DANCER AND THE MOON

I must say this is a mixture of stuff that is very dishy and other that is more ingratiating and too languorous. Blackmore's Night is the band of former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and his wife Candice Night. Until this day have they done nine records and here it's classified prog folk. I would also say a part of this music is prog folk, the majority though is some form of folk pop. Ritchie Blackmore plays all instruments on this record, so the music must be quite computer made.

The best tracks of this record is instrumental and has a deep medieval feeling, constant and mighty and makes me shiver such as "Minstrels in the hall" and "Galliard". Blackmore proves here what a great guitarist he is and those tracks are also very folky and still proggy. Many tracks with Night's vocals though are little too popular sounding even if the result is professional and nice. "Troika" takes place in Russia and is a great example of good vocals and an appealing pop approach. The closer of the record: "Carry On...Jon" is a fantastic track, instrumental and ties the music to Blackmore's earlier adventures in Deep Purple. "The Ashgrove" is a traditional English folk track and the rest is enjoyable, but quite mainstream and a little to catchy.

This record has a lot of great material and I am glad I discovered it. Sure though is that this band dwells in the surroundings of the prog, a nice disc but not a classic.