VOYAGER

After twe awesome The Songs of Distant Earth, Olfield released this decent celtic music album... Not really interesting, but good anyway.

Far from being progressive, this commercial change of direction in the Oldfield's music digs in the musician's roots, trying to give us a worthy celtic experience... The result is pleasant, very good for being background ambience for a peaceful rainy afternoon. The magnificient production rich in details in previous Odfield's works like Tubular Bells 2 is replaced here for acoustic instruments, like uleian pipes and acoustic guitars, all well played and produced, but not really mind blowing.

Speaking about Oldfield, this is just a bit disappointing, while some of his better works like Tubular Bells or Amarok have also some celtic influence... But Voyager is far from being spectacular, and has almost nothing to do with his better opuses. With only one exception... Mont St. Michel, the best song on the album. A symphonic and cinematic long composition wich transports you to the fields and places the title points. Great track in the best Oldfield's tradition, wich makes this album worth.

Best songs: the rest of the songs are also good, but without reaching te peaks of Mount St. Michel. The Song of the Sun, based in a theme of a group from my country called Luar Na Lubre, is not bad. The version of the popular Wome of Ireland, along with the Olfield's original The Voyager are also good tracks.

Conclusion: being far from the best Oldfield's efforths, I think this celtic project could have been really better... Maybe too conservative and not really risky. Another flaw is the lack of original material, too many versions in my opinión. But Ok... The presence of Mount St. Michel makes this album a good choice if you like celtic music, because this is a really worthy track. Symphonic, spectacular and really well made, this song demonstrates what this album could have been... But unfortunately isn't.