The elusive British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield returns to the years when he was still a successful child prodigy. Rock symphonies such as (1973) and (1975) played by himself were then (and now) masterpieces. They were the first major sources of income for Richard Branson and his -label. It also made Oldfield a young millionaire who then took an erratic musical path. Over the decades, with
… varying degrees of success, he made new age music and remarkably flat classic rock. In the meantime, he continued to revise and reinterpret his debut Tubular Bells. Return To Ommadawn is not a reinterpretation of the original but a new album in the same trend. Rustic atmospheres resound again, in two long musical landscapes that are full of traditional folk melodies. Acoustic string instruments such as the Spanish guitar, mandolin and Celtic harp dominate. Return To Ommadawn is thus also a return to Oldfield's old form and again a delightful British pastoral. (MR)more
