CHILDREN OF THE SUN

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This album's been sitting around here unreviewed for a little while so I'm taking pity on it.

Mike in particular and his sister, Sally to a lesser extent, would go on to do greater things. Not a lot to say about this album. Sally was 22 and Mike was 15. The music was recorded in 1968 and released in 1969. Mike would of course go in a just a few years to make Tubular Bells and Sally didn't do a solo album until 1978's Water Bearer (worth checking out if you're a Mike and/or Sally Oldfield fan).

Song Of The Healer would be reused by Sally on Water Bearer and is probably the proggiest track on the original album. The bonus disc in my CD version has three guitar improvisations, about 15 minutes worth altogether, from Mike, you might hear some formative Tubular Bells bits. The bonus disc wraps up with a couple of tracks by Sally from 1970 that are a little saccharine, but not unpleasant. Also of interest, David Palmer, I think the D.P. of Tull fame is credited with musical arrangements for two violins, viola, cello, and harpsichord for two tracks on the original album.

In the end I find it more interesting as a historical document. The music's not bad but this is one I'd probably have passed on it if I had heard it first.

As you can see in the bio, this work was mainly due to Pentangle's guitarist John Renbourn who decided to produce two skilled teen-agers and gave them the support of Jethro Tull's David Palmer and Pentangle's drummer Terry Cox. The result was an acoustic-guitar based folk album with some (pretentious) experimental moments that can be forgiven because of the youthness of the duo.

The duo was composed by Mike and Sally Oldfield and I have to say that I always thought the B side was the A side and vice versa, as Transatlantic was used to print the disc information on one side only of the vinyl, so I discover now that Balloons, my favourite album's track, is not the opening.

Almost all the songs contain flute arrangements (Ray Warleigh). Without it, the two guitars and Sally's leading and Mike's background vocals would have been too "flat".

The Bach's excert from "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" is remarkable at the end of "Balloons". Some short tracks obtained by "torturing" the guitar's strings could have been avoided but they are very short so it's not a big problem.

I think this album is mainly important as document, but it contains good moments. Don't think to this as a Mike or Sally Oldfield's album. It's an interesting and promising work of two teens and this is haw it has to be intended.

Good but non-essential fits well. For Mike Oldfield's fans, this is one of the few opportunities to hear Mike singing.