From the inspired march of opener “Highland,” with its great story
lyric, singable chorus and the strong vocals of Candice Night to the band’s
excellent take on an ancient folk tune, “Barbara Allen,” the modern
bards of 16th century modalities, Blackmore’s Night-featuring Night and
her husband Ritchie Blackmore, have another winner on their hands with Autumn
Sky.
I have to admit that I do miss Blackmore’s guitar histrionics al Deep
Purple and Rainbow, but at least with these 15 tunes, there’s a good deal
of rockin’ (or as rockin’ as this band is going to get) with drums
up front in the mix on the aforementioned “Highland,” the dervish
of “All The Fun Of The Fayre” and the full band snap of “Keeper
Of The Flame.” Night delivers a truly strong doubled vocal on “Journeyman,”
which also features some electric guitar leads from Blackmore. There’s
a bit of the same on “Dance Of Darkness” If you’ve need a
fix of Blackmore on electric guitar, this just may suffice.
Of course, you get Blackmore on lots of acoustic guitar on any Blackmore’s
Night release, and his pretty plucking is evident on “Night at Eggersberg,”
as well as a version of the Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes.” With
its plinking, sweet arrangement, I’m not so sure this works all that well
without the biting vocal delivery of Ray Davies. Nevertheless, Autumn
Night marks another competent stab at a mix of music Blackmore’s
Night performs well.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
