1996 album from Mike Oldfield. Personally, I believe this is one of his best albums (along with The Songs of Distant Earth and, of course, Tubular Bells). I got this album before TSODE, and I was positively surprised. I guessed it was good, but I never knew it was that good =)
The album is going very much back to the "dreamy" past; the tune is (as reinforced by the arrangements) deeply Celtic. All songs are instrumental, Mike's amazing guitar skills cut right to the essence of the songs; I particularly liked the solos in Wild Goose etc... I liked The Song of the Sun best, but none of the other songs fall far behind; the traditional (in Mike's terms) 12-minute piece Mont St. Michel is particularly impressive.
The opening song is from a group called Luar na Lubre. Also, some songs are credited as "traditional" tunes, but are not: Women of Ireland was made by Seán Ó Riada and Dark Island by Iain McLachlan. (I heard this from tubular.net...)
Songs:
- The Song of the Sun
- Celtic Rain
- The Hero*
- Women of Ireland*
- The Voyager
- She Moved Through the Fair*
- Dark Island*
- Wild Goose Flaps its Wings
- Flowers of the Forest*
- Mont St Michel
* = trad. arr. by Mike Oldfield (but see note), others by Mike Oldfield, except for the first track (by Bieito Romero).