ELEMENTS: THE BEST OF MIKE OLDFIELD

If you bought this collection from Mike oldfield, and only knew about him from Tubular Bells, are you in for a surprise. While some of his albums fit in to that inventive instrumental style, that hardly describes his work. And this collection gives a fair example of the broad spectrum of his music.

Of course, you do get Tubular Bells and Sentinel from Tubular Bells II (a song that indicates just how close a copy the second volume was), but the majority of the remainder of the album consists of pop songs. Inventive pop, with some fine production, but pop nonetheless.

One interesting selection is Family Man. The cover version by Daryl Hall & John Oates may be better known, but this version is much cooler. I can't say the same for most of the other pop tracks. While the music is okay, the lyrics are often quite strained.

A few other songs, like In Dulci Jubilo, attempt a world music style. While Oldfield's song may be authentic sounding, it doesn't hold my interest.