Buffy Sainte-Marie - Fire & Fleet & Candlelight

On the last of her fully satisfying '60s releases, Buffy Sainte-Marie combined a strong assortment of original songs with a judicious selection of traditional folksongs and two Joni Mitchell covers (including "The Circle Game"). The variety of arrangements and musical settings alone keep this intriguing record from ever sounding stale. Simple acoustic numbers ("The Wedding Song" and "The Seeds of Brotherhood"--add the word "sow" to the beginning and that's pretty much the sum total of Sainte-Marie's heartfelt message) contrast nicely with the lush orchestrations of "The Carousel" and "T'es Pas un Autre" and the good-time, hoedown feel of "Doggett's Gap" and the glorious "97 Men in This Here Town Would Give a Half a Grand in Silver Just to Follow Me Down." A unique songwriter with an equally unique voice captured on tape at the height of her powers. --Percy Keegan Amazon.com

Great Variety.

From the almost ridiculous "97 men in This Here Town Would Give a Half a Grand in Silver Just to Follow Me Down," the bright "Hey, Little Bird," to the spooky "Lyke Wake Dirge," this album (for that's what I'm listening to, not the CD) is full of the kind of variety folk music is known for.

There are the "meaningful" songs like "The Seeds of Brotherhood" and "The Circle Game." There are traditional folk songs like "Doggett's Gap" and "Lord Randall." There is even a "Wedding Song" on here.

Listen and enjoy the 60's folk music scene again, then go on and listen to Buffy's newest CD's from the 90's to see what progression she has made in her music. February 21, 2008

Forget what the reviewer below says about "Circle Game"

When this album came out in mid-1967 its version of "The Circle Game" marked the first significant cover of a Joni Mitchell song, and I was so moved by the lyrics, the melody, and the arrangement that I would to go into the Doubleday book store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan and put the lp on a turntable just to listen to that one song. It's a stirring version that's no less moving for not being spare as others have since recorded it, and the spell Sainte-Marie's version has cast is enough to make me buy the cd now that I see it's available. April 30, 2000

suprise- dissapointment ?

When I read something about "new release" I was too excited. I knew I would have to get hold of that CD as soon as possible. When I received the CD my eyes popped out at the sight of the cover: I know that the 70s are hip today but this, I thought, can't be a new release- and it's not really. This CD features the early Buffy at a state of experimentations. The album reminds me of "litlle wheel spin and spin" but it's miles away form the brilliant masterpieces "coincidence and likely stories " or "Up where we belong". So if you expect the follower of these CDs- better not get dissapointed. March 29, 1999

Enjoyable but slight

This albums finds Buffy Sainte Marie stuck between the folk leanings of her first few albums, and the more contemporary path she was later to pursue. Her own songs work best - the covers are mixed. The version of Joni Mitchell's Circle Game is badly arranged. There is also an extremely eerie interpretation of a Benjamen Britten dirge. Everything here seems to suggest an experimental impulse on the artist's part, yet Fire, Fleet and Candlelight was followed by the rather staid Nashville album I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again, and it wasn't until Illuminations (1968, and out of print), that Buffy Sainte Marie recaptured this album's adventurous spirit. March 25, 1999

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