1985-1988 Video years

In 1985, Virgin decided it was time for a retrospective selection of material from Mike's 12-year recording career. A double album called the Complete Mike Oldfield was issued. One of the four sides was devoted to unreleased live recordings from the previous five years. It included some notable guitar playing from the Platinum tour of 1980.

By now Mike's studio interests were moving towards the use of video in creating musical works. He had equipped his home studio in Buckinghamshire with state-of-the-art equipment like a Quantel Mirage computer with which he generated images for Pictures In The Dark. With singers including Barry Palmer and the 15-year-old boy soprano Aed Jones, this was conceived as a "video single" and issued in December 1985.

The Oldfield home studio was also stocked with seven synthesizers, and in a 1986 interview Mike described his working methods as being diametrically opposed to those musicians who liberally sampled extracts from other people's recordings: "I take a lot of my own samples and usually make some at the end of the session from whatever instrument we've been using." In a later interview he explained his belief in starting from real instruments and not synthesized sounds: "What I object to in computer music is actually listening to the computer performing. It's like some kind of sophisticated pianola or barrel organ, it's completely soulless."

During 1986 Mike concentrated on the creation of a video album, eventually released in October 1988 on video cassette and laser disc as Wind Chimes. Among his collaborators on the visual side was director Alex Proyas who created the video for the track Magic Touch and had previously worked with Crowded House and other bands. The only new recording issued by Mike during 1986 was the single Shine with vocals by Jon Anderson.

The audio album to accompany Wind Chimes was Islands, released in September 1987. The two-part Wind Chimes instrumental piece was inspired by music heard by Mike on a visit to Bali and was co-produced with Simon Phillips. Among the musicians contributing to the Islands album were Kevin Ayers, former Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay and Geoff Downes on keyboards. The featured singer on the title track was Bonnie Tyler, and in October 1987 Mike made a rare television appearance performing the song with Bonnie.