Mike Oldfield - Incantations Deluxe Edition

Mike Oldfield, known mostly for “Tubular Bells” (the album that launched Branson’s Virgin music label), has had his music described as Ambient, Celtic fusion, classical, Synthpop, experimental, minimalist, Honky-Tonk, Neoclassical, new age, Neofolk, pop, progressive rock, rock and roll, world. It’s quite an extensive list! If anything it highlights just how difficult it is to pigeon hole him into a specific genre, and if I’m being honest, I think Mike Oldfield is in a class and genre all by himself. The problem is that most people don’t look beyond Tubular Bells, almost a victim of his own success if you will, and sadly, that means there’s a whole raft of exceptional material being missed.

Fortunately, due to a move of record labels, Oldfield’s work is for the most part being re-issued, and his 1978 album, Incantations, is the 4^th in the series to be carefully re-mastered and re-released (in the form of 2 CD’s and oneDVD). As an album Incantations was interesting because at around about the same time, Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as Exegesis, that saw him change from a painful recluse to an over the top extrovert. The almost orchestral movements that Oldfield penned go far beyond small trivial songs, but delved more into epic compositions that painted wonderful soundscapes. The criticism often leveled at Incantations though was that the recording sometimes seemed a bit too bright, so has this re-issue (overseen by Mike himself apparently) addressed that?

The answer for the most part is yes, but there are a couple of things we should perhaps just deal with from the outset. It has already been well documented by Oldfield’s fans, but yes, there is indeed a jump glitch in part 4. At first I thought it was just my copy, but then went through the weird mixture of a sense of relief that it wasn’t just me, but then feeling disappointed that it was there for everyone. The overly bright sound of the original has been toned down, which is good, but it may be a step too far for some. The packaging has been heavily criticized too, and even though I’m not particularly fussed by presentation, I do understand that others do.

However, if you haven’t been around long enough to have one of the original vinyls of Incantations in your possession, and you don’t particularly mind that it doesn’t come in some sort of golden case hand crafted by angelic cherubs, then this may well be worth a listen.