Comments for Oldfield, Mike, Ommadawn

The very end of side one is probably the most satisfying 'finale' of all the albums. I like also very much the tune for recorders and guitars, on side two, placed after the quiet pipe tune (played by P. Moloney) and just before the 'rocky' folk dance that closes the piece. I think it later gave the inspiration from The killing fields' theme. A live-concert version of "Ommadawn" from Knebworth (1980) can be viewed on the video-tape "The Essential". G.L.

This was the first of the many Mike Oldfield recordings that I have heard and therefore this piece must have been inspiring. This one of Mike's most brilliant pieces! The mixture of different arts of music (African rythms with Gaelic folk tunes), Ommadawn is truly a symbol of Oldfield's increasing maturity in his long career as a composer. To start off any Mike Oldfield collection, start with Tubular Bells than jump into Ommadawn. The music is hypnotical. Thanks to that Album, my taste in instrumental and New Age music really began to develop!

This is my favourite of Mike Oldfiled. This record is excellently composed and very coulourfull. This surpasses all other Mike Oldfield records. Pain of creation is easily heard through.

Although I prefer "Tubular Bells", "Ommadawn" is one of his finest works. It seems to have more focus than many of his instrumental meanderings, and he starts to experiment with some ethnic music (especially the African rhythms which would resurface in "Amarok" and "Songs of Distant Earth"). A classic Oldfield album.

Ommadawn has become my favorite of Oldfield's albums. I have found myself so obsessed with it that I can sing the entire piece to myself, including the silly but wonderful "On Horseback." My friends hate it, but I just sing and grin. Ommadawn Part One just may be the most beautiful stretch of music I've heard, even more so than Mozart, Stravinsky, etc.

If we divide Mike's work by decade, it is easy to say Ommadawn is the best of the '70's Crises the best from the 80's and Songs From Distance Earth the best of the 90's. It's not so easy to say this is his best work - ever! Bar none! But it is. This is simiply an act of pure genuis. Gothic, whimisical, African, Greek, Gaelic all in one and sounding as seemless and organic as the open sky. If you don't like this album, you almost desearve to die!

The best! If you were alone in a distant planet, this music would make you happy all your life... You don't need anymore!

Can be enjoyed as a beautiful piece of music, or experienced as an emotional roller-coaster. Not for the cloth eared. From a wide perspective, this is one of the most satisfying, challenging, perfect pieces of music to be produced this century.

Track Listing gives 2 tracks - the third "On Horseback" isnot included