Awesome, A wonderful Oldfield album.

I do not understand how anyone can rate this album below 4 stars, I think this album is breathtaking, especially the beautiful instrumental piece "The wind chimes". The vocal songs are strong as well, "Islands", "North point", "Magic Touch", and "The time has come" are my favorites. I think this album equals Oldfield's Discovery, Tubular Bells, Amarok and Ommadawn, my favorite Oldfield albums. I would recommend this album to anyone. I'm a huge Oldfield fan, and yet again am not disappointed.

Banish Bonnie Tyler To a Desert 'Island'

OK, something happened between now and the time when I first bought this CD (many years ago). Amazon.com and Virgin Records didn't let me know (not that they were required to) about the changes they made to this CD. Not having heard those aforementioned changes, I am not qualified to comment on them. But I do wish to comment about the CD (and record; I did buy the original vinyl when it came out) that I do own.

I certainly understand why some of you love, and don't love, this record (I am in the former category). Our reactions to music, especially music of this nature, have a nasty tendency to be really subjective. Like our reactions to life itself.

Having said this, let's continue. Upon listening to "The Wind Chimes" (part two), I found myself dismayed at Oldfield's slamming together the various themes of the piece early on. It didn't create a good 'flow'.
But then it was like, once he got a running start, the flow gained momentum, the themes came together, and I found myself cheering wildly at the piece's climax (great metaphor, I know...)

The performances (good to see you, Tys Van Leer!) and treatments (among others, the percussion, Simon Phillips included) are first-rate, well thought out and executed.

When one gets to the end of Side One of any Oldfield disc, expecially this one, one seems to automatically become leery as to the anticipation of how he is going to try to complement what has ultimately become 'Something That Will Be Very Difficult To Follow'. (Refer to aforementioned Subjectivity.) But in this case, Side Two fares with, and does indeed, complement Side One very well. The songs, singers, arrangements, and performances are all very strong and poignant.

Then we get to Bonnie Tyler. Why, Mike, why? After an absolutely breathtaking introduction to the title track, her vocal appearance is the aural equivalent of finding a fly in the best bowl of chowder you've ever tasted. Hence only 4 stars for this CD.

Point made. Should you buy this, anyway? Sure, especially since recent editions of this CD listed on this website make it appear that we don't have to worry about Our Little Miss Judgment. If I didn't have my money already earmarked for about 50 other CD's right now, I'd catch up on this immediately. Maybe some of my reviewer friends will clue me in. Go for it.

It really is a very good disc, wart and all. Buy it. The time has come...

Horrible, but maybe it seemed OK at the time

The instrumental track is OK, but nothing special compared to the brilliance of "Amarok", "Five Miles Out", or even "QE2". It's the only thing that saves this album from getting 1 star, though.



The pop songs exhibit the worst of the mid-80s, with bombastic power pop cheesiness and overwrought ethereal ballads. "Magic Touch" is so awful and formulaic it makes me cringe to hear it. "The Time Has Come" could be an old ABBA song put through too much reverb, and is the best song on the album, so that should give you an idea what the rest is like.



Fortunately, Mike Oldfield seemed to start to drag himself back from the mire with the next release, "Earth Moving". If you want Oldfield pop songs, get that album first.

Oh, no....

Don't start your Oldfield collection with this pls! This is not classic Oldfield, and this is not Discovery or Five Miles Out! Althought it has some great tracks (not the instrumental ones unfortunately) it's one of his weakest efforts. The 2 stars R 4 Magic Touch only.

Satisfying album

along with "discovery","five miles out" or even "Earth moving" this album is another very well crafted piece of music
"The wind chimes" is a fantastic instrumental piece full of oriental sounds and many sudden music changes,it reminds a bit of his further works like "Amarok" or "Music from the balcony"(from "heavens open").
the songs are not as amazing but they are very good."the time has come" and "Flying start" has so many positive emotions in it! Mike works along with his unforgettable guitars and many synths (typical eighties sound).
in general if you like Mike Oldfield's music you will like this as well as his other albums.slightly better than "Discovery",weaker than his majestic instrumental albums - a good Oldfield album.