An Ancient Muse | 
| Manufacturer: Verve
Buy New: $8.91
Rating:  235 reviews
Sales Rank: 931
Genre: international-music
Media: MP3 Download
Running Time: 0 Minutes
ASIN: B000V9G9VE
Publication Date: November 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 230 more reviews...
 The Musical Vistas of Loreena McKennitt November 23, 2006
Mars Velvet (Green Tree, Blue Earth...Deep Space)
146 out of 158 found this review helpful
AN ANCIENT MUSE. Just the title seems to suggest songs celebrating the past. Fans have waited a decade for this album, myself included. Many reviewers will tell you it falls short of expectations or explores no new territory.....in some ways I find I have to agree...
The album opens with the sun illuminating ancient landscapes in "Invocation" an instrumental chant both haunting and beautiful. We walk through "The Gates of Istanbul" starting our journey thru the ruins of the Ottoman Empire and the splendor of modern Turkey. The song is steady and rhythmic and Loreena's voice has the same banshee/angel quality it always had...no disappointment here.
The night finds weary journeymen who have camped for the night at a "Caravanserai"...an inn for the caravans of Asia. She weaves a story of the many adventures and scenery she has seen before stopping to rest...on a journey home. Easily her best song....great live performance can be seen at her website.
Next a tale of Scotland's woe...words by Sir Walter Scott set to an arrangement of music by Loreena...as she sings of the tragic love between "The English Ladye and the Knight". This kind of poetic adaption has been done before by McKennitt...."Snow", "Dark Night of the Soul" and "The Highwayman" to name a few examples. Her voice is strong and emotionally charged.....the most beautiful song on the album.
From here on out....the rest of the album delivers some fine songs. However, they are not as striking as the first four. Disappointed? I'm not...these songs will grow on me...I didn't wait 10 years just to tear apart her new album!! So for now, I can say it is worth buying.
If you like stories of history, tragic love affairs, and poetry...listen to Loreena McKennitt's AN ANCIENT MUSE.
 Comfortable, Familiar, Still Sublime November 23, 2006
Brian P. Hudson (Dearborn, MI)
87 out of 92 found this review helpful
After a decade, it's nice to have a new Loreena McKennitt CD!
... even if it IS perhaps her least innovative work to date. Sorry to say it, but there's much familiar ground covered here. In particular, McKennitt seems to be revisiting musical realms already visited on MASK AND THE MIRROR (M&tM). I don't simply mean in the style or choice of instruments; there are melodies and arrangements here that strongly echo tracks from that album (and other albums of hers).
Even so, the CD is a joy to listen to. I love the thematic thesis for this album--McKennitt as the wandering minstrel, collecting old stories as she strolls through the Mediterranean--and ultimately I like this album better than M&tM. McKennitt is one of those artists whom, even when she produces something imperfect, is still producing something much more beautiful and worthwhile than the majority of artists out there.
Now, hopefully it won't be a decade (or even half a decade) before her next one!
 Not up to her usual greatness November 26, 2006
Lili P. (AL United States)
25 out of 30 found this review helpful
Let me preface this review with the fact that I am a big Loreena McKennitt fan, owning almost every CD she has ever released. Because of the powerful beauty of her other albums, I was excited to learn that she had a new one coming out and rushed to pre-order it.
Unfortunately, this album just doesn't meet the high standard of her other works. Though it's a perfectly lovely recording, it lacks the power of previous releases. The main reasons it doesn't have quite the punch to which we are accustomed are the following:
1. There's a lot less of McKennitt's singing on this one than usual. While the instrumentation is quite fine, I am much more interested in her voice than in hearing track after track of wordless music.
2. Her other albums have varying tempos, with some slower and some faster songs throughout; this one features slow songs exclusively, all with similar tempo.
3. The style is very similar on each song, leaving me feeling like I heard the same song already a couple of times with different words by the end of the album.
It really is a pleasant recording, but easy to ignore where the others have my grabbed attention and held it. I really wish I could give this as great a rating as I was expecting, but I can't. I will say that my infant son fell right asleep while listening, so grab it up if you need a good lullaby CD!
Another Kingdom of Heavens January 20, 2007
W. Noshie
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
A beautiful musical blend between East and West.
This could be the shortest description someone could give about this great CD.
I have bought "An Ancient Muse" few days ago as I was told about its musical sound mixture and was not sure what to expect.
Since I have put this CD in my CD player I am having a hard time playing anything else.
Living in Lebanon, The sound of this album reflects very much the oriental musical atmosphere I live in, an oriental blend well mixed with the European; and since this place was occupied once by the Arabs and Crusaders, From Turkey, passing by Lebanon, Jordan and reaching Jerusalem, the album is a perfect feel of this area in every sound aspect.
"An Ancient Muse" is a very relaxing CD. If you like this musical atmosphere, I highly recommend the Soundtrack "Kingdom of Heavens" which delivers the same musical atmosphere of similar historical background.
Something's kind of missing.... November 22, 2006
Mark Krendel (Philadelphia)
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
I don't like to be that guy who gives a less-than-stellar review to a recording from an artist who hasn't released something in a while. Usually those sort of people are just the ones who aren't going to be satisfied no matter how great the new release.
However I do feel this recording is a little on the weaker end of things. Even the packaging is sparse - it lacks that beautiful illuminated feel of her previous releases, with their myriad of artworks and deep, thought provoking liner notes. With this disc all we get is a simple cover that looks no better than a greeting card, and a small short booklet with lyrics and a few thoughts. It's so very utilitarian. I don't feel like I'm being taken away into a misty, romanticized ancient world. I feel very much here and now. Which is not what I want or expect from a Loreena McKennitt record. Compared to the packaging and presentation of The Visit or The Mask and Mirror, An Ancient Muse feels like an EP release.
The music is good. Not great. Just good. It's very standard Loreena, albeit with a few twists such as the use of a more electric guitars and rock drums. But in the end that only serves to give it a somewhat pop feel. It kills the misty, dreamy world of atmosphere that used to seperate Loreena's music from other artists. Now she just ends up sounding a bit too polished and mainstream. She's almost heading in a somewhat (dare I say it) "easy listening" direction.
I never support the idea of an artist having to stay with a certain formula. I deeply appreciation mutation and innovation. But I don't sense either on this record. It's just the same old stuff with a few new twists here and there. And it doesn't measure up. Maybe, hopefully, she won't make us wait more than a year or two for her next recording...and that one will present a more compelling example of her great talents.
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