remember that even the weaker pieces from Blackmore's Night are very listenable.



"Praetorius (Courante)" is one piece which is definitely above average in this part of the album and is another of the wonderful instrumental pieces which add extra flavor to Blackmore's Night's albums. "Benzai-Ten" is one of the few pieces that they have done which just doesn't work for me at all. The Japanese style didn't feel authentic at all to my ear, though I must admit I am no expert in that genre. "Village on the Sand" is a definite improvement, though again not one of their masterpieces. "Again Someday" is the sort of closer for the album, a nice pleasant acoustic piece, but in fact there is a hidden track titled "Sake of Song" which is the actual closer. As with most of the second half of this album, it is decent but nothing noteworthy. The other extra on this CD is a Video track which provides the video for "The Times They Are A Changin'".



With effectively 17 tracks and over 71 minutes of music plus a video this is easily the longest of the group's CDs, so one cannot criticize them for the quantity provided here. However, in this case less might have been more. Had they trimmed out a few of the lesser pieces and organized the tracks so as to spread out the highpoints this might have been the equal of their second album. As it is, it is above average, but not enough above average to earn four stars. There are often several versions of Blackmore's Night's albums, the one I have reviewed is from SPV (SPV 085-7243A CDE).

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