Medieavel Baebes- Mirabilis

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:30 am »

I just bought Mirabilis, the new Mediaeval Baebes CD. I hadn't heard they had a new one, so it was a nice surprise. For those of you who haven't heard them before, Mediaeval Baebes was formed in the nineties as a bit of an experiment by Catherine Blake (formerly of Miranda Sex Garden). With Blake at the helm as Music Director, their first performance was in a European cemetary at midnight. With a flurry of theatre, a lot of talent and audacity, and a dash of hype, they were off and running.

They originally set out to perform medieaval and rennaisance music, but over the years they've hedged ever closer to pop/new age. Undrentide saw their first full-blown pop/dance song, a collaboration with Delerium called "Aria."

And so it goes that Mirabilis is more new agey and poppy yet, swapping the spare unaccompanied singing of their early work for dense, modern arrangements and orchestrations. At some point I guess there's no use in lamenting the change- it won't help, and the new sound is also very good. For fans of the Baebes, there's a lot to like; superb singing with more intricate harmonies than on albums past. And the sound is better than ever, with a tremendous sense of spaciousness, atmospheric yet precise and clean. Probably their best sounding to date. Fans of their authentic early medieavel music will mourn the loss of one of the best of the few groups seriously mining that vein, I'd wager that most will delight in the spellbinding exhuberance and whimsy of Mirabilis.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:49 am »

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:51 am »

Salva Nos is fairly authentic medieavel music, and doesn't use instruments, just their vocals. In a lot of ways it's my favorite of theirs, although Undrentide is up there. I have five of their discs, and I agree they're an aquired taste.

But I'd like to see them live. "Baebes" is not an exaggeration.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:54 am »

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Fans of their authentic early medieavel music will mourn the loss of one of the best of the few groups seriously mining that vein, I'd wager that most will delight in the spellbinding exhuberance and whimsy of Mirabilis.

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http://www.blackmoresnight.com/ [/list:u]

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:09 am »

Yeah, another good one. I have all of their albums. And it's the exact same MO- they start with straightforward interpretations of rennaisance & ancient minstral songs and get more poppy with each album. The worm turned when Ritchie turned over the lyric writing to Candice. Yes, she has the voice of an angel. Yes, she's an extreme hottie. But lyrically we get chick song after chick song.

But I still love them!

MY advice, though- pass on the live CD. Not bad, but not really worth the money.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:12 am »

BTW, Lonewolf, you should change your name to NightOwl! Don't you ever sleep?

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:35 am »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

BTW, Lonewolf, you should change your name to NightOwl! Don't you ever sleep?

....sleep...

....who needs that....

Quote

MY advice, though- pass on the live CD. Not bad, but not really worth the money

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Rob Babcock · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:38 am »

Where'd you see them? I'd love to take in a show, but they don't play a lot of dates in America. As for the rocking harder part, that's part of why I don't like it. They're not supposed to rock at all.

JMOHO. Actually, my main complaint of the live CD set is that they change the songs too much. I realize some people dig the spontanaity and crowd interaction, but to me they ruin the songs.

Oh, well. They perform well live and the sound is good.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:45 am »

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Where'd you see them? I'd love to take in a show, but they don't play a lot of dates in America. As for the rocking harder part, that's part of why I don't like it. They're not supposed to rock at all...

Two different dates on Long Island (they do play more in Europe)...Richie Blackmore lives here (on L.I.)....East End. And...Richie can rock....

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:49 am »

No doubt. I think his current project is even better than Deep Purple or Rainbow- and that's high praise. It's not that I don't want him to rock, it's just that I really loved their early stuff like Under A Violet Moon. It had songs that rocked, but also more traditional songs that rang authentic with their mission of spreading Rennaisance music. Much of their new music is great rock, and that's good, but there are a lot more bands putting out great rock than there are putting out great Rennaisance music.

Still, I'll probably love their stuff no matter what they do.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 09:03 am »

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....but also more traditional songs that rang authentic with their mission of spreading Rennaisance music.

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R_burke · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:24 pm »

Others in this vein are:

Corvus Corax and Qntal

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Jan 2006, 05:34 am »

No, Lonewolf. At least not in many years.

Gordy · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Jan 2006, 02:40 pm »

The Anonymous 4 http://www.anonymous4.com/ are/were very highly regarded for their collections of medaeval vocal music... Beautiful stuff and deeply researched for authenticity