Ritchie Blackmore, Candice Night on 20 Years of Blackmore’s Night
Out today (August 18) is To The Moon And Back: 20 Years And Beyond…, a new compilation by Blackmore’s Night, the Medieval Renaissance music group formed by Deep Purple/Rainbow co-founder Ritchie Blackmore and his wife, Candice Night.
The set blends favorites from the group’s 10-album catalog with newly recorded versions of older material plus some new songs, including a cover of Rainbow’s “I Surrender.” Reaching the 20-year point with Blackmore’s Night, meanwhile, has come as a pleasant surprise to both Blackmore and Night. Blackmore tells us that,
“It’s been very pleasurable. Trying to pioneer that type of music is always rewarding, and…I don’t know anybody else that’s doing it really. It doesn’t feel very long at all for me. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years…I love that type of music, the purest form of music. Medieval Renaissance music has always excited me.”
Night adds that,
“I think for us, we often exist in a timeless realm so for us time is sort of irrelevant. When we did out it was 20 years on it kind of shocked both of us…When we first started this project we sort of did so on almost a very selfish basis, really…We didn’t do it with the intention of putting it out for the rest of the world to hear. We did it as an escape from the stress and the pressure of the modern-day world.”
Blackmore’s Night will be releasing an expanded version of its 2006 holiday album Winter Carols with a selection of new songs the group has recorded for it.
Blackmore, meanwhile, is also considering a full album with the reactivated Rainbow after releasing a pair of new songs earlier this year, with a third in the can.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
