Islands

Artist: Mike Oldfield
Type: Album
Release date: 1987
Run time: 48:09
My Rating: 7

1. The Wind Chimes (Part One and Part Two) (21:47)
2. Islands (4:20)
3. Flying Start (3:37)
4. Northpoint (3:33)
5. Magic Touch (4:14)
6. The Time Has Come (3:55)
7. When the Night's On Fire (6:38)

Comments

Islands has an epic rock quality, very eighties in feel. "The Wind Chimes" takes up most of the first half of the album and is typical of Mike's instrumental pieces in that it meanders from tune to tune, often quoting the later tracks or Mike's previous albums, particularly in this case Tubular Bells. I'm not sure why he felt the need to label it as two parts when it's one track and short enough to fit on one side of a vinyl album, but I'm guessing that the division between parts comes shortly before the twelve minute mark.

The rest of the tracks are a variable lot. My favourite is "Islands", which includes Bonnie Tyler on vocals, though "the Time Has Come is very good as well. "Flying Start" is nowhere as good, as Kevin Ayers' vocal range doesn't seem to be great enough to pull off what's demanded of him at times. "When the Night's On Fire" sounds suspciously similar to "Islands"...