Oldfield vinyl

Last July Warner Music announced it was set to release some new 180g vinyl editions of 4 of Mike Oldfield's albums. I pre-ordered them, bought a new stylus and waited patiently. 9 months later they have finally arrived.

Better late than never? Mike Oldfield 180g vinyl

Despite there being absolutely no mention of why their release was delayed, I have keenly anticipated these discs. "Voyager" and "Tubular Bells III" have never been released on vinyl and the other two command high second hand prices due to their rarity.

Personally I also prayed these new editions wouldn't be as bad as the recent 180g pressing of Oldfield's Virgin era albums such as "Crises". These discs were not cut well and certainly weren't pressed to the highest standard. These Warner era albums were keenly anticipated. So what is the verdict?

Well, my favourite Oldfield album has always been "Songs of Distant Earth" and so I placed this on the platter first. Disappointingly none of the discs have a picture inner, just a plain black polythene lined jacket. But this shouldn't detract from the music

Wow. The sound is rich and clean. Deep basses, clear harmonics and as moving as ever. Next was "Tubular Bells 2" which has some annoying noise throughout and doesn't seem to quite hit the mark in the same way. I am yet to listen to the second 2 albums but willl post my thoughts here as soon as I get around to it.