HERGEST RIDGE

She rises from the mist, this belle, and has a different tale to tell, emerging from the the rills and ridges to share with us her humble riches. More pastoral in tone than her piebald predecessor, a simpler patchwork and perhaps the lesser of the two, the first work having grew from such a tempest of expression, while Hergest here is glimpsed in logical succession. It's interesting that, after such a tubular design, a second album doesn't dare entwine too many bits and pieces, fearful of a work that rises and surceases OLDFIELD here is on a simpler path, his waterfall of inspiration channeled into one warm bath. You'll find some CRIMSON in it (on guitar), some GENESIS as well (seen from afar), but mostly this is OLDFIELD first and last, a vision of the future and the past. The artist, having found an audience, is careful not to build a wood too dense, focusing instead on several themes, from tame to tempest as befits the scene. (I'll add, although it's quite a different boid, that one theme sounds a lot like "Mongoloid".) If "Hergest Ridge" is not the tumbing spire that "Tub'lar Bells" aspired to than desire not a second mountain in your midst, but chance upon a rolling hill as this and marvel at its natural, simple charm, a pixie playground where there is no varum. (Sorry about this one. Ze furter I vent, ze verse it got.)