Hergest Ridge: 50th Anniversary of the Masterpiece

At the end of summer this year, 50 years passed since the release of this dreamy, emotional, calm album with its flowing and floating melodies and themes. The huge success of Tubular Bells (number 1 in the English LP charts) came as a complete surprise to everyone involved, and the introverted, shy Jesus-looking progressive musician Oldfield in particular was unable to cope with this development at all. So he retreated to the solitude of rural Herefordshire to work in peace and quiet on his second album, Hergest Ridge. What came of it? Pure, unadulterated Mike Oldfield for connoisseurs. While Tubular Bells sounded like a collection of various smaller instrumental pieces, Hergest Ridge presents itself as a single composition. Oldfield's apparatus is simply splendid here. The melodic guitar playing (an Oldfield trademark) appears clear and always appropriate. The choirs and organ sounds exude a kind of pastoral calm, gentleness, and balance.

I purchased my copy upon its release. I had tears in my eyes when I heard the record for the first time; it was progressive music ingeniously written that was so moving to me back then. Even today, 50 years later, when I close my eyes, I think of lush green meadows, morning dew, light mist, and the ruins of old houses and castles. For me, this is the finest Oldfield album of all time. Some critics derided the album at the time. They were anticipating it as a sort of sequel to Tubular Bells. Hergest Ridge, however, dethroned Tubular Bells from the top spot in the album charts down to number two. Wasn't that fantastic?