Music Review
Copyright (c) 1994, Thomas Van Hook
All rights reserved


The Visit by Loreena McKennitt
Copyright 1992 Warner Brothers, Production 1991

1.  All Souls Night [1] [2]
2.  Bonny Portmore [3]
3.  Between The Shadows (Persian Shadows) [1]
4.  The Lady of Shalott [1] [4]
5.  Greensleeves [5]
6.  Tango To Evora [1]
7.  Courtyard Lullaby [1] [2]
8.  The Old Ways [1] [2]
9.  Cymbeline [1] [6]

[1] Music by Loreena McKennitt
[2] Lyrics by Loreena McKennitt
[3] Music and Lyrics Traditional
[4] Lyrics by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1843)
[5] Music traditional, Lyrics by King Henry VIII
[6] Lyrics by William Shakespeare (c. 1609)

     "I have long considered the creative impulse to be a visit -
a thing of grace, perhaps, not commanded or owned so much as
awaited, prepared for.  A thing, also, of mystery.  This
recording endeavors to explore some of that mystery.
     "It looks as well into the earlier eastern influences of the
Celts, the likelihood that they started from as far away as
Eastern Europe before being driven to the western margins of
Europe in the British Isles.  With their musical influences came
rituals around birth and death which treated the land as holy and
haunted; this life itself as a visit.  Afterwards, one's soul
might move to another plane, or another form - perhaps a tree. 
The Celts knew then, as we are re-learning now, a deep respect
for all the life around them.  This recording aspires to be
nothing so much as a reflection into the weave of these things." 
[7]

     Loreena McKennitt is a poet's musical dream.  From what I
can tell, a third of the lyrical material on her discs comes from
the works of such established poets as William Blake and Alfred
Lord Tennyson.  Her soft, personal approach to the musical
content underscores the power behind the words of these poetic
"giants."  But this, by no means, over-shadows Miss McKennitt's
ability to write stirring lyrics of her own.  The lyrics of "The
Old Ways" stand as a proud testament of this fact.
     As with "Parallel Dreams' (reviewed in an earlier STTS
Volume), "The Visit" brings the listener into another world. 
This disc is a definite "must-have."

Grade:  A+
Outstanding Track:  The Old Ways
Lackluster Track:  Greensleeves

