Hergest Ridge: 50th Anniversary of the Masterpiece

Fantastic album.

I do like HR more than TB, but you can't go wrong with any of Oldfield's early albums.

My reaction on first hearing was very similar; it is a very beautiful and emotionally charged piece of music and has a very important place in my heart. It still moves me today and has been played almost daily of late as it was introduced to me by my older brother who recently died. It is imbued with something quintessentially English but not in any kind of 'patriotic' way; more that it reflects the very earth, sky, plants, rocks and the weather that inspired it. Ommadawn continued that very elemental and intuitional theme; perhaps reflecting the things which brought the composer solace from the things that haunted him. 

This particular time period was a huge experiment in composition for Mike Oldfield. The fact that he was an instrumentalist and inspired to write in places that were peaceful and quiet wasn't by chance.

The interest in having inspiring surroundings was accommodating to the development of Oldfield's first 4 albums. Whether you like or dislike his music it's quite understandable how he works.

In a sense it's conceivable that he was repeating sections of music ( note patterns) pretty much in the way that Philip Glass and Steve Reich would...yet he wasn't writing in the same style and particularly when he played a piece which would sound like "Traditional Irish Folk" or simply how he improvised over a Jig or just Irish Music in general...and yet he was often mentioned in the same breath as Glass.

However you want to define Mike Oldfield's music should be based on how it makes you feel. It's difficult to pigeon hole him.

There are times when he sounds Irish but then there are times
when his entire music composition has traveled somewhere else
completely!! A place that no one else has ever taken you to.
That's obviously something that happens naturally to him. For

example...some of his soundscapes which create an atmospheric sounding chord progressions seem to capture a dark vibe. One that creates a supernatural imagination not unlike David Bedford. However Oldfield's music does not come across being like someone else's music. He may have influences...but he created a style of his own...

Somehow...someway...statements were made about him going inward...escaping reality...introverted...next please? Oh issues or personality disorder of some kind based on the appearance of a person that acts painfully shy or even anti social. He was working on music! His behavior is obviously a product of cutting off the world to compose. That's perfectly normal to do if you're a composer.

Eventually he joined some kind of cult and learned how to socially open up ...unlike his decline to do interviews in the past. He was recording Incantations when he began meetings with this odd group of people. When he began opening up some people from his past felt it was over the top and should have remained painfully shy.

As time progressed he began releasing albums that contained anywhere between 12 to 17 minute long instrumentals that brought back the memories of his early days..while the rest of the album would contain songs. I used to wonder if he was under pressure from the record company to be less obscure and more commercially viable. Or perhaps he wanted to change or alter his writing style to be less obscure and more mainstream all on his own....nevertheless his first 4 albums are magical in a magical time period...when he was inventing a style in a hermitage way of life that he may have touched upon...

Edited by Jacob Schoolcraft - November 20 2024 at 17:24

verslibre wrote: I do like HR more than TB, but you can't go wrong with any of Oldfield's early albums.

Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: As time progressed he began releasing albums that contained anywhere between 12 to 17 minute long instrumentals that brought back the memories of his early days..while the rest of the album would contain songs. I used to wonder if he was under pressure from the record company to be less obscure and more commercially viable. Or perhaps he wanted to change or alter his writing style to be less obscure and more mainstream all on his own....nevertheless his first 4 albums are magical in a magical time period...when he was inventing a style in a hermitage way of life that he may have touched upon...

Atavachron wrote: Never got Oldfield.   Hope to one day.   Not holding my breath. On the other hand Steve Reich is a genius.

I bought the "Music for 18 Musicians" LP (the original ECM version) when it hit the shelves in 1978. However, I always preferred "Tehillim," released in 1981, because it sounds more like the 70s Oldfield. 

I've already posted above, but I've been reminded once again of a classical piece that always reminds me of Hergest Ridge: Howard Hanson's Symphony #2 "Romantic", from 1930. I am NOT implying that Oldfield plagiarized, "borrowed", or copied this work, but simply that if you like one, you should have no problem enjoying the other. Whenever I hear either one of these two, I am musically captivated for the rest of the day!

^ American experience was a bit difference to here in the UK I suspect. New Wave music and a deference to The Velvet Underground took hold here. We did get our prog back (sort of) with the Neo thing. I loved IQ's first 2 albums but not a lot else though. For me the UK 'progressive' scene back in 1979 were synth acts like Gary Numan and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, they both used polyphonic synths very artily and OMD even later daring to use a Mellotron on Maid Of Orleons, possibly the best 'prog' song of the early 80's. Within mainstream rock Simple Minds did Waterfront which I felt was very proggy and it turns out they were unashamed Genesis fans. We were being thrown scraps though. Yep a lot did go underground and maybe you could see those bands play live in the UK somewhere. I'm not sure as I didn't see any live music in my formative years and only started seeing bands regularly when I was over 30 and could afford to do so (although some bands played 5 minutes round the corner in a delightful small venue that held barely 150 people and you wouldn't believe who would turn up there, Focus, Coloseum, Carl Palmer, Mountain, Steve Howe just to name a few)