Loreena McKennitt Book Of Secrets CD

Personnel: Loreena McKennitt (vocals, harp, kanoun, accordion, piano, keyboards); Brian Hughes (vocals, acoustic, electric & classical guitars, bouzouki, oud, guitar synthesizer); Donald Quan (vocals, viola, keyboards, tabla, timba, esraj); Stuart Bruce (vocals); Aidan Brennan (acoustic guitar, mandola); Martin Jenkins (mandocello); David Rhodes (electric guitar); Martin Brown (acoustic guitar, mandolin, mandola); Robin Jeffrey (Victorian guitar); Hugh Marsh, Osama (violin); Joana Levine (viola de gamba); Caroline Lavelle, Anne Bourne (cello); Nick Hayley (rebec, lira da Braccio, serangi); Jonathan Reese, Iain King, Andy Brown, Chris Van Kampen (strings); Bob White (tin whistle, shawm); Danny Thompson (acoustic bass); Steve Pigott (keyboards); Nigel Eaton (hurdy gurdy); Manu Katche (drums); Paul Clarvis (snare drum); Steafan Hannigan (bodhran); Rick Lazar, Hossam Ramzy (percussion).
Personnel: Loreena McKennitt (vocals, harp, kanun, accordion, piano, keyboards); Brian Hughes (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, classical guitar, bouzouki, oud, guitar synthesizer); Robin Jeffrey (guitar); Aidan Brennan (acoustic guitar, mandola); Martin Brown (acoustic guitar); David Rhodes (electric guitar); Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy, lira da braccio, rebec); Andy Brown (viola); Anne Bourne, Caroline LaVelle (cello); Danny Thompson (acoustic bass guitar); Manu Katche (drums); Paul Clarvis (snare drum); Hossam Ramzy (percussion); Stuart Bruce.
The Book of Secrets, the follow-up to 1994's The Mask and Mirror -- there was a Christmas EP, A Winter Garden, released in 1995) -- finds Loreena McKennitt in the same musical vein, mixing Celtic, Spanish, Italian, and new age to create her own distinct sound. The only problem is that she did not seem to progress much during the time between releases. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since she still knows how to write incredible melodies and layer instruments to produce peaceful images. "Night Ride Across the Caucasus" and "Dante's Prayer" are just two prime examples of this. And she continues her practice of setting classic poetry to music (Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman"). Expertly recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios, this CD serves as a travelog of sorts for McKennitt, musically detailing her travels during 1995 and 1996. She provides the musical and lyrical inspirations from each location she visited, utilizing the instruments and sounds she encountered on her travels. Although she may be referred to as the Canadian Enya, McKennitt is definitely her own person, producing music of beauty and warmth. ~ Aaron Badgley
Loreena McKennitt began her career as a New Age pop chanteuse, steeped in Celtic folk mysticism and possessed of an airy, ethereal voice. Over the course of her career she has dabbled to varying extremes in the pop format, but she remains true to the spirit of the traditional balladeer on THE BOOK OF SECRETS. With the aid of top-flight musicians like Danny Thompson and David Rhodes, she weaves a web of fanciful, wispy folk-rock that's not afraid to be beautiful as it pulls listeners in with it's comforting hypnotic qualities.Entertainment Weekly (11/14/97, p.93) - "...wanders even further into the musical woods on her seventh album, singing about 'riding o'er the land' and the 'fountain of forgiveness' to misty, Celtic-renaissance-fair pop. For all her New Age pretensions, though, McKennitt knows a hook when she hears it..."
- Rating: B