RETURN TO OMMADAWN

After several listens of "Return To Ommadawn", I am very surprised with the high level of positive reviews here. I don't think it is a bad album at all. The sound itself is excellent. The instruments are very well played. The classic Oldfield sound is definitely there. But what is missing to my ears is the unique haunting melodies that make up the first 3 albums. The tear inducing sections that I had hoped for are absent. Instead, this sounds to me like Mike Oldfield doing a beautiful production of... a Celtic New Age album. He doesn't change keys much at all, and I hear no real interesing or compelling chord changes. The parts named "Latin" and "Jazz" on TB2003, were strikingly both unique and beautiful, and there is nothing that comes close to that level of intrigue here. It is certainly a nice album nonetheless, with its celtic new age styled melodies, played very beautifully by a highly skilled musician, and his musicianship is not to be downplayed. And the fact of his doing a more acoustic based long form album, is makes me hopeful that he will venture deeper into intriguing and more unique melodies in the future.