Man On The Rocks (Deluxe Edition) Mike Oldfield

• 1Sailing04:44
• 2Moonshine05:48
• 3Man On The Rocks06:11
• 4Castaway06:35
• 5Minutes04:50
• 6Dreaming In The Wind05:28
• 7Nuclear05:02
• 8Chariots04:43
• 9Following The Angels07:04
• 10Irene03:57
• 11I Give Myself Away05:12
• 12Sailing (Instrumental)04:44
• 13Moonshine (Instrumental)05:47
• 14Man On The Rocks (Instrumental)06:09
• 15Castaway (Instrumental)06:36
• 16Minutes (Instrumental)04:50
• 17Dreaming In The Wind (Instrumental)05:31
• 18Nuclear (Instrumental)05:02
• 19Chariots (Instrumental)04:24
• 20Following The Angels (Instrumental)07:04
• 21Irene (Instrumental)03:57
• 22I Give Myself Away (Instrumental)05:06
• Total Runtime01:58:44

Info for Man On The Rocks (Deluxe Edition)

The contrast to his last album Music Of The Spheres - which topped the classical charts in 2008 - could not be greater. On his new studio album "Man On The Rocks", Mike Oldfield has dispensed with the experimental long form and instead delivers live-recorded rock. The 11 catchy, deeply emotional and perfectly produced tracks of "Man On The Rocks" tie in again with his song-oriented albums like "Crises" or "Islands".

The light-hearted, sunny midtempo rocker "Sailing" kicks things off. Oldfield also spreads rays of light on the title track, with his typical multi-voiced overlaid guitars. On the other hand, there is dirty rock'n'roll à la The Rolling Stones with "Irene" - a song about the hurricane of the same name with a magnitude of 3, which Oldfield experienced up close at his home in the Bahamas in 2011. The radioed "Chariots" picks up the theme of the Oldfield classic "Shadow On The Wall". He quotes West Coast rock in "Dreaming In The Wind". The album's calming points are the organ-driven "Castaway", as well as "Following The Angels" (inspired by the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, where Oldfield performed), and his heartfelt cover of the love song "I Give Myself Away" by William McDowell.

Man On The Rocks features players such as legendary bassist Leland Sklar (Phil Collins, Crosby, Stills & Nash, James Taylor) and drummer John Robinson (Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Daft Punk). Although Oldfield has worked with some of the world's most famous vocalists in the past, here he has found an incredible young talent to interpret his words, Luke Spiller from the Struts.

Its working title, 'Rock' emphasises the album's directness, heard especially on the guitar-driven 'Irene', inspired by the category 3 hurricane that hit the Bahamas in 2011. However, it is – as you would expect from the man who gave the world Tubular Bells and so much more besides – an album of great variance and contrast; from the commercial punch of opening track, ‘Sailing’, to the beautiful folk-influenced ‘Dreaming In The Wind’ to the emotional gravitas of its closer, a cover of William McDowell’s gospel song, ‘I Give Myself Away’.

Last seen performing at the personal request of Danny Boyle to a global audience of 900 million at the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, Man On The Rocks underlines Mike Oldfield's status as one of the most singular talents to ever emerge from the UK. The recent 2013 BBC 4 Documentary . . . plus Tubular Bells – the story of Mike and iconic album – further enforces that fact.

' It has been a pleasure making Man On The Rocks with such a dedicated team of performers,' says Oldfield. “For a long period, I felt that I wasn’t going to record any new music again. But, after the elation of the Olympics and the explorations of my catalogue, I felt the time was right to return with this, one of my favourite albums to date.”

Mike Oldfield, guitars, keyboards
Leland Sklar, bass
John Robinson, drums
Luke Spiller, vocals (the Struts)

Digitally remastered

Mike Oldfield
is an artist like no other. Over the last 37 years he has produced timeless, unique and inspirational music that has enthralled listeners the world over.

In terms of overnight success stories, Mike Oldfield's is astounding. After a short stint playing bass in Kevin Ayers' backing band, he was taken under the guiding wing of a 22-year-old Richard Branson and Tubular Bells was born. Thrillingly enigmatic music that sounds like nothing before or since, a critical and commercial success, and, to cap it all, the coveted Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition after an excerpt was used in the film The Exorcist.

A blessing and a curse, the magnitude of Mike's sudden success could easily have stalled him and yet he returned almost immediately with another two-movement pastoral masterwork Hergest Ridge and a year later issued the groundbreaking world music suite Ommadawn. Mike Oldfield is that rare beast, the intuitive artist, a confident and creative multi-instrumentalist, not bound by rule or convention and content to follow his own path: "All I want to express with my music is my feelings. I think it's the purpose. To show images, landscapes, love, hate, fury."

Mike Oldfield -"Everything on Tubular Bells was done on the first take - it was lovely, so spontaneous. I had such a long time to prepare it, and I had just one little chance to do it, and now I listen to it and it has a lovely spontaneous energy. It's got mistakes, and I could easily have cut them out, but I left them on."

Mike Oldfield - "I'd like to see somebody come and play differently from everybody else, not using the Blues scale, not turning into jazz, but making something new out of nothing."

Mike Oldfield -"I don't listen to my old albums. I'm too afraid. I'm always thinking about the next album. There comes a point when I finish an album, and I say: 'That's that.'"

John Peel - "Without borrowing anything from established classics or descending into the discords, squeals and burps of the determinedly avant-garde, Mike Oldfield has produced music which combines logic with surprise, sunshine with rain."

This album contains no booklet.