Ariel

Hey Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew has the needles down on Rainbow right now with Ariel from their 1995 album Stranger In Us All, and this track carries a whole lot of quiet magic that fits the freeform album rock spirit we keep alive at THE ZOO. Running just under six minutes, it opens with a heavy, almost Levee Breaks style drum pulse before Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar settles into that hypnotic Kashmir-like riff, and the whole thing feels like a midnight ride through some enchanted forest. Candice Night later told Background Magazine in 2012 that Ariel was the very first song she and her future husband ever wrote together, the spark that started their long creative partnership. She pictured the title character as an enchantress, and Blackmore has always seen her that way, turning a mythological angel into a woman who slips away like sand through the hourglass.

The song came together in pieces during the sessions for what was supposed to be a Blackmore solo record. One of the engineers later described how Ritchie sat alone in the hall playing two separate riffs; they were cut and stitched together until the main figure locked in, then Candice and Ritchie shaped the melody and lyrics around it. Doogie White, who handled the lead vocal, has said in interviews that Ariel was already a finished folk-tinged piece by the time the band arrived, so his contribution stayed mostly in the delivery. He still made it soar, especially when the female voice floats in like a distant echo. Released as a single on RCA with a shorter radio edit and a live Temple of the King on the flip, it never became a huge chart item, yet fans who found the album still call it one of the standouts. Blackmore himself once noted that the solo came out naturally on the second take after the first felt a little unsteady, and that natural feel is what still grabs you.

The whole Stranger In Us All project marked the end of one chapter and the quiet start of another. Originally planned as a solo effort, the label pushed Blackmore to revive the Rainbow name, so he assembled a fresh lineup with Doogie White on vocals, Greg Smith on bass, Paul Morris on keys and John O’Reilly on drums. It was the band’s first studio album in twelve years and Blackmore’s last pure rock recording for a long stretch. Candice Night sang backing parts and co-wrote several tracks, including Ariel, Wolf to the Moon and Black Masquerade. The album title itself comes from a line in that last song. After the supporting tour wrapped in Denmark in 1997, Blackmore stepped away from the electric rock world and formed Blackmore’s Night with Candice, trading the big stages for castles and folk-rock intimacy. Ariel later turned up in their live sets, stripped down and reimagined with the renaissance textures that became their signature.

Ritchie Blackmore’s path into all of this started long before Rainbow ever existed. Born in Weston-super-Mare and raised in Heston, he began as a teenage session guitarist in the early 1960s, playing with the Outlaws and backing acts for producer Joe Meek. He worked with Screaming Lord Sutch, Neil Christian and a string of pop singers before joining the Roundabout project that became Deep Purple in 1968. Those early Purple years fused his classical leanings with hard rock energy, and the guitar solos on albums like In Rock and Machine Head turned him into one of the most influential players of the era. By 1975 creative tensions inside Purple led him to leave and form Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio and members of Elf. The goal was simple: a band that could explore medieval themes, classical motifs and pure rock power without the committee decisions that frustrated him. The debut album Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow arrived that same year, and the lineup kept evolving through Rising, Long Live Rock ’n’ Roll and the later commercial successes with Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner.

Doogie White arrived in the mid-1990s after years of grinding in Scottish bands and session work. Born in Motherwell, he grew up singing in church groups and soaking up Deep Purple records. A demo found its way to Blackmore’s people, and after an extended audition on Long Island he landed the job. White has described the recording period as both exciting and intense; the band rehearsed in a cold barn in Massachusetts and later tracked in a studio once built for the Rolling Stones. He co-wrote several of the harder tracks, but Ariel remained the Blackmore-Night collaboration that pointed toward the future. White has always spoken gratefully about the opportunity, noting that Blackmore could have chosen any singer and that the experience opened doors to later work with Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker and others. The Zoo Crew still hears that blend of Scottish grit and Blackmore’s classic tone every time the track comes around.

For anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music and the stories behind it, the official site at ritchieblackmore.com keeps the latest updates on Blackmore’s Night and Rainbow related releases. You can also follow along on the official Facebook page at facebook.com/ritchieblackmore, the Instagram account instagram.com/therealritchieblackmore, and the X profile x.com/TheRealRitchieB. Blackmore’s Night maintains its own home at blackmoresnight.com along with the Facebook page facebook.com/blackmoresnightofficial and the X account x.com/BNOfficialsite. A long-running fan archive filled with discographies, tour histories and rare photos lives at ritchieblackmore.info, where the Rainbow catalog including Stranger In Us All is thoroughly documented. Candice Night’s solo work and Blackmore’s Night updates appear on her site candicenight.com, her Instagram instagram.com/candice.night, Facebook facebook.com/candicenightofficial and X account x.com/TruCandiceNight. These places keep the stories and the music circulating for anyone who still wants to hear what Blackmore and company are up to.

Ariel still sits right in the middle of that Stranger In Us All album like a quiet invitation. The lyrics chase a silhouette lit by candlelight, a familiar stranger who appears in the mirror dressed in blackest lace and then disappears. It is the kind of song the Zoo Crew can ride for a while, letting the guitar solo stretch out while the Zoo Freaks settle in. Blackmore’s playing on it feels unforced, the vocal from White carries both longing and power, and Candice’s contribution ties the whole piece to the direction he would take next. For a band that began with a guitarist walking away from one of the biggest groups of the seventies and building something entirely his own, Ariel captures that restless spirit in miniature. It is rock music that still leaves room for mystery, and that is exactly why it keeps turning up in the rotation.