| Two Sides: The Very Best Of Mike Oldfield | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 30 July 2012 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 – 2007 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, pop rock, new-age | |||
| Length | 156:27 | |||
| Label | Mercury Universal | |||
| Producer | Mike Oldfield Simon Phillips Tom Newman Trevor Horn Karl Jenkins Alan Shacklock Geoffrey Downes | |||
| Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
| ||||
Two Sides: The Very Best of Mike Oldfield is a compilation album by British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield that was released on 30 July 2012 by Mercury Records.
The content of the album was compiled by Oldfield himself. The album cover features two depictions of Oldfield's signature Tubular Bells logo, one in bright pink and the other in dark blue, on a blue night's sky background. It was released on the same day as a number of other Oldfield releases; QE2 and Platinum remasters, and a 6 CD boxed set.
The release came days after Oldfield's performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. [1] The exact version of Tubular Bells that Oldfield performed at the opening ceremony is not on this album, but is available on Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games .
Additionally in August 2012 Universal and Indaba Music created a Tubular Bells remix contest, where users could download original stem recordings to create their own pieces. The winner of the $1000 prize was judged by Oldfield. [2]
The album charted at 6 in the UK Albums Chart on 5 August 2012.
| Chart (2012) | Position |
|---|---|
| Polish Albums Chart [3] | 39 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 38 |
| UK Albums Chart [4] | 6 |
All songs written by Mike Oldfield, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Place of Origin | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tubular Bells (Part One)" (Two Sides excerpt) | Tubular Bells , 1973 | 13:30 |
| 2. | "Ommadawn (Part One)" (Two Sides excerpt) | Ommadawn , 1975 | 6:48 |
| 3. | "Crises" (Two Sides excerpt) | Crises , 1983 | 10:30 |
| 4. | "The Lake" (Two Sides excerpt) | Discovery , 1984 | 5:30 |
| 5. | "Amarok (Part One)" (Two Sides excerpt) | Amarok , 1990 | 5:05 |
| 6. | "Amarok (Part Two)" (Two Sides excerpt) | Amarok | 15:17 |
| 7. | "Sentinel" | Tubular Bells II , 1992 | 8:09 |
| 8. | "Supernova" | The Songs of Distant Earth , 1994 | 3:24 |
| 9. | "Ascension" | The Songs of Distant Earth | 5:51 |
| 10. | "The Tempest" | Music of the Spheres , 2008 | 5:48 |
| No. | Title | Place of Origin | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Guilty" | Non-album single, 1979 | 4:15 |
| 2. | "Family Man" (with Maggie Reilly) (Oldfield, Tim Cross, Rick Fenn, Mike Frye, Maggie Reilly, Morris Pert) | Five Miles Out | 3:48 |
| 3. | "Five Miles Out" | Five Miles Out | 4:19 |
| 4. | "Moonlight Shadow" (with Maggie Reilly) | Crises | 3:39 |
| 5. | "Shadow on the Wall" (with Roger Chapman) | Crises | 3:10 |
| 6. | "To France" (with Maggie Reilly) | Discovery | 4:41 |
| 7. | "Etude" (Francisco Tárrega) | The Killing Fields , 1984 | 4:39 |
| 8. | "Magic Touch" | Islands , 1987 | 4:17 |
| 9. | "Islands" (with Bonnie Tyler) | Islands | 4:20 |
| 10. | "Heaven's Open" | Heaven's Open , 1991 | 4:31 |
| 11. | "Tattoo (Live At Edinburgh Castle, 1992)" | Tubular Bells II | 3:47 |
| 12. | "The Song of the Sun" (Bieito Romero) | Voyager , 1996 | 4:34 |
| 13. | "Summit Day" | Guitars , 1999 | 3:47 |
| 14. | "Lake Constance" | The Millennium Bell , 1999 | 5:18 |
| 15. | "Broad Sunlit Uplands" | The Millennium Bell | 4:05 |
| 16. | "The Doge's Palace" | The Millennium Bell | 3:08 |
| 17. | "Amber Light" | The Millennium Bell | 3:47 |
| 18. | "Angelique" | Light + Shade , 2005 | 4:41 |
| 19. | "On My Heart" (with Hayley Westenra) | Music of the Spheres | 2:28 |
Michael Gordon Oldfield is a British musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success and propelled him to worldwide fame. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield is known for playing a range of instruments, which includes keyboards and percussion, and doing vocals. He has 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 English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album.
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). After his contract with Virgin Records ended at the end of 1991, Oldfield signed with Warner and started work on a sequel to Tubular Bells. In 1998, Oldfield released Tubular Bells III.
Tubular Bells 2003 is the 22nd studio album by English musician Mike Oldfield, released on 27 May 2003 by Warner Music Spain. It is a digital re-recording of his 1973 album Tubular Bells, released almost 30 years earlier.
Sally Patricia Oldfield is a singer-songwriter, sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield.
Exposed is the first live album by English musician Mike Oldfield, released as a double album in July 1979 by Virgin Records. It was recorded at various locations across Europe during the Tour of Europe 1979, Oldfield's debut concert tour as a solo artist, following the release of his fifth studio album Incantations (1978). The album features Incantations and his debut album Tubular Bells (1973) performed in their entirety, plus Oldfield's 1979 non-album single "Guilty" as the encore.
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.
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.
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.
Voyager is the 17th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1996 by Warner Music UK. It is a Celtic-themed album with new compositions intertwined with traditional pieces.
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 instalment 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.
The Orchestral Tubular Bells is an orchestral version of Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells, arranged by David Bedford and recorded in 1974 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Oldfield himself playing the guitar. Excerpts from the album were featured in the 1979 NASA film, The Space Movie. It peaked at #17 on the UK Albums Chart in 1975.
This page is a discography for the musician Mike Oldfield.
"Guilty" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1979 on Virgin Records. It reached number 22 in the UK Singles Chart. It is notable for being Oldfield's first obvious attempt to capitalise on a current musical trend, in this case disco/dance music. The UK 12" edition was originally issued on pale blue vinyl.
"Far Above the Clouds" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released on 12 April 1999. The single is the final track from the album Tubular Bells III. "Far Above the Clouds" similarly features tubular bells in fashion with the part-one-finales of Oldfield's previous works, Tubular Bells and Tubular Bells II. The sound of the bells has a slightly more dramatic tone than in its previous appearances, and it is a combination of actual tubular bells and sampled sounds from various keyboards, most prominently a Korg M1.
"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.
Boxed is a compilation album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1976. It features SQ system 4 channel quadraphonic remixed versions of his first three albums and some collaborations.
The Platinum Collection is a 2006 Virgin Records compilation album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It contains most of Oldfield's best known work, and some rare mixes of songs that had previously only been available as B-sides to singles.
The Mike Oldfield Collection 1974–1983 is a compilation album by Mike Oldfield, released in 2009, to coincide with the reissue of Oldfield's debut album, Tubular Bells, by Mercury Records.
Isles of Wonder is the official soundtrack album of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. It became available as a download at midnight on 28 July 2012 and as a two-disc CD on 2 August 2012. The soundtrack is mostly pre-recorded and does not include live elements of the performance such as the drumming from Evelyn Glennie, but the two Arctic Monkeys songs are actually credited in the album sleeve as being recorded during the rehearsal at the stadium on 23 July.
