Artist: Oldfield, Mike
Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1975
Length: 36:39
Rating: 5/5
Ommadawn came out a year after Hergest Ridge. Mike Oldfield had clearly learned a lot from his first two albums, and you can already feel a greater maturity on this one. He took the variety of arrangements and composition from Tubular Bells and fused it with the beauty and dreaminess of Hergest Ridge. After Tubular Bells he could easily have rested on his laurels and kept churning out similar music, but Oldfield’s muse had other plans. She fed him different ideas on every album, and so Ommadawn is an astonishingly original piece of work too. It’s a collection of everything this composer does best – layered compositions, flowing classical arrangements, folk sentimentality, rock power, and above all an outstanding sense of how to present his masterpieces with aesthetic flair.
Part one kicks off with a gorgeous harp and female vocals in the background, then the rest of the instruments join in. Oldfield plays the opening melody once more on classical guitar. Next comes a section dominated by keyboards and mandolins. Whistles and brass conjure up an incredible atmosphere that tips over into euphoria once the guitar kicks in. This stretch is one of the most varied, with melodies trading places at lightning speed. Then comes a more folksy part, with flutes and guitars up front and, at one point, a piano too. This is without a doubt one of the most sentimental parts of the record and one of my favorites. The harp later calms things down a bit again, but as soon as the electric guitars start up, the air crackles once more. Then the opening melody returns on electric guitar. After that comes a section where you hear the influence of “world” music on Oldfield for the first time, as African drums and vocals join the whistles, chanted much like in plenty of African ethnic music. When the vibraphone comes in, the whole thing even sounds a bit like music you’d hear in Tahiti. It’s one of the longer sections, with various instruments taking turns in the lead, though the electric guitar is mostly out front. Throughout, soft African-Celtic vocals drift in the background. As the electric guitar slowly fades, the African drums gradually carry the piece to its end.
The second part has a long intro where keyboards and assorted guitars build a hazy, drowsy atmosphere that hints at something magnificent. Oldfield solos on classical guitar the whole way through. Slowly the keyboards and electric guitars die down, leaving only the sound of a lone acoustic guitar. In the background there’s just a barely audible harp. After a while the bagpipes join in, conjuring up a simple idyll. I’m not exactly crazy about that instrument, but Oldfield knows how to use it right. The whistles lead us into a new section, the other instruments slowly pile in, until some masterful electric guitar soloing carries us all the way to the absolute peak.
That leaves one sweet little folk song, On Horseback, where Oldfield tried his hand at more conventional pop songwriting for the first time. It’s really charming and a lot of fun (especially when the children’s choir comes in), but for me the album ended with part two, and this slightly spoils the effect. There was also talk that Oldfield was somehow pushed into putting On Horseback on the album by assorted big shots at the label.
On this album Oldfield shows he’s a virtuoso above all on guitar. The other instruments aren’t neglected either, but the guitar is where he really shines. His electric guitar sound is also a trademark, since he plays it as if it were an acoustic or classical guitar. On this album the guitar is without doubt the most important link in the chain, but the real beauty lies in picking the right instrument at the right moment. Vibraphone, brass, whistles, vocals, keyboards, bagpipes, or any of the other instruments always step in exactly when they’re needed.
To me this album is without question a classic. You could say Oldfield invented a new genre – symphonic folk rock. The melodies are sometimes folk, sometimes rock, sometimes with a more classical touch, while the arrangements are throughout like classical music – very varied and fairly intricate, no choruses, and while the melodies do repeat at times, they’re always presented by different instruments. Even more than Hergest Ridge, Ommadawn ranks among the most romantic and aesthetically beautiful albums in the world. It’s an album that always stabs me in the heart and never leaves me indifferent. I always have to listen to it with total focus, because that’s the only way it really lands. One of my favorite albums and, for me, the peak of Oldfield’s career.
Lineup
Mike Oldfield, harp, electric guitars, electric and acoustic basses, acoustic 12-string & classical guitars, bodhran, bouzouki, banjo, spinet, concert piano, electric organ, synthesizer, glockenspiel, percussion, vocals
Herbie: bagpipes
Leslie Penning: flutes
Terry Oldfield: whistles
Pierre Moerlen: timpani
David Strange: cello
Don Blakeson, trumpet
Willliam Murray: percussion
Julian Hahula, Ernest Mothle, Lucky Ranku, Eddie Tatane: African drums
Clodagh Simmonds, Bridget St. John, Sally Oldfield, The Penrhos Kids: vocals
Production
Mike Oldfield
Track List
1. Ommadawn Part 1 — 19:19
2. Ommadawn Part 2 — 13:55
3. On Horseback — 3:25
