Hergest Ridge (album)

Hergest Ridge
Studio album by Mike Oldfield
Released	2 September 1974 (1974-09-02)
Recorded	Spring 1974
Studio	The Manor, Shipton-on-Cherwell
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	40:14
Label	Virgin
Producer	Mike Oldfield Tom Newman
Mike Oldfield chronology
Tubular Bells (1973) Hergest Ridge (1974) The Orchestral Tubular Bells (1975)
Mercury Records 2010 reissue
The revised aerial photograph artwork. The Deluxe Edition is shown.

Hergest Ridge is the second studio album by English musician and songwriter Mike Oldfield, released on 2 September 1974 by Virgin Records.^[1] The unexpected commercial and critical success of his debut album, Tubular Bells (1973), affected Oldfield, who decided against touring and avoided the press with his newfound fame. Instead, he retreated to Hergest Ridge on the England–Wales border and wrote the follow-up, which he recorded in 1974 at The Manor in Oxfordshire, with Tom Newman returning as co-producer. Similar to Oldfield's first, the album is a single composition split into two parts covering different moods and musical styles.

The album was No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for three consecutive weeks before it was displaced by Tubular Bells, marking one of the few times an artist has overtaken themselves on the chart in this manner. In 2010, the album was reissued with new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes, bonus material, and new artwork.^[2]

Background and recording

After the release of his debut album, Tubular Bells, Oldfield sought a countryside location to write a follow-up album. In early 1974 he drove around the West Country before turning north into Herefordshire. He arrived at Kington, a small town on the England–Wales border located in the shadow of Hergest Ridge, an elongated hill with a peak height of 425 metres (1,394 ft), which attracted Oldfield to stay in the area.^[3] He spotted a house named The Beacon on the edge of Bradnor Hill that was for sale and received permission from Virgin Records co-owner Richard Branson to buy it.^[3]

Oldfield settled into his new home but felt unsure of his next career move. His contract with Virgin allowed him a £25 wage and continual offers added to the pressure of appearing in public, causing Oldfield to suffer from panic attacks. He lacked any solid ideas for new music and chose to perform simple undemanding Medieval tunes with folk musician

Oldfield felt that half of the good sections on the album were so detailed and buried in the mix, it called for listeners to play the album on a high quality record player. He stated, "I have to listen really hard to pick out something that I know that I'm proud that I did".[4] The climax to the album is something that he was particularly happy with. Comparisons of the album to Tubular Bells irritated him because he considered it a more arranged and fully conceived work.^[4] In 1975, Oldfield reflected on Hergest Ridge and thought it contained "some excellent ideas" but its recording was rushed, which affected the performance.^[5]

After initial recording sessions at

Similarly to Tubular Bells, the album is divided into two movements. Oldfield frequently superimposes layers of electric guitar recorded by first amplifying heavily (to achieve a sustained organ-like quality) and then reducing the volume greatly via use of the Glorfindel Box (a custom guitar effects unit housed in plywood, which was extremely unreliable in its operation; the unit was obtained from David Bedford, who had been given the box at a party by its creator^[7]). The volume was reduced further using the compression channel from the Manor's mixing console, as had been done on Tubular Bells Part 2. Textures are extended further using various organ timbres and the use of voice as an instrument (the voice is never treated prominently and is deliberately reduced as much as possible and thus permitted largely for textural effect).

Versions

Hergest Ridge was remixed in SQ system 4-channel quadraphonic sound by Oldfield in 1976 for the 4-LP set Boxed. Following the creation of the remix, Oldfield stated that he wished for all future releases of the album to be derived from this new version. All CD releases have a stereo mix derived from the Boxed mix, as do most of the later pressings of LP and cassette. The original 1974 vinyl mix is now available on the 2010 reissue of the album, along with a 2010 remix.

An orchestral version of Hergest Ridge was arranged and conducted by

it has not been officially released.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Džuboks	(Mixed)[9]

Paul Stump commented on Hergest Ridge in his 1997 History of Progressive Rock: "So how to follow Tubular Bells? Simple. Merely repeat its developmental techniques through new (but less inspired) sequences of tunes."[10]

Hergest Ridge, the place

Hergest Ridge on the England–Wales border is a popular^{[citation needed]} holiday destination for Oldfield's fans, and the house where he lived at the time, The Beacon, is now a guest house. The cover photograph features scenery from Hergest Ridge, and was taken by Trevor Key; the Irish Wolfhound on the cover (and on the LP label) was named Bootleg. Mike Oldfield himself can be heard pronouncing it in the song "On Horseback", which concludes "Part Two" of Ommadawn.

Although the album was written at The Beacon, it was, like Tubular Bells, recorded at Richard Branson's The Manor.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the 1974 liner notes.^[6]

Musicians

• Farfisa organ, Lowrey organ, GEM Gemini organ
• June Whiting – oboe
• Lindsay Cooper – oboe
• Ted Hobart – trumpet
• Terry Oldfield – flute
• Chilli Charles – snare drum
• Clodagh Simonds – vocals
• Sally Oldfield – vocals
• David Bedford – choir and strings conductor

Production

• Mike Oldfield – production, engineering
• Tom Newman – production and engineering assistant
• Trevor Key – album cover
• Bootleg –
  Irish wolfhound
  on the album cover

HDCD remastered reissue

In 2000 Virgin re-released all of Oldfield's back catalogue, remastered in

There is also a limited-edition box set of the album, comprising a deluxe edition, an LP and a framed, signed print of the album artwork. Only 250 copies were produced, which were sold through Mike Oldfield's official website.[17] There are no un-signed variants.

The Japanese release uses the SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) manufacturing process.

Charts

Hergest Ridge was the UK's number one album in the week ending 14 September 1974 and remained so for three weeks until being knocked out of the spot by its predecessor, Tubular Bells. Oldfield is thus one of only a few artists (among whom are The Beatles and Bob Dylan) to have swapped number one albums in this manner.^{[citation needed]}

In 1975, Rolling Stone reported that 2 million copies of the album had been sold.^[5]

Certifications and sales

References