Mike Oldfield - Hergest Ridge Part One Reaction (Fish Out Of Water Series)

[@wimkippers7085]

Wonderful piece of Music

[@franckbizouard3357]

At last ;-) Mike Oldfield is a genius. Love his music, so unique.

[@KNOPFLERSGOD]

Tre, kudos for reacting to this wonderful composition from the genius Mike Oldfield, it is one of his more chilled albums but very beautiful, when you listen to his 3rd album Ommadawn, you will find it has more impact, for me that is the album where Mike really becomes a legend.

[@reality1958]

Amazing. I was listening to this in 1981. Superb. Along with Ommadawn…Tubular Bells…Incantations, etc. This along with Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Cluster, Brian Eno, etc expanded my imaginations

[@routemaster19]

Firstly - thank you for finding this and reacting to it - and secondly thank you for using the Original 1974 mix - in my opinion the best one. Mike Oldfield's follow up to Tubular Bells, released just over a year after that monster really divided peoples opinions at the time. A lot of Tubular Bells fans felt disappointed that it wasn't just more of the same and the early 70's wasn't particularly kind to this more gentle music. Only fairly recently is it being revalued and acknowledged for the beauty and complexity and mature composition it actually is. No one - least of all Oldfield - thought that Tubular Bells was going to be the hit that it was when it was being recorded. As far as Oldfield knew it was going to be his one chance to get down as many of his ideas which had been in his head for years down on to tape professionally and be more of a promo record of what he could be capable of in between his work as a jobbing session guitarist. Hence it's very episodic nature and rather rough production. At that time Oldfield was more reclusive and shunned publicity and the limelight. As Tubular Bells success built over the year culminating in it's use in the Exorcist the demands of that publicity drove him to the brink of breakdown. However coupled with Virgins request for a second album and the ability to move anywhere in the UK he settled in the small Herefordshire town of Kington on the Welsh borders. He started to take the beautiful scenery as an inspiration for the new album. The hilly nature of the surroundings culminating in the peak of Hergest Ridge (the G in Hergest is hard as in garden) is reflected in the ebbs and flows of the music. Consequently being based on such a tranquil setting has meant the music is pastoral in nature - akin to Beethoven's 6th Symphony. This follows other British composers such as Elgar, Vaughan -Williams, Delius and others who also have very pastoral sounding music. Whereas Tubular Bells was a hotch potch of ideas melded together to form a complete piece of music Hergest Ridge is much more a traditionally composed whole piece. It is much more cohesive than it's predecessor and is elegantly put together with more of a blend of instruments rather than lots of stand out solos. When released at the end of August 1974 it quickly got to Number 1 in the UK charts within 2 weeks and maintained that position for a further 3 weeks before it got displaced by it's predecessor Tubular Bells - the first time that album got to number 1. At that time only The Beatles and Bob Dylan had managed to displace themselves from the top spot by another of their work!

[@reality1958]

This is music of patience. Of a journey…imaginative. Close your eyes and let your mind go.

[@eileenflora]

One of my favorites of his.

[@Roddy1965]

Bravo, man. Didn't see this one coming, which is why I keep coming back. Beautiful piece of music.

[@leethomas2155]

What can l say... Mike Oldfield. I'm one of his biggest fans on the planet, glad you enjoyed listening to this. He's done so many more great albums. If you like bass, check out the finale to Tubular Bells part 1. Then jump into his many other wonderful albums. Have a nice day.

[@Chappomusic]

Should be more intense and impactful ? Wait untill you heard part 2. Or Ommadawn or the best of All Impactmakers : Amarok .

[@zimbo65a]

I think the pop-era of Mike Oldfield with lyrics is more your style....you should try songs like "Crisis", "Moonlight Shadow", "to France", "five Miles out" and such stuff. Mike oldfield was a great musican but many tracks sound too much like "tubular bells".