HERGEST RIDGE

Amazingly, Mike Oldfield managed to find it in him to produce another exceptional Canterbury- tinged folk-prog album suit within a year or so of the release of Tubular Bells - this despite being quite perturbed by the fame the earlier release had earned him. Hergest Ridge is more pastoral in nature than its predecessor, which makes sense since it was composed during a country retreat whilst Oldfield was in hiding from the stresses and temptations of fame. Nostalgic and occasionally twee? Yes, but there's no mistaking Oldfield's perfect command of mood and ability to sustain tension across the course of an album.

Even if he did win yet more mainstream success with it, there's no denying that in 1974 nobody was making anything quite like this material. With Hergest Ridge, Oldfield once again proves that he deserves to be regarded as one of prog's true innovators.