We've
a lot to thank Mike Oldfield for - Virgin trains for one thing! After all, if
he and budding entrepreneur Richard Branson hadn't hooked up to release Tubular
Bells on the fledgling Virgin record label where would the Pistols have gone?,
how would so many have afforded cheap flights to Disneyland? Branson
made a packet and so too did Oldfield although his stock hasn't remained quite
as high. You might be surprised to find his best
of career can stretch to three lengthy albums but Oldfield's done his best to
adapt although he always returns to that old chestnut in one form or another. Thus
CD one begins where it should - Tubular Bells and similar sounding follow-ups
Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn. The funny thing is that,
whereas if you listen to the whole thing it seems too long, when you only get
excepts (as here) you're left wanting more. CD two
takes us down the pop trail when Oldfield was trying to get away from the one-trick
pony tag. His success was mixed - Moonlight Shadow became a monster still played
today, adapting the Blue Peter theme tune brought him to a new audience and Guilty
was a decent stab at trying to hook into disco. Family Man wasn't a hit for him
but did do the business when covered by Hall and Oates. However,
some of that later releases suffer because of late 80s production techniques although
Pictures in the Dark still remains a lost gem featuring, amongst others, the voice
of Aled Jones. By the early 90s however, Oldfield
had succumbed to the sequel years and what seemed like Tubular Bells parts 2,
3, 4 and 5. He says he's free to experiment more
now - Tubular Bells part 6 anyone? i-Pod: Pictures
in the Dark
Label: Virgin
Rating: 3.5/5 | 
