Shadow of the Moon (1998)

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Ritchie Blackmore described once the sound of Blackmore's Night as "Mike Oldfield meets Enya". Legendary Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist shifted his musical focus away from hard rock in the late 1990's and started concentrating on his love of Renaissance-era music. He formed Blackmore's Night with his fiancee, vocalist/lyricist Candice Night, and recruited other musicians from around the world to combine elements of world music, Renaissance, new age, folk, and rock & roll. The debut album "Shadow of the Moon" was released in 1998. Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson contributes flute on "Play Minstrel Play". I very like this album and other works of this band. Ritchie's acoustic guitar melodies and Night's clear, ethereal voice blend with a host of instruments such as mandolins, keyboards, pennywhistles, violins, tambourines, military drums, and hurdy-gurdies. This is an excellent album.