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 enlarge | Artist: Mike Oldfield
Label: Blue Plate Caroline
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $0.99 (8%)
New (29) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $6.74
Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 10214
Format: Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 1855
UPC: 170461855232
EAN: 0017046185523
ASIN: B000000I0I
Release Date: July 11, 2000
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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| Customer Reviews:
Life After Tubular Bells March 25, 2006
I never listen before to an other Mike Olfield's CD, and some how I thought he could not have written some thing as good as tubular bells but this is absolutly great, If you like the first one get this one you will not be disapointed
Another one of Oldfield's early masterpieces. September 30, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Like Tubular Bells, Ommadawn consists primarily of two long, progressive instrumental compositions, accomodating the 2-sided nature of the time's vynil LPs.
A bit more tame and etherial, and classical in structure, this is probably his most sophisticated piece. Like Tubular Bells, it foreshadows new-age classical, but with a distinctively atmospheric quality not unlike that of ambient music two decades later.
 Familiar Formula, but Mighty Good May 16, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After years of noticing this album in the stores & only being vaguely curious about it, I finally went & got it recently & am wondering now why the hell I took so long! Like most, I discovered Mike Oldfield through Tubular Bells (via 'The Exorcist', for that matter).
The liner notes on the most recent remaster of Hergest Ridge quote Oldfield: "HR is a completely different kind of record from TB; more folky & orchestral." Here's where I'd have to disagree. I hear nearly identical structure in both pieces & nearly the same atmosphere. Oldfield didn't stray very far from the formula that made TB so successful with this one. Having said that, those traits are precisely why I enjoyed HR so much! I was looking for a "TB 2" and in effect, that's what you get on HR.
I think what separates HR from TB is that it stands out on it's own without it being associated with a movie and also it lacks TB's somewhat dark aura. Part One has a "healing" ambience about it. The first few minutes of Part Two almost sounds like the background music for a fairy tale story being read aloud. It then shortly turns to an "impending evil" feel and then we get the 6-odd minutes of chaos at around the 9:40 minute mark. This is the part of it I think could've been much shorter. Goes on a *bit* too long as it's repetitive. But it comes to a beautiful resolution with the "fantasy language" being sung, yet with a hint of uncertainty on the lingering minor chord. "Does good triumph?"
This album is a must-have if all you own is TB.
A worthy effort... April 20, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Mike Oldfield's music, at least in the "Tubular Bells", "Ommadawn", "Hergest Ridge" trilogy, consists of extended sonic landscapes. While not as consistently interesting as the music of Tangerine Dream or Jean-Michel Jarre, his compositions are pleasant enough.
"Ommadawn" is about as good as it gets. Part 1 is pure beauty, with smooth transitions from one musical theme to the next. The drumming at the conclusion of part 1 is particularly interesting.
In part 2 it seems like Oldfield has run out of ideas, though the energy does build towards the end. And then there is the "hidden" track - the song "On Horseback". Short, and incredibly beautiful - and a fitting conclusion to a very good cd well worth owning.
Absolutely beautiful September 22, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
It is impossible to give this stuff anything less than 5 stars. It is even better than Tubular Bells, the so called Mike Oldfield masterpiece. Both the long instrumental tracks are haunting and the hidden vocal track is so beautiful I continuously hum it for a day or two every time I listen to it.
This must be one of the best instrumentals albums (well it is 95% instrumental). Offcourse it does not beat stuffs like Ian Anderson's "Divinities" but that was a roam into another genre. Like Tubular Bells, most instruments has been played by prodigious Mike Oldfield. Go for it for an ethereal, out of this world experience. Only weak point can be the themes may seem repeatative for people not into this kind of music.
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