1990 Contents of an Aero-Modeller’s Toolbox…Ĭover image by Steve Bedford from an original design by Trevor Key, design by e-xentric.1982 Continued Success throughout Europe.1976 Chart Success Highlights Busy Year.It was a extraordinary night to kick-start an extraordinary Olympics, and this is extraordinary music.Īlready one of the most talked about tracks on the Isles Of Wonder CD, this strictly limited 12” coloured single will be the only place you can hear this on vinyl. Add into that newly-composed material to signal the arrival of the flying Mary Poppins, a spirited rendition of his 1975 UK Top Five single ‘In Dulce Jubilo’ and the beautifully wistful closing coda, and you have eleven-and-a-half minutes of premium Mike Oldfield. In front of an estimated global viewing audience of a billion (not to mention the 80,000 in the stadium), Oldfield opened with the immediately familiar theme from his legendary Tubular Bells before he and his band lifted off into the incredible ‘Tubular Bells Swing’ section, which, as many will recall, accompanied the staff and patients of Great Ormond Street Hospital doing some remarkable choreography.

Oldfield’s music had been personally selected by Danny Boyle to play a central part in Isles Of Wonder, his specially-created work for the Opening Ceremony of the 30th Olympic Games. When Mike Oldfield stepped out onstage at the Olympic Park in Stratford, London, on Friday 27th July 2012, it marked his first major live concert performance in his home country in over a decade. With new artwork overseen by Oldfield and extensive notes, Incantations is the marvellous next instalment of Mike Oldfield’s compelling catalogue.

Comprising of four parts of the title track, it was a masterpiece of minimalism, with Oldfield again playing many of the instruments, with old friends including David Bedford conducting the choir and orchestra, Pierre Moerlen on drums and Mike’s sister Sally on vocals. Incantations, originally released in November 1978 was Oldfield’s first and only studio double album. The fourth instalment in his catalogue reissues, Incantations, was released on July 25th 2011. Few expected the man who crafted 25 minute sides of symphonic rock to hit the dancefloor with such élan.

Both CD formats also include ‘Guilty’, Oldfield’s legendary 1979 single recorded in New York City at the height of the disco movement. Remastered by Oldfield himself, the 2011 packages contain a variety of rare material and again, as with Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn, contain a brand new 5.1 mix on DVD, as well as footage from Oldfield’s 1979 concert tour that supported the album.

Tubular bells 2003 torrent