Mike Oldfield: Discovery (1984)

Mike again employed Maggie Reilly in his quest to be a pop star. I'm not sure if it works. My gut feeling says no. ELO also has a record called Discovery. it's sitting in my basement in a crate of records that I am not quite sure what to do with. The other name for the ELO record is Disco Very.

Mike Oldfield: Crises (1983)

The original UK pressing places Crises, the 20 minute + title track, on side A, but the Canadian pressing inexplicably flips the order, and places all of the short tunes on Side A (though in a different order) with Crises on side B. I have no idea why. In High Places features Jon Anderson, from Yes, on vocals. The other recognizable tune is probably Moonlight Shadow, again featuring Maggie Reilly. There are several cover versions of that song floating around.

MIke Oldfield: Five Miles Out (1982)

This is a very strange record. Side one contains Taurus II, a sequel to Taurus, which appeared on QE2. Side two has the lengthy Orabiboo plus three of what I can only call pop songs, notably Family Man, later recorded by Hall and Oates. The original version is sung by Maggie Reilly. It's a good version, but I also like the Hall and Oates cover version. My fav piece on this record is the title track, also featuring Maggie.

Mike Oldfield: Airborn (1980)

This is another of those records that I paid about $1 for. Disc two contains edited versions of Tubular Bells and Incantations. It's a pretty good record.

Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge (1974)

This is good, probably as good as Tubular Bells, but overshadowed by the aforementioned record.

Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (1973)

The first time I heard Tubular Bells, it was on 8-track tape! Worse, it was on a really shitty stereo console and it sounded awful.

It's weird how the record's big break came via The Exorcist.

I prefer Tubular Bells II.