Blackmore’s Night, All our yesterdays

Blackmore’s Night make me happy, it’s as simple as that. Of course they’re not the kind of band where one remains in awe at the originality of the song structure, at the complexity of the chord progressions or at the skills of the musicians (though Ritchie Blackmore is still a name that holds weight, even with his new-found lightness), but they are the kind of band that tells a story, sends an emotion, creates a mood. My heart is filled with joy and positivity and I’m transported to a fairy-tale world every time I listen to them. And after all, what is the purpose of art, if not “washing the dust of daily life off our souls”, as Pablo Picasso beautifully put it? 

Candice’s voice is as tender and touching as always, as she sings with her warm timbre about love, nature and the beauty of life. Ritchie’s guitar, although not as virtuous as in his Rainbow days, can still make a stone weep and has such personality and charisma I thought only the human voice is capable of. The cute merry medieval tunes are positively heartwarming and they make me smile and dance and enjoy life. The slower paced songs are calm and soothing and make me daydream. Everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be and as it’s supposed to be when it comes to a Blackmore’s Night record and a medieval folk band. 

All we have to do to properly enjoy this album is to completely ignore the middle part. Pretend it never happened. Pretend there aren’t three boring, unimaginative covers of three boring, unimaginative, swoony songs. Pretend that we didn’t all wonder after the string of covers ended and a beautiful new song started why on earth do they settle for singing other people’s ladidas when they can write and sing such beautiful music of their own. 

I don’t really know what they were thinking when they decided to do this. Not only that having three covers and one lively reinterpretation of Where are we going from here (basically a third of the album) makes the record seem rushed and unfinished, but at least they could’ve chosen better songs to cover. Where are we going from here was beautiful originally on Ghost of a rose and it’s just as beautiful here, but the other are dull to say the least. And when covering such vapid songs (sorry, Mike Oldfield, I love you, but this was definitely not one of your shining moments), especially if you don’t bring almost anything new to them, I cannot help but question their decision. When I was reviewing Aina I said that Candice can sing anything and it will still be gorgeous. Apparently I must take that back, not even her voice is enough to make these songs somewhat bearable. 

Seeing how once was more than enough times to listen to that triad, I have decided to ignore it completely, skip it every time I play this album and continue to be happy while  I enjoy Blackmore’s Night. I know Candice and Ritchie are happy, no matter how much some fans are complaining about the softening and talent wasting of one of world’s greatest guitarists, I don’t think they should feel sorry for him. I believe he’s truly happy and truly doing what he loves. Seriously, I cannot imagine for one second that a person writing and playing this kind of music can be anything else but happy. And if he and Candice are enjoying it, if there are fans who enjoy it as well, why so sad and serious? It’s lively, it’s pretty, let’s rejoice in their music and enthusiasm and stop thinking about the past and what could’ve been. And if we’re bent on ignoring things, let’s also ignore that the album theme inspires us to do exactly the opposite 😛