Description
Mike Oldfield – Hergest Ridge / Mercury Audio CD 2010 / 5326755
UPC 600753267554
Product Details:
Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 28 August 1974 by Virgin Records. The unexpected commercial and critical success of his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) affected Oldfield, who decided against touring and avoided the press with his newfound fame. Instead, he retreated to Hergest Ridge on the England–Wales border and wrote the follow-up, which he recorded in 1974 at The Manor in Oxfordshire, with Tom Newman returning as co-producer. Similar to Oldfield's first, the album is a single composition split into two parts covering different moods and musical styles.
The album was No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for three consecutive weeks before it was displaced by Tubular Bells, marking one of the few times an artist has overtaken themselves on the chart in this manner. In 2010, the album was reissued with new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes, bonus material, and new artwork.[
Editorial Review:
Released as another lengthy composition, Hergest Ridge was the album that followed Mike Oldfield's momentous Tubular Bells release, with many of the same instrumental elements and methods employed throughout its two sections. Because of the time of its release, Hergest Ridge was overshadowed by the effects of Oldfield's first album for Virgin, but even so he manages to invoke some interesting patches of music by using instruments like the glockenspiel, sleigh bells, the Lowrey organ, oboes, and a variety of mandolins and guitars to maintain the same type of diversity as Tubular Bells. Symphonic throughout most of the album's two parts, the highlight of Hergest Ridge is Oldfield's use of 90 multi-tracked guitars clustered together to create one of the most unique sounds ever to surface on his albums. Actually, Hergest Ridge entered the British charts in the number one spot in the fall of 1974, but Tubular Bells finally took its place only three weeks later. The album was highly regarded in the U.K. upon its release and it continued Oldfield's creative pace, proving that the genius put forth on his claim-to-fame album would indeed have some effect on works to come.
Tracklist:
| 1 | Hergest Ridge {Part One}
Arranged By [Choir] – David Bedford, Choir – London Sinfonietta, Trumpet – Ted Hobart |
19:21 |
| 2 | Hergest Ridge {Part Two}
Flute – Terry Oldfield, Percussion – William Murray, Vocals – Clodagh Simonds, Sally Oldfield |
18:46 |
| 3 | In Dulci Jubilo (For Maureen) | 2:45 |
| 4 |
Spanish Tune | 3:11 |
More Details:
- A&R – Benita Kimera
- Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Organ, Mandolin, Glockenspiel, Bells [Sleigh Bells], Timpani, Bells [Tubular Bells], Gong – Mike Oldfield (tracks: 1, 2)
- Arranged By – Mike Oldfield (tracks: 3)
- Art Direction, Design – Phil Smee
- Artwork [Original Lp Sleeve] – Trevor Key
- Design Concept [2010 Sleeve Concept] – Daryl Easlea, Phil Smee
- Mixed By [Stereo] – Mike Oldfield (tracks: 1, 2)
- Other [Glider] – Rupert Lloyd
- Other [Numbers] – Emma Sutcliffe
- Product Manager – Daryl Easlea
- Remastered By [24-bit Digital Mastering] – Paschal Byrne
- Research [Tape], Other [Artist Liason], Coordinator [Technical Co-ordination], Liner Notes – Mark Powell
- Snare [Snare Drums] – Chili Charles
- Supervised By [Hergest Ridge 2010 Project Directors] – Adam Barker (2), Daryl Easlea, Mike Oldfield
- Written-By – Mike Oldfield (tracks: 1, 2, 4), Robert Lucas de Pearsall (tracks: 3)
About the Artist:
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English multi-instrumentalist and composer. His work blends progressive rock with world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new-age music. His biggest commercial success is the 1973 album Tubular Bells – which launched Virgin Records and became a hit in America after its opening was used as the theme for the horror film The Exorcist. He recorded the 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow" and a rendition of the Christmas piece "In Dulci Jubilo".
Oldfield has released 26 albums, most recently a sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn titled Return to Ommadawn, on 20 January 2017.
