The Songs of Distant Earth (album)
The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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WEA | ||||
Producer | Mike Oldfield | |||
Mike Oldfield chronology | ||||
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Revised cover | ||||
Singles from The Songs of Distant Earth | ||||
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Songs of Distant Earth is the sixteenth studio album by English musician, songwriter and producer
Background
In 1993, Oldfield completed his
Writing and recording
Oldfield chose to have the album follow the novel's plot "loosely".[6] It recounts the destruction of Earth in the year 3600 after the Sun goes nova, for which the planet has 1,600 years to prepare, sending spaceships to nearby planetary systems.[7] The album took longer for Oldfield to complete than he had initially planned, in part because he considered some of his usual instruments - including acoustic guitars - too "Earth-bound" for the setting, opting instead to create a "new vocabulary" of sounds in the studio.[6] This lead Oldfield to broaden his repertoire and appeal, and resulted in an album which he classed as "very ambient".[9]
He made extensive use of samples, including from the sample CD Datafile One (1991) by Zero-G, Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" (1971), film soundtracks, and world music recorded in Polynesia and Lapland.[9] While the album was being mixed and cut, Oldfield was concerned that being a solely digital recording, it would sound too "angular". As a test, a copy was made onto recording tape using Dolby SR, a type of noise reduction, which he thought produced some nice results but greater loss of clarity.[9] The liner notes contains a foreword by Clarke about the development of his book, from short story to novel. He ends it with a note about the album: "Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed by the music he wrote for The Killing Fields and now, having played the CD-ROM of The Songs of Distant Earth, I feel he has lived up to my expectations. Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room out here."[10]
CD-ROM content
Oldfield faced difficulty in writing music to the story at first and needed some "in between space" to help visualise it. This was alleviated when he received a copy of the 1993 graphic adventure puzzle game
The CD-ROM allows users to travel through a futuristic city on board a spaceship and towards a central control system, inside of which houses a musical tower. The user must answer a musical puzzle which provides a series of options that trigger a different song on the album.[7]
Release
The album was released in the UK on 21 November 1994. It went to No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart and reached gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry. Its US release followed in January 1995 on Reprise Records.[11][12]
The album was released as a CD and, shortly afterwards, as an Enhanced CD of which two versions were made. Both versions' initial pressings contained an image of a manta ray flying in front of a planet on the front cover; later pressings change the image to one of a suited man holding a glowing orb with manta rays flying overhead. The second pressing of the enhanced CD contains slightly more multimedia content, including the full version of the "Let There Be Light" video. The CD audio content is the same on all versions of the album. It was also released as a vinyl LP, which has become a rare item.
The enhanced CD content, for
Oldfield used Emagic Logic Audio for sequencing and Pro Tools hardware for the recording of the album using a combination of tape and hard drive recording.[15]
Track listing
- "In the Beginning" – 1:24
- "Let There Be Light" – 4:52
- "Supernova" – 3:29
- "Magellan" – 4:41
- "First Landing" – 1:16
- "Oceania" – 3:27
- "Only Time Will Tell" – 4:19
- "Prayer for the Earth" – 2:10
- "Lament for Atlantis" – 2:44
- "The Chamber" – 1:49
- "Hibernaculum" – 3:32
- "Tubular World" – 3:23
- "The Shining Ones" – 2:59
- "Crystal Clear" – 5:42
- "The Sunken Forest" – 2:39
- "Ascension" – 5:48
- "A New Beginning" – 1:33
Personnel
Music
- Mike Oldfield – various instruments
- Eric Caudieux – additional programming
- Mark Rutherford – additional rhythm loops
- Sugar "J" – additional rhythm loops
- Pandit Dinesh – tablas
- Molly Oldfield – keyboards
- Cori Josias – vocals
- Ella Harper – vocals
- David Nickless – vocals
- Roame – vocals
- Nils-Aslak Valkeapää – Sámi chant for a joik on "Prayer for the Earth"
- Members of Verulam Consort – vocals
- Tallis Scholars– vocals
Excerpts:
- Bill Anders – reading from the Book of Genesis while orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve, 1968 on "In the Beginning"[10]
- "Vahine Taihara" by Tubuai Choir
- Mike Joseph – self hypnosistape on "Crystal Clear"
Production
- Mike Oldfield – production, engineer
- Gregg Jackman – assistant engineer
- Steve MacMillan – assistant engineer
- Tom Newman – assistant engineer
- Richard Barrie – technical engineer
- Bill Smith Studio – design, art direction
- Simon Fowler – portrait photography
Certifications and sales
‹See Tfd›‹See Tfd›Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Spain (PROMUSICAE)[16] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] | Gold | 100,000^ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 750,000[18] |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
References
- AllMusic
- ^ "Mike Oldfield: Recording Songs Of Distant Earth". soundonsound.com. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Notes about Tubular Bells II". Tubular.net. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
- ^ Oldfield 2008, p. 248.
- ^ a b Oldfield 2008, p. 244.
- ^ a b c "Promotional blurb for 'The Songs of Distant Earth'". WEA. 1994. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Salem, Charlie (February 1995). "Totally Tubular". Internet and Comms Today. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
- ^ "Pre-release promotional blurb for 'The Songs of Distant Earth'". WEA. 1994. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
- ^ a b c White, Paul (February 1995). "Tubular Worlds". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
- ^ a b Arthur C. Clarke (1994). The Songs of Distant Earth (Mike Oldfield vinyl LP cover). Warner Music UK Ltd. 4509-98581-1.
- ^ a b Gillen, Marilyn A. (5 November 1994). "Oldfield Pioneers Music/Cyberspace Border". Billboard. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
- ^ "The Songs Of Distant Earth Press Release". WEA. 30 November 1994. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
- Warner MusicUK Ltd. 1994. 4509-98581-1.
- ^ "Mike Oldfield". Sound on Sound. November 2002. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- ^ Paul White (February 1995). "Tubular Worlds". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
- ^ "British album certifications – Mike Oldfield – The Songs of Distant Earth". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 May 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type The Songs of Distant Earth in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ "Who Is Selling Where". Billboard. 17 February 1996. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-753-51307-1.
External links
- Mike Oldfield Discography – The Songs of Distant Earth at Tubular.net
- Entry at discogs.com
- The Songs of Distant Earth at AllMusic