Blackmore's Night

[Alex, The G and T]

Peter and Tom raise the hackles on a serious peeve of mine.
I'm guess I'm older than dirt to regard music as an auditory experience. Music Video Television was extremely damaging to the development of music.

The whole hair-metal thing irritates me because some very good bands (as you say, eg Coverdale/ Whitesnake) were swept away in that hideous typhoon of hairspray and blow dryers.

It's unfair to judge a great musician by the obscenities perpetrated on their hair, by their producers.
Again.. I hear the musicianship and art. I laugh and squirm at music video productions... and at the incredible amount of dross which came out of the hair-band era.
Dio, again. His videos should have been kewl. What's not to like about invading haunted castles with broadswords? Eschewing the cliched Hot cars, babes and poodle hair... But those videos play as cheesy, embarrassing to watch. Unlike his live stage presence: an inveterate showman.. and that monumental voice coming out of that tiny little man...

[Alex, The G and T]

Peter: "What on earth is 'Celtic Music?'" I chuckle.
That actually raises an interesting study in regional etymology. I'm not sure how pervasive this is across the US; but I can speak for the west coast.
There's been a popular genre of night club, hereabouts, which fancies itself an "Irish Pub." They keep some Harp lager and thin Guinness Stout on tap and feature a lot of Bouncy and Woeful traditional music. The B and W music is generically referred to as "Irish," or more superciliously as "Celtic." An occassionaly tune may be, esoterically, attributed to Gaels from Brittany. So, yeah, the term is restrictive under local popular usage.

There's a band out of the San Francisco Bay Area, "Tempest," who play highly amplified Bouncy and Woeful music. They make a point of explaining, during their club shows, that their genetic and traditional-music roots are of Scandinavian origins. They apologize that they are forced to advertise themselves as a "Celtic-Rock" Band; because California audiences have proven to be confused about any expansion of the definition of traditional Bouncy and Woeful Music.

In another story of Honey Pot Rot: (Back to the Blackmore's Night phenomenom)
15 years ago, Tempest would put on a Tear-it-up, hard-rock edgy B and W based club show with the solid-body, twin neck, electric mandolin and custom-built electric fiddle... throw in a ground shaking, too-weird, rendition of "Iron Man." And a venue on the second floor of an aging wood-framed building. Get a couple hundred drunks pogoing in unison, in front of that stage and the floor would get to bouncing. Like a trampoline, a person desiring a boost in their pogo could hit the deck a little after the beat , while the floor was rebounding, a get propelled a couple extra feet in elevation. Aah... good nights those.
Alas, over the years, the fiery fiddler, and the he-man balladeer were replaced by a chickie with a sweet voice, cute tits, and an acoustic violin refitted with an add-on electric pick-up. The Psychotic Mandolin developed a hollow core. Much Mojo was lost. Sigh.

But, a couple of more traditionalist posters on this thread might still find "Tempest" to be an obscure, unknown "Find." They are quite good at whatever it is that they do. It plays a bit more sincere than Blackmore's Night, IMHO.

(Oops, newbie's not allowed to post a link, yet. It's tempestmusicDOTcom

[svalbard]

Originally Posted by Alex, The G and T

15 years ago, Tempest would put on a Tear-it-up, hard-rock edgy B and W based club show with the solid-body, twin neck, electric mandolin and custom-built electric fiddle... throw in a ground shaking, too-weird, rendition of "Iron Man." And a venue on the second floor of an aging wood-framed building. Get a couple hundred drunks pogoing in unison, in front of that stage and the floor would get to bouncing. Like a trampoline, a person desiring a boost in their pogo could hit the deck a little after the beat , while the floor was rebounding, a get propelled a couple extra feet in elevation. Aah... good nights those.
Alas, over the years, the fiery fiddler, and the he-man balladeer were replaced by a chickie with a sweet voice, cute tits, and an acoustic violin refitted with an add-on electric pick-up. The Psychotic Mandolin developed a hollow core. Much Mojo was lost. Sigh.

(Oops, newbie's not allowed to post a link, yet. It's tempestmusicDOTcom

Sounds like a hell of a place and a cracking gig to boot. I will check Tempest out and post a link(if I like them).

[svalbard]

Hi Alex,

Tempest are not bad. They are ok. I can hear that sound any time I want to at home. What is interesting, is what you said about their music and how they percieve it. It harks(ye olde wordes) back to something that Peter might be alluding to. Folk music is of the people, hence it's name.

For whatever reason the name has become synomomous with Irish/Gaelic music. I have listened to tunes that if you took away the language could be termed Northern European, let alone to the country the song came from. I put this down to the Scandavian influence across Scotland, Ireland, England and Northern France. Those Vikings were not only good for fighting but...

[Alex, The G and T]

Right, and Tempest sing in english, despite their protestations of Nordic heritage.

Agreed, their recordings don't capture the magic of their early live shows. Actually neither do their more recent live shows.

They still play a couple of local shows per year; but I stopped going to see them several years ago.

[svalbard]

I reckon they would be pretty good live, I just could not find any links that would do them justice. There is nothing like a good gig or session.

[Sorceress]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

Nope - I guess I should given that I like some Deep Purple and Rainbow. How would you compare this to those?

I think most DP and Rainbow fans have a problem accepting Blackmore's Night but in BN you really get the chance to hear Blackmore's true guitar skills at work. An entire different style of playing and even if you don't like this type of music one should at least respect his ability to play it.