Michael Gordon Oldfield is a British musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. He is regarded as one of the greatest multi-instrumentalists of all time. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield plays a range of instruments, which includes keyboards, percussion, and vocals. He has adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new age music.
Offa's Dyke Path is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout the world. About 60 miles (97 km) of the 177-mile (285 km) route either follows, or keeps close company with, the remnants of Offa's Dyke, an earthwork traditionally thought to have been constructed in the late 8th century on the orders of King Offa of Mercia.
Kington is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. According to the Parish, the ward had a population of 3,240, while the 2011 Census registered a population of 2,626.
Sally Patricia Oldfield is an Irish singer-songwriter. She is the sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield.
Waun Fach is, with a summit height of 811 metres (2,661 ft), the highest mountain in the Black Mountains in south-eastern Wales. It is one of the three Marilyns over 600 m that make up the range, the others being Black Mountain and Mynydd Troed. To the north Rhos Fawr and the Radnor Forest can be seen. It is the third highest mountain in Britain south of Snowdonia. It is situated at the head of the Grwyne Fechan valley, above and to the west of the Grwyne Fawr reservoir. It has an undistinguished rounded summit. The nearby tops on the ridge, Pen Trumau and Pen y Gadair Fawr, although lower, are very much more recognisable.
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.
Ommadawn is the third studio album by English musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 October 1975 on Virgin Records.
Incantations is the fourth studio album by English musician, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield, released on 1 December 1978 by Virgin Records. Following the release of his previous album Ommadawn (1975), Oldfield moved into a new home in Bisley, Gloucestershire, where he set up a new recording studio. He started on a follow-up in 1977 which took form as a double album with one, side-long track on each side of the LP record. Oldfield wished to use real incantations in the music, but ended up using folklore as a loose running theme, such as Dianna the Huntress. Though primarily instrumental, lyrical sections are adapted from works by poets Henry Longfellow and Ben Jonson. Oldfield completed the self-awareness seminar Exegesis while recording Incantations.
Amarok is the thirteenth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released in May 1990 by Virgin Records. Oldfield originally conceived it as an "angry protest album", showcasing his musical technique. It is presented as a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly changing music.
Tubular Bells III is the eighteenth studio album by English guitarist, songwriter, and producer Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1998 by Warner Music UK and is the third installment in his Tubular Bells album series, following Tubular Bells (1973) and Tubular Bells II (1992). After relocating from England to the Spanish island of Ibiza, Oldfield started work on the album and gained inspiration to incorporate electronic music from the island's local bars and clubs.
Terence Oldfield is an English composer, and brother to Sally and Mike Oldfield.
Radnor Forest in the county of Radnorshire, Wales is a rock dome composed of Silurian shales, mudstones and limestone in Mid Wales. It is a forest in the medieval sense of the word. It lies within the Welsh Marches region since Offa's Dyke lies nearby to the east.
Gladestry is a small village and community in Radnorshire, Powys, mid-Wales, close to the border with England at the end of the Hergest Ridge and south of the large moorland area of Radnor Forest. People living in Gladestry rely on the nearby town of Kington, Herefordshire, for shops, employment, and public services.
Pierre Moerlen was a French drummer and percussionist, best known for his work with Gong and Mike Oldfield and as Pierre Moerlen's Gong.
This page is a discography for the musician Mike Oldfield.
"Mike Oldfield's Single" is the debut single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1974. The A-side is a variation of one of the themes from Oldfield's 1973 debut album, Tubular Bells, and was made in response to an American single containing an excerpt from Tubular Bells which Oldfield did not authorise. After its use in the box office success The Exorcist, "Tubular Bells" reached #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
"Portsmouth" is a traditional English folk dance tune, similar to an Irish or Scottish hornpipe melody. It is sometimes referred to as the "Portsmouth Hornpipe".
Clodagh Simonds is an Irish musician, songwriter and singer. She was born in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland and raised and educated in Killiney, County Dublin.
Kington Rural is a civil parish in west Herefordshire, England, and is approximately 17 miles (30 km) north-west from the city and county town of Hereford. The parish borders Wales at the west, and contains the hamlets and small settlements of Upper Hergest, Lower Hergest, Chickward, Bredward, and Kingswood at the south, and Bradnor Green and Rushok at the north. The nearest town is the market town of Kington which, with its parish, is to a large extent enclosed by Kington Rural. Significant landmarks of the parish are the Castle Twts motte and bailey earthwork, Hergest Court 15th-century manor house, and Hergest Ridge on the Wales-England border.
