OMMADAWN

"Ommadawn" is the 3rd (excluding "The Orchestral Tubular Bells (1975)") full-length studio album by UK music artist Mike Oldfield. The album was released through Virgin Records in October 1975. After the major success of "Tubular Bells (1973)" and the almost equally successful "Hergest Ridge (1974)" the young Mike Oldfield (he was only 20 when "Tubular Bells (1973)" was released) opted to create another release featuring two side long tracks.

Stylistically the music on "Ommadawn" is in many ways similar to the sound and style on the first two album by Mike Oldfield. The music is predominantly instrumental and classical influenced rock, but the "rock" part of the music is often rather subdued and it´s generally not an album with many rock riffs and pounding drums. I´m often reminded of soundtrack music while listening to Ommadawn", as the music is a bit repetitive and highly theme based. There is a strong ambient element throughout the album and the music is often slow building and multi-layered.

The musicianship is on a high level. Mike Oldfield plays acoustic, classical & electric guitars, acoustic & electric basses, mandoline, harp, bouzouki, banjo, grand piano, spinet, electric organs, synths, bodhran, glockenspiel and assorted percussion on the album. In addition to that instrumentation he has various guests on the album playing such instruments as tympani, panpipes and cello. This of course gives the album a colourful soundscape. The use of Celtic music influences is considerable on "Ommadawn" and provides the album with an occasional English native/folk music feel, although it´s by no means a folk rock album.

The album was recorded at Oldfield's home at The Beacon, Hergest Ridge and meticulously recorded layer upon layer of instruments and sounds. Mostly recorded by Oldfield himself, who also acted as producer on the album. "Ommadawn" features a professional, detailed, and organic sounding production, which suits the material well. So there are many positive things to say about the album, and upon conclusion it is a quality release recommendable to fans of ambient progressive rock. It lacks a bit in emotional depth and often comes off a bit emotionally "clinical" and polished, but that´s probably an aquired taste, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.