Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode #213 – Blackmore’s Night – Shadow of the Moon (Part 1)

Link to video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5I595EcwiI

Disclaimer: The video used on YouTube is a byproduct of producing our audio podcast. We post it merely as a convenience to those who prefer the YouTube format. Please subscribe using one of the links below if you’d prefer a superior audio experience.

Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Anchor.fm, Breaker, PodBean, RadioPublic, Amazon Music, or search in your favorite podcatcher! 

How To Support Our Show:

The Deep Purple Podcast is 100% listener supported and ad-free! If you receive value from our show please consider supporting us!

Brendan Ashbrook – Logo Designer

Thanks to Our Executive Level Patrons:

  • The $25 “Uncommon Man” Tier
    • Ovais Naqvi
    • Purple Maniac
  • The £15 “”Fifteen Squid” Tier
    • Alan “Ain’t Too Proud To” Begg
  • The £10 “Good Doctor” Tier
    • Dr. Jill Breis
    • Dr. Mike Kattan
  • The Turn it up to $11 Tier
    • Clay Wombacher
    • Frank Theilgaard-Mortensen
    • Mikkel Steen
    • Will Porter, PhDPP
  • $10 “Some One Came” Tier
    • Ryan M
    • Jeff Breis
    • Victor Campos
    • “Better Call” Saul Evans
  • The “Hughes-O-Ween by 2033” Tier
    • Fielding Fowler

Deep Dive Podcast Network:

Check out our website to find other like-minded shows taking deep dives into individual songs, bands, and albums.

Lead up to the Album:

  • After leaving Deep Purple which Ritchie referred to as “the monster machine” he said he figured he’d put Rainbow back together.  Ritchie says “it was an easy get out” but that his heart was not into it.
  • Ritchie was working at Longview Farm and Ritchie said he was going to fly in a professional lyric writer.  He called Candice and said that before he did that he wanted Candice to put down some lyrics as she traveled up to see him.
  • Candice got to 14 verses and gave them to Ritchie and Pat and they circled the ones they liked and put the song together.
  • Ritchie and Candice started writing acoustic songs at home for themselves and had no intention to release them.
  • Ritchie said that it was so fun because there was no pressure and it was very freeing.
  • Pat Regan says that the Blackmore’s Night thing came together when at the end of a day of recording they’d get together and jam.  Regan had a record label and thought to bring them together to do a recording of this with the intention of it being a one off thing.
  • Ritchie says in doing this project he was putting together melodies that were similar to what he was doing with Rainbow without being hard rock.  He had a lot of faith that fans would follow it.
  • Ritchie saw a band at a castle in Germany playing renaissance music with authentic instruments and he said that’s what he wanted to do. He even asked them if they wanted a guitar player.  Ritchie called it “a fantastic underground world.” He said that playing in front of very large rock crowds wasn’t as meaningful.
  • Candice said she never had any real intention to be a singer or in a band but it sort of evolved this way. She was very self-conscious and considered herself a “closet singer.”
  • Candice said they met in 1989, Ritchie says they met in 1889.
  • The story goes that he met her after a soccer match and told her “you’re a very beautiful girl.” He then sent his roadies to get her information and ask her if she wanted to meet up for a drink at a pub and they talked for hours.
  • Ritchie asked her what she could do, because he would always ask people to “give something” of themselves: singing, dancing, juggling, etc.
  • Ritchie says that there doesn’t seem to be anyone else “doing what we do. There’s probably a good reason for that.”
  • On this album Ritchie was using an Alvarez acoustic and sometimes a Taylor.  “Taylors sound a bit rough in the studio. The amp was a Crate and was picked up via a microphone. I also used an ENGL amp from time to time.

Core Band:

Technical:

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Photography By [Inside And Back Cover] – Michael Keel
    • Background is mostly with Blackmore’s Night albums.
  • Cover [Art Work] – Johanna Pieterman
    • Also did the artwork for Blackmore’s Night “Ghost of a Rose” album.

Thanks to Our Core Level Patrons:

  • The $7.77 KeepItWarmRat Tier
    • Michael Vader
  • The $6.99 “New Nice Price” Tier
    • Spike the Rock Cat
    • Sugar T
  • The Episode $6.66 Tier
    • Steve Coldwell
    • Arthur Smith
    • Anton Glaving
  • The $6.65 “Almost Evil” Tier
    • Kenny Wymore
  • $5.99 The “Nice Price” Tier
    • Robert Smith
    • Peter from Illinois
    • Michael Bagford
    • Karl Hellberg
  • The 60 Kroner “Scandinavian Nights” Tier
    • Zwopper The Electric Alchemist
    • Knut Morten Johansen – 
  • The $5.55 “What’s Goin’ On Here” Tier
    • Richard Fusey
  • $5 “Money Lender” Tier
    • John Convery
    • German Heindl
    • Adrian Hernandez
    • Jesper Almén
    • Oleksiy The Perfect Stranger Slyepukhov
    • James North
    • Mark Hodgetts
    • Kev Roberts
    • Percival Frequency
    • Scott Zerns
    • Cynthia Dube
    • Raff Kaff

Album Tracks:

  1. Shadow of the Moon (Blackmore, Night)
  2. The Clock Ticks On (trad. By Tielman Susato, Blackmore, Night)
  3. Be Mine Tonight (Blackmore, Night)
  4. Play Minstrel Play (trad. By Pierre Attaignant, Blackmore, Night)
    • Backing Vocals – Scott Hazell
    • Only credit is this and a song on Under a Violet Moon
    • Served as guitar tech for Ritchie Blackmore from 1995 through 1997 as well as some background vocals for Rainbow.
    • Guest, Flute – Ian Anderson
    • Songwriter [Traditional Song] – P. Attaingnant*
      1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Attaingnant
    • RB: On this song we played together for the first time. I sent him the tape, and he played his part and sent the tape back. That was it. I’ve admired Ian for a very long time; we’ve known each other for over 25 years.
  5. Ocean Gypsy (Renaissance Cover) (Dunford, Thatcher)
    • Written-By – B. Thatcher*, M. Dunford*
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Thatcher
    • https://www.discogs.com/artist/571852-Michael-Dunford
    • RB: We did not write that song. That’s a song that was written back in 1975 by another group called Renaissance. We’ve always loved that track. We used to play it around the house just for fun. Most of these songs that are only the LP, CD, we played in the beginning for fun, which is the best way I think of approaching music. It wasn’t hard work. It was very easy to make this CD … because we knew these songs, we played them to our friends, we had good fun playing them. And “Ocean Gypsy” was one of our favourite songs.
    • RB: With Deep Purple every song had to be composed by the band. Just for the credits! Bullshit! You play a song because you like it and not because you have written it yourself.
    • CN: “”Ocean Cypsy was a song that was given to us on a tape by Annie Halslam who used to sing for Renaissance, and Ritchie went to see here with a friend of his one night in a club which she was performing. And he brought home all these little tapes that she had given him, and we played them when we were livin gin Connecticut …. We don’t live there anly more. We were sitting outside one day, just listening to the tpea, and Ocean Gypsy was one song that stitch in my mind. And then we moved, and we packed the tapes, and we didn’t see those tapes for years. And I always remembered Oveam Cyptsey was always in my head. Then one day I just started hummin it around the kitchen and ritchie picked up laying it, and we had to go and find the tape and rummage through all our tapes so we could find out what the words were, and what the rest of the chords were. But that was just one of those haunting melodies that sticks in your head.
  6. Minstrel Hall (Instrumental) (Blackmore)
  7. Magical World (Trad Wassail, Blackmore, Night)
    • Composed By [Traditional Composition] – Wassail
  8. Writing on the Wall (trad. By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Blackmore, Night)

Thanks To Our Foundation Level Patrons:

  • The £3 “The Aromatic Feed” Tier
    • Simon Ford
  • The $3.33 Half Way to Evil Tier
    • Stephen Sharpe
    • Duncan Leask
  • $3 “Nobody’s Perfect” Tier
    • Peter Gardow
    • Ian Desrosiers
    • Mark Roback
    • Duncan Leask
    • Stuart McCord
    • Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light
    • Øyvind Fjeldbu –
    • Runar Simonsen –
    • JJ Stannard
    • Ruinous Inadequacies
    • John Miceli
    • Michael Boyette
  • The $1.71 “I Want My Own Tier” Tier
    • Rich “Yngwie” Shailor
  • The 10 kr “” Tier
    • Carsten Lau
  • The £1 Tier
    • Lord Longford
  • $1 Made Up Name Tier
    • The “Tomb Ticks On” Leaky Mausoleum
    • Stephen Sommerville The Concerto 1999 Fanatic
    • Hank the Tank
    • Private Eyes
    • Ashen Lionel
    • Blackmore’s Tights

For Further Information:

Listener Mail/Comments

  • Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover?  We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Leave a Reply