RETURN TO OMMADAWN

I wish Mike Oldfield hadn't called this album, Return to Ommadawn, as it has you comparing the two albums. Ommadawn has masterful pastoral melodies/riffs and beautiful floating choruses that drift down over the top of the instruments. This album could have been composed around the same time as Ommadawn as it has that sound quality of the 70's period. However, it works in a different fashion. There are more guitars, particularly Spanish acoustic guitar, 12- string and electric guitars, mandolins and electric bass. Instead of the choruses of Ommadawn there is fleeting Mellotron and children's voices. It works beautifully sonically with an almost perfect blend of instruments and Mike Oldfield's guitar playing is sublime.

In some ways I prefer this recording to Ommadawn. However, it doesn't have the same memorable riffs as Ommadawn that stick in your mind. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know. Ommadawn is the sort of album you could play on your death bed as you drift in and out of sleep as you expire. Return to Ommadawn is the kind of album that keeps you awake as you concentrate on the sheer sonic beauty of the album. Mike Oldfield is one of the greatest guitarists of his generation and in Return to Ommadawn he puts together a guitarist's gourmet of delights. I don't know why he isn't more often compared to the other great progressive guitarists of his generation such as Steve Hackett and Steve Howe.

iluvmarillion | 4/5 | 2020-7-17

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