Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Oldfield, Mike
Label: Virgin EMI Records
Release: 2017
Running time: 42:07
Rating: 4.5/5
»Ommadawn«, the studio masterpiece from way back in 1975, is one of the crown jewels in the incredibly rich career of the legendary English multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield. Most fans of Oldfield’s music rate »Ommadawn« almost as highly as the far better-known and more popular debut, »Tubular Bells« (1973) among the wider public. Mike, though, has run that one nearly into the ground over the years with ever weaker follow-ups, so this time he had to try a somewhat different recipe if he wanted to win back some of the respect he’d lost through a few odd studio moves over the past two decades. After the painfully average pop-rock album »Man On the Rocks« (2014), where Mike failed to revive some of that mid-eighties magic, it looked like the man had run completely dry of any songwriting ideas worth mentioning, and that we wouldn’t see a new album from him for a long time, let alone one that’s a pleasure to listen to from start to finish. Truth be told, precious few of Mike’s albums in the last twenty-five years have been worthy of his seventies and eighties legacy. But anyone who knows his long and colorful career knows that Mr. Oldfield has surprised fans of his music with quality work more than once, right when nobody expected it.
On »Return to Ommadawn«, Mike went for a complete change of style and, to the delight of most of his fans, finally returned after a seriously long time to the instrumentally spiced, prog-rock-leaning ambient suites that made his name in his early creative period. The two interconnected suites that make up the title work run for more than twenty minutes each. Mike last used this approach on »Incantations« (1978). Mike played every instrument on »Return to Ommadawn« entirely by himself, which also takes him back to his seventies creative ethic, when as a young man he shot to fame as an incredible multi-instrumentalist and brilliant composer who liked nothing better than working as a ‘one man band’. He did carry over some of the vocal effects directly from the original »Ommadawn«, but there’s nothing wrong with that this time around. It ramps up the ambient nostalgia and the sense of continuity, while he’s cleverly built an utterly relaxing blend of progressive rock, folk, ambient and world music.
»Return to Ommadawn« is, then, a sequel to the instrumental work of art from 1975. Mike toyed with this idea more than twenty-five years ago, since »Amarok« (1990) was originally conceived as a follow-up to »Ommadawn«, but things took a different turn while that album was being made than the top-class composer and unrivaled multi-instrumentalist had originally imagined. The first question that comes up before listening to »Return to Ommadawn« is, of course, whether Mike’s twenty-sixth studio album is worthy of the original’s legacy, since plenty of artists have already been burned by sequels to their most beloved albums. To the relief of long-time followers, the answer is a resounding yes: Mike played the individual arrangements like in his best days, and at the same time served up plenty of new and interesting ambient motifs that carry the listener through an incredibly rich sonic palette of different themes into fantasy meadows, ruled by that Celtic mysticism so typical of Oldfield, mixed with ‘shamanic’ world-music motifs. He conjures up this kind of ambient magic, which at times sounds like music from the loveliest of dreams, with a combination of numerous traditional instruments such as the Celtic harp and pipes.
The incredibly rich symphonic arrangements and diverse rhythms keep building on each other, while Mike weaves in melancholic guitar passages on the fly that show off his utterly distinctive technique, recognizable from a mile away. The transition between the two suites is wonderfully smooth, the flow between individual motifs is superb, and the energetic and calm moments trade places with remarkable cohesion and finesse, something Oldfield has always had down to a T. Those who had all but forgotten that Mike was, back in the seventies, one of the most revered masters of progressive rock will, after a long, long time, get to revel again in the sounds of the mellotron, Hammond and Farfisa organs, and in Mike’s many guitar masterpieces, on electric as well as acoustic and flamenco guitar, which are only some of the many stringed instruments he used on »Return to Ommadawn«. In ambient terms, »Return to Ommadawn« is a wonderful ambient adventure, full of nostalgia and mysticism, and in that sense too it’s an ideal sequel to the original »Ommadawn«. Despite the remarkable instrumental variety, the many colorful rhythmic shifts and fairly complex arrangements, the album is by no means an overly demanding listen, even for someone who’s closer to ambient and world music than to progressive rock and just needs the right kind of musical unwinding after a grueling day at work.
Mike Oldfield has pleasantly surprised with »Return to Ommadawn«, coming back in a big way among the most exciting musical creators of our time and making his best album since the first half of the eighties, one that will take plenty of listeners right back to the ‘good old days’ when the famous multi-instrumentalist and composer was at the peak of his artistic powers. There is some criticism, admittedly, that besides the original vocal effects he used a few shorter motifs that are very similar to those from the original »Ommadawn«, which, beyond ensuring continuity between past and present, certainly wasn’t the most original move. But this practice isn’t common enough to spoil the hugely positive impression the album leaves as a whole. That raises the question of why Oldfield didn’t decide on this move, creating a sequel to »Ommadawn«, much earlier. »Amarok« was for a long time his farewell to ambitious instrumental suites, which he had already perfected in the seventies, something he refused to admit to himself for a long time while experimenting with different styles.
Apparently Mike, after studio efforts over the past fifteen years that mostly failed to impress, has finally ‘seen the light’ about where his songwriting heart really lies, and realized it’s smarter to go back to the glorious past for inspiration and finally make the album his followers have been waiting for since at least twenty-five years ago. By way of closing words, all congratulations are due to Mike once more for »Return to Ommadawn«. Let’s hope he approaches his next studio project in a similar creative style, which, according to some reports, is supposed to be the fourth part of »Tubular Bells«.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TG63Zhge1w
Lineup
Mike Oldfield – acoustic steel guitar, flamenco guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, acoustic bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, Celtic harp, piano, keyboards, percussion, pipes, vocal effects
Production
Mike Oldfrield
Track list
1. Return to Ommadawn, Pt. I (21:10)
2. Return to Ommadawn, Pt. II (20:57)
