Candice Night – Reflections CD

CANDICE NIGHT
Reflections
Minstrel Hall Music 2011

A solo album from Candice Night, eh? Well, I suppose she has been
recording since her appearance on live backing vocals with Deep Purple
in 1993, through the history of Blackmore’s Night, and guest
appearances with the likes of Helloween. And with Ritchie Blackmore
now in receipt of his bus pass, it’s probably just as well to make
plans for the future.

And it’s actually quite good. It will probably come as a bit of a
surprise to Blackmores Night fans, as it is a step away from the world
of Hey Nonny no into a more new age-y meets Celtic soft rock.
Stevie Nicks meets the Corrs doon a back alley to exchange candle
recipes. That sort of thing. The promo doesn’t come with any notes, so
I can’t tell you whether hubby puts in an appearance, although it
mainly seems to be Pat Regan (who has worked with Mr Blackmore since
Deep Purple’s “The Battle Rages On”) that’s responsible for the music.
Ms Night is a good singer, and she tries out a few different styles
here, all of which she manages with a degree of success. The opening
number ‘Wind Is Calling (Feel The Hush)’, is a bit misleading, as it
leads you into thinking it’s going to be straight out new age folk,
but once you’ve been through the seventies pop of ‘Gone Gone Gone’,
the Fleetwood Mac style soft rock of ‘Black Roses’ and the classically
tinged ‘In Time’, you’ve had an interesting journey.
The production is excellent, with lots of atmospheric layering, and I
don’t doubt that if the mainstream Radio 2 audience picked up on this,
that it could crossover quite easily. However, the chances of her
shaking off her Mrs Blackmore tag to a rock audience is probably some
way off. Regardless, this is a very enjoyable release, if you go in
with an open mind.
Stuart A Hamilton

I certainly would not have recognised the lady on the cover, with a photo shoot right up to date with many of today’s fashion singers. It’s actually quite a strange record because every so often little snippets of Blackmore’s Night type phrasing and riffs sneak in before things move back to a more modern idiom. It’s not an easy market to crack – being flooded with wannabes thanks to a zillion reality tv show winners (and losers) – but frankly I’d rather have this on than Madonna any day. And indeed than Blackmore’s Night. And she’s been sensible and kept it to proper vinyl album length rather than stretch it out.
UPDATE – I had to close the competition (text below) early! We were swamped with entries. Which must say something about how much you all want the new CD. We’ll sift through and announce the winners shortly. [Anyhow, thanks to the very kind people at Minstrel Hall, we’ve two copies of the card sleeve promo to give away (I’m keeping the other). Let’s see if anyone can tell us which DP related record Candice first appeared on. Jot down your answer as a comment below (don’t worry, I’ll keep them hidden!).] Simon Robinson.

COMPETITION ANSWER AND WINNERS • In answer to our competition, Candice sang backing vocals on three tracks on Stranger In Us All by Rainbow in 1995 (and helped write at least one). Although she sang backing vocals on the Battle Rages On Tour I cannot find any mention of her singing on the studio album (as one entry suggested) – although she and Ritchie were an item at that time. Nor – although she may have done backing vox at some Deep Purple shows – is she listed on the credits to the live LP off that tour, Come Hell Or High Water, nor does she give list this on her own website. So we’ve gone for Stranger In Us All as the correct answer. Marcelo Soares says he thinks he spotted her backstage on the Heavy Metal Pioneers video by the way!

Anyway, the three prizes go to Jason Rodericks, Andrew Butler and Fernando in Brazil. I’ve emailed them for addresses and will ship as soon as.
If you’re not a lucky winner the CD can be ordered at DTBOnline Store