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The story of Blackmores Night began when Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore moved his musical focus away from hard rock in the late 1990s 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 like minded musicians to combine elements of world music, Renaissance, new age, folk, and rock & roll. Blackmore didn't exactly retire his Fender Stratocaster, but he plays acoustic guitar almost exclusively in Blackmore's Night. His 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. Blackmore once described the band's sound as "Mike Oldfield meets Enya." The formation of Blackmore's Night is tied to the efforts of his previous two bands. Blackmore left Deep Purple - again - after 1993's musically disappointing The Battle Rages On... album. Blackmore then revived Rainbow - technically under the original Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow moniker - with largely unknown musicians for 1995's Stranger in Us All, and Night contributed lyrics for four songs. Blackmore didn't really want to call it a Rainbow project, but record company executives insisted the name recognition would make it easier to market the album. After Stranger in Us All, Blackmore decided to actually record Renaissance-inspired music. He'd loved the style for years, but he never really played it himself. Once he began playing the music at home, Night would casually start singing along. This innocent, informal practice germinated into Blackmore's Night.

The album opens to a spanish gypsy guitar build up with vocals and percussion coming in behind laying a backdrop for nights gentle yet commanding voice. The first thing that you notice about Blackmores guitar playing is that it is at the same time, everywhere yet not dominating. Riffs and fills weave around the other instruments, sometimes coming to the for, sometimes laying back but always evident in some form, and as you would expect from one of the top guitarists in the world, the playing is superb. This first number, the title track of the album sets the pace for what follows, a modern reinvention of medieval music, not in itself old world sounding but giving you the feeling of past times. Be Mine Tonight lilts into view, a gentle waltz beat that carries you of with its romantic airs and graces, Georgian

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