HERGEST RIDGE

"Hergest Ridge" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK progressive rock artist Mike Oldfield. The album was released through Virgin Records in August 1974. Oldfield experienced major commercial sussess with his debut album "Tubular Bells" (1973), which is an album consisting of two sidelong compositions. He has opted for a similar approach on "Hergest Ridge", which also features two sidelong tracks (I guess it´s a case of why fix the formula if it ain´t broken). Releasing a multi-platinum selling debut album would put pressure on anyone when contemplating recording a follow-up album, but the fact that Oldfield was only 20 years old when "Tubular Bells" (1973) was released, probably meant the pressure (or handling the pressure) was even harder.

Oldfield was plagued by panic attacks and did very little press in those years. He retreated to a house he had purchased in Kington, a small town on the England?Wales border, which lay in the shadow of a hill named Hergest Ridge. There he found enough solace and peace in the quit surroundings. With a little push from Virgin Records owner Richard Branson, found inspiration to start working on his sophomore studio album.

Stylisticallly the music on the album is atmospheric, ambient, and pleasant (featuring sparse use of rock styled drums). Unlike the more busy and multi-layered music on "Tubular Bells" (1973) the music on "Hergest Ridge" is a bit more mellow and ambient (even folky at times), and the main themes are developed over a longer period of time. Mike Oldfield again plays almost all instruments and again it´s hard not to be impressed by the end result. He is an incredibly skilled musician and taking into account his young age both the performances on the album and the compositions sound very mature.

The sound production is pleasant, organic, and warm, which go hand in hand with the material. So "Hergest Ridge" is good quality sophomore release by Mike Oldfield, but it´s hard not to get the impression that it´s merely a lesser clone version of "Tubular Bells" (1973). Not just because of the fact that both albums only features two sidelong compositions, but because of the way themes are developed and the instruments are multi-layered. A 3 star (60%) rating is still deserved, but this one ultimately doesn´t sound as inspired as the debut.