The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 21 November 1994 | |||
Recorded | 1993–1994 | |||
Studio | Roughwood Croft, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:51 | |||
Label | WEA | |||
Producer | Mike Oldfield | |||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
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Revised cover | ||||
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Singles from The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Songs of Distant Earth is the sixteenth studio album by English musician,songwriter and producer Mike Oldfield,released on 21 November 1994 by WEA. It is a concept album [2] based on the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke. [3] The album reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart.
In 1993,Oldfield completed his 1992–1993 tour to promote his previous album, Tubular Bells II (1992),his first concert tour since 1984. The album was his first of the initial three that he was contracted to produce for Warner Music UK,following his signing to the label in 1992. [4] When Oldfield was ready to record a follow-up,label chairman Rob Dickins suggested that he make a concept album based on the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke. [5] Oldfield deemed the story not one of Clarke's best,"but it had lots of atmosphere" and started to think of musical ideas on travelling through space and landing on another world and the events that take place on it. [5] The title of the book particularly attracted Oldfield,calling it "intrinsically musical,a natural starting point". [6] [7] Oldfield visited Clarke in Sri Lanka to discuss the possibility and found out he was a fan of his soundtrack to the 1984 film The Killing Fields and felt "delighted" about the album. Clarke was given a copy of Tubular Bells II for listening;he was impressed enough and agreed to collaborate. [8]
Oldfield chose to have the album follow the novel's plot "loosely". [6] It recounts the destruction of Earth in the year 3600 after the Sun goes nova,for which the planet has 1,600 years to prepare,sending spaceships to nearby planetary systems. [7] The album took longer for Oldfield to complete than he had initially planned,in part because he considered some of his usual instruments - including acoustic guitars - too "Earth-bound" for the setting,opting instead to create a "new vocabulary" of sounds in the studio. [6] This led Oldfield to broaden his repertoire and appeal,and resulted in an album which he classed as "very ambient". [9]
He made extensive use of samples,including from the sample CD Datafile One (1991) by Zero-G,Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" (1971),film soundtracks,and world music recorded in Polynesia and Lapland. [9] While the album was being mixed and cut,Oldfield was concerned that being a solely digital recording,it would sound too "angular". As a test,a copy was made onto recording tape using Dolby SR,a type of noise reduction,which he thought produced some nice results but greater loss of clarity. [9] The liner notes contains a foreword by Clarke about the development of his book,from short story to novel. He ends it with a note about the album:"Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert,I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for The Killing Fields and now,having played the CD-ROM of The Songs of Distant Earth,I feel he has lived up to my expectations. Welcome back into space,Mike:there's still lots of room out here." [10]
Oldfield faced difficulty in writing music to the story at first and needed some "in between space" to help visualise it. This was alleviated when he received a copy of the 1993 graphic adventure puzzle game Myst for the PC and was impressed with the graphics,which greatly influenced his decision to have 3D computer-generated video accompany the music for the album on the Enhanced CD format,combining features of a standard CD with CD-ROM content. The result was graphics that Oldfield had in his mind while writing the music. [11] Oldfield felt contemporary music at the time of recording lacked any real excitement,but felt the reverse as he worked on the interactive technology. This,and his interest in Myst,sparked his wish to make his own game that helped the player on their own spiritual development. [7] While composing for the CD-ROM Oldfield had trouble adapting a theme by Jean Sibelius for it,which turned into a rage where be "banged out a theme. Like a sort of miracle,it worked!" [7]
The CD-ROM allows users to travel through a futuristic city on board a spaceship and towards a central control system,inside of which houses a musical tower. The user must answer a musical puzzle which provides a series of options that trigger a different song on the album. [7]
The album was released in the UK on 21 November 1994. It went to No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart and reached gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry. Its US release followed in January 1995 on Reprise Records. [11] [12]
The album was released as a CD and,shortly afterwards,as an Enhanced CD of which two versions were made. Both versions' initial pressings contained an image of a manta ray flying in front of a planet on the front cover;later pressings change the image to one of a suited man holding a glowing orb with manta rays flying overhead. The second pressing of the enhanced CD contains slightly more multimedia content,including the full version of the "Let There Be Light" video. The CD audio content is the same on all versions of the album. It was also released as a vinyl LP,which has become a rare item.
The enhanced CD content,for Apple Macintosh PowerPC computers only,was rendered on Silicon Graphics computers and used Apple's QuickTime II technology. [13] The re-release back cover lists the "CD ROM Track" as track 000 (where all tracks have a three-digit number),and a length of 0:00. Produced in 1994 it was an early example of Enhanced CD content. [14]
Oldfield used Emagic Logic Audio for sequencing and Pro Tools hardware for the recording of the album using a combination of tape and hard drive recording. [15]
Music
Excerpts:
Production
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Spain (PROMUSICAE) [16] | 2×Platinum | 200,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [17] | Gold | 100,000^ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 750,000 [18] |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English musician,songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973),which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist,Oldfield played a range of instruments,which includes keyboards and percussion,as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career,including progressive rock,world,folk,classical,electronic,ambient and new age music.
Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by the British musician Mike Oldfield,released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. It comprises two mostly instrumental tracks. Oldfield,who was 19 years old when it was recorded,played almost all the instruments.
Tubular Bells II is the fifteenth studio album by English guitarist and songwriter Mike Oldfield. It was released on 31 August 1992 by Warner Music UK and is the successor to his debut album Tubular Bells (1973). It was his first album for Warner after having worked with Virgin Records for twenty years. Like its predecessor,Tubular Bells II charted at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and spun off a top 10 single,"Sentinel".
Tubular Bells 2003 is the 22nd studio album by English musician Mike Oldfield,released on 26 May 2003 by Warner Music Spain. It is a digital re-recording of his 1973 album Tubular Bells,released almost 30 years earlier. This is the final album in the Tubular Bells series.
Sally Patricia Oldfield is an Irish singer-songwriter. She is the sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield.
Crises is the eighth studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield,released on 27 May 1983 on Virgin Records. Oldfield started recording the album towards the end of his 1982 tour supporting his previous record,Five Miles Out. It marked a continuation of Oldfield's experimentation with more accessible music which began in the late 1970s;side one contains the 20-minute "Crises" and side two contains a collection of shorter songs which feature vocalists Maggie Reilly,Jon Anderson,and Roger Chapman. Oldfield produced Crises with drummer Simon Phillips,who also plays on the album.
Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield,released on 30 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 31 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 Diana 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.
Platinum is the fifth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mike Oldfield,released on 23 November 1979 on Virgin Records. It was Oldfield's first album to include shorter songs and music written by others. A modified version of the album was released in the United States and Canada and titled Airborn.
QE2 is the sixth studio album by Mike Oldfield,released in 1980 on Virgin Records. The album was named after the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2.
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 as the third instalment in his Tubular Bells album series. After relocating from England to the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1996,Oldfield started work on the album and gained inspiration to incorporate electronic music from the island's local bars and clubs.
The Millennium Bell is the 20th record album by Mike Oldfield,released in 1999. The theme of the album is a reflection of different periods of human history. The album borrows its name from the dawning of the 3rd millennium and from being the fourth installment of Oldfield's Tubular Bells series. It is the most recent entry in the Tubular Bells series to feature all-new material. It was the main work performed at Oldfield's concert for Berlin's new year celebrations on 31 December 1999.
Tres Lunas,stylized as Tr3s Lunas,is the 21st studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield,released in June 2002 by Warner Music Spain. After his previous album The Millennium Bell (1999),Oldfield started work on his first release for MusicVR,a musical virtual reality project with simulator computer game elements and music. The idea developed to have the Tres Lunas MusicVR feature included as part of an album package,for which Oldfield wrote and recorded new music and signed with Warner Music Spain. Tres Lunas saw Oldfield explore electronic and chill-out music.
Earth Moving is the 12th record album by British musician Mike Oldfield,released in 1989. Unlike Oldfield's albums released prior to Earth Moving,the album contains no instrumental tracks.
The Art in Heaven Concert is a Mike Oldfield concert video taken from 2000 New Year's night concert at the Victory Column in Berlin,Germany,which is currently available on both CD and DVD.
MusicVR is a virtual reality project created and developed by the musician Mike Oldfield. To date it has produced two standalone simulation games and inspired content for some of Oldfield's albums. As of January 2010 Tubular.net hosts the free downloads of the two games.
Jay Stapley is a British musician.
Man on the Rocks is the twenty-fifth studio album by British musician Mike Oldfield,released on 3 March 2014 on the Virgin EMI label. The album is Oldfield's second full album of exclusively songs with no long or instrumental pieces,the first being 1989's Earth Moving.
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