Mike Oldfield--what a strange man

My brother gave me an Amazon voucher for Christmas, and one of the things I bought with it was the deluxe edition of Ommadawn.

The new stereo mix is wonderful, better than the Boxed version or the original version, and worth the price of admission alone, but this album also features a newly discovered recording of the original original version, which had to be abandoned because Mike was working with rubbish tape. And towards the end, over the drumming and vocals which wind up side one of the released album to a screaming climax that then drops off into almost-silence, this version features Mike, or possibly somebody else, proving that as both halves of an olde tyme music hall cross-talk act he makes a fairly good rock guitarist. Obviously nobody told him you have to write the jokes first.

I can't quite believe that this was ever intended for the finished album. The credits do say "demo," so maybe it wasn't. On the other hand, there's that Thatcher bit in Amarok...

Keith Olbermann says it: violence has no place in our world

Here.

( Behind here are my thoughts... )

Oldfield rarity

Pipe Tune. Only ever released as the B side of a single I almost certainly no longer possess. Scholars of my oeuvre (as in "isn't it oeuvre yet?!") may note similarities to "Processional To The Rising Sun" from To The Landing. That's just how I roll, as the pastry chef said. Enjoy.