This rather odd compilation was released in 2016 and I think I have only played it once or twice.
This record seeks to summarise Mike's creative life in the year 1984. What I can't really work out why this particular year deserves a dedicated compilation when none of the other forty nine years in which Mike was active do not.
Most of the tracks on this record are selections from the albums "Discovery" and "The Killing Fields" and were remixed from the original multitracks. One piece, "The Royal Mile" was billed as a 'rediscovered track' but it is simply an alternative version of the b-side "Afghan". Most disappointing of all is an excruciating remix of "Poisoned Arrows" which strips away Barry Palmer's original vocal and replaces it with a terrible macOS "Fred" computer speech about zombies. "It's really for kids and Halloween," Mike says in the sleeve notes. My response being, "It's really not fit for anyone."
There are more disappointments in the new mix of "To France" which focuses on the acoustic instruments and rips out the fabulous Fairlight CMI that underpins the original. On the plus side the versions of "Étude" and "The Lake" are largely faithful to the original but offer enough of a new dimension to make them interesting. Realistically this record is only of interest to Oldfield enthusiasts - but even they have to draw the line at "Zombies". 1/5
