|
Islands
Release Date: September 7, 1987
Location: Megève, Denham
(UK version)
1. The Wind Chimes Part One And Part Two 21:49
2. Islands 4:19
3. Flying Start 3:36
4. North Point 3:33
5. Magic Touch 4:14
6. The Time Has Come 3:51
7. When The Nights On Fire 6:41
(US version)
1. The Wind Chimes Part One 2:33
2. The Wind Chimes Part Two 19:14
3. Magic Touch 4:14
4. The Time Has Come 3:51
5. North Point 3:31
6. Flying Start 3:36
7. Islands 4:19
|
The Wind Chimes Part One
Produced by Mike Oldfield
The Wind Chimes Part Two
Co Produced by Mike Oldfield and Simon Phillips
Islands
Vocals by Bonnie Tyler
Co Produced by Mike Oldfield, Tom Newman and Alan Shacklock
Flying Start
Vocals by Kevin Ayers
Produced by Mike Oldfield
North Point
Vocals by Anita Hegerland
Produced by Mike Oldfield
Magic Touch
Vocals by Jim Price (UK), Max Bacon (US)
Co Produced by Mike Oldfield and Geoffrey Downes
The Time Has Come
Vocals by Anita Hegerland
Co Produced by Mike Oldfield and Michael Cretu
When The Nights On Fire
Vocals by Anita Hegerland
Co Produced by Mike Oldfield
Mastered by Greg Fulginiti at Artisan Sound Recorders
Musicians: Tony Beard, Raf Ravenscroft, Andy Mackay, Mickey Simmonds, Phil Spalding, Micky Moody, Rick Fenn, Max Bacon, Bjorn J:Son Lindh, Mervyn (Spam) Spence, Pierre Moerlen and Benoit Moerlen.
The Wind Chimes: Simon Phillips played Drums; Anita Hegerland - vocal Chants
Technical & Engineering Assistant: Richard Barrie
Photography (back of the US version): Jerry Uelsmann |
Personnel
| ▸ | Michael Cretu (producer) | | Co-produced 'The Time Has Come'
| | ▸ | Geoffrey Downs (producer) | | Co-produced 'Magic Touch'.
| | ▸ | Tom Newman (producer) | | Co-produced the song 'Islands' Also appears in: Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge, Platinum, Five Miles Out, Amarok, Heaven's Open, Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager
| | ▸ | Alan Shacklock (producer) | |
| | ▸ | Richard Barrie (technical engineer) | | Also appears in: QE2, Five Miles Out, Earth Moving, Amarok, Heaven's Open, Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager
| | ▸ | Kevin Ayers (musician) | | Singer-songwriter and leader of the band The Whole World, which Mike played in before recording Tubular Bells. He was also a founder member of Soft Machine.
| | ▸ | Max Bacon (musician) | | Lead singer from the rock group GTR, in which Phil Spalding played bass. Max later left the music business to become a pub landlord. Also appears in: Earth Moving
| | ▸ | Tony Beard (musician) | |
| | ▸ | Rick Fenn (musician) | | Was a member of band 10CC from 1976 onwards. Also played with stars such as Elkie Brooks, Cliff Richard, Rick Wakeman and Peter Green (of Fleetwood Mac fame). Produced a solo album called 'Profiles' which featured Nick Mason of Pink Floyd on drums. Also appears in: Five Miles Out, Crises
| | ▸ | Anita Hegerland (musician) | | Norwegian singer, who became Mike's girlfriend and mother of two of his children, Greta and Noah. She had her first hit single at the age of 9 and, alongside her success in Scandinavia, was known in West Germany for her song with Roy Black, 'Schön ist es auf die Welt zu sein'. Also appears in: Earth Moving, Heaven's Open
|
| | ▸ | Björn J:son Lindh (musician) | |
| | ▸ | Andy Mackay (musician) | | Played the oboe on the song 'Islands'.
| | ▸ | Pierre Moerlen (musician) | | Drummer with (and later leader of) the prog-rock group Gong. Mike would have met Gong while he was at The Manor recording Tubular Bells at the same time as they were recording their 'Flying Teapot' album (another of Virgin records' early releases). Mike made a guest appearance on Gong's LP 'Downwind'. He died unepectdly of natural causes in 2005. Also appears in: Ommadawn, Incantations, Exposed, Platinum
| | ▸ | Micky Moody (musician) | |
| | ▸ | Simon Phillips (musician) | | A drummer who started off playing in his father's dixieland band at the age of 12, before going on to work with rock legends like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend and Gary Moore, as well as being the current drummer for Toto. He met Mike in New York at Tony Roma's Ribs, while on tour with Al DiMeola. Also appears in: Crises, Discovery, Heaven's Open
| | ▸ | Jim Price (musician) | |
| | ▸ | Raf Ravenscroft (musician) | | A session saxophonist, best known for his work on Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'.
| | ▸ | Mickey Simmonds (musician) | | Also appears in: Heaven's Open
| | ▸ | Phil Spalding (musician) | | A session bass player. Played in the Bernie Tormé band 1977 - 79 (also some drums). Later played in band GTR (1984 - 86), which included Max Bacon on vocals. Played with Toyah Wilcox (wife of Robert Fripp) in the early 80s, and later joined Mike on Michel Polnareff's album Kama Sutra. Also appears in: Crises, Earth Moving
| | ▸ | Mervyn 'Spam' Spence (musician) | |
|
|
Instruments
| Electric guitars |
| Danelectro/Coral Sitar |
An electric guitar with a special bridge to produce a buzzy sitar-like sound.
 |
Used on the intro to 'Flying Start', as well as in parts of The Wind Chimes.
Also used in Amarok, Guitars
|
| Bass guitars |
| 1983 Roland G-88 Bass Guitar Controller, Serial # A814722 |
Bass guitar designed for controlling the GR-33B bass synthesiser. It can also be used as a conventional bass, which Mike seems to have done.
Sold on Guitar Auctions with a Roland GR-33B bass guitar synthesizer pedal unit, Serial # 050634 (missing multi-pin cable).
Purchased by the vendor in October 1994 haveing been offered the bass by Jeremy Parker, Mike's then personal assistant. The vendor was offered the guitar as he was a known fan of Mike Oldfield.
The instrument can be seen in the videos for 'Shadow On The Wall', 'Pictures In The Dark' and 'Islands'.
 |
Also used in Crises, Discovery
|
| Synthesisers |
| Fairlight CMI Series III |
A further improvement of the CMI system, incorporating 16 bit sampling.
 |
Also used in Earth Moving, Heaven's Open
|
| Kurzweil K250 |
|
|
| Roland D-110 |
Linear Algorhythmic synthesis module. |
Also used in Earth Moving
|
| Roland D-50 |
Linear Algorhythmic synthesiser keyboard. |
Also used in Earth Moving, Amarok, Heaven's Open, Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth
|
| 1983 Roland G-88 Bass Guitar Controller, Serial # A814722 |
Bass guitar designed for controlling the GR-33B bass synthesiser. It can also be used as a conventional bass, which Mike seems to have done.
Sold on Guitar Auctions with a Roland GR-33B bass guitar synthesizer pedal unit, Serial # 050634 (missing multi-pin cable).
Purchased by the vendor in October 1994 haveing been offered the bass by Jeremy Parker, Mike's then personal assistant. The vendor was offered the guitar as he was a known fan of Mike Oldfield.
The instrument can be seen in the videos for 'Shadow On The Wall', 'Pictures In The Dark' and 'Islands'.
|
Also used in Crises, Discovery
|
| Roland GR-33B |
Bass guitar synthesizer module controlled by a Roland G 88 bass guitar fitted with a synth pickup. |
Also used in Discovery
|
| Roland MT-32 |
Table top Linear Algorhythmic Synthesis module. Low cost descendent of the D-50. Mike had two, for composing with while he was on holiday. |
Also used in Earth Moving
|
| Yamaha DX-7 |
6 operator polyphonic digital FM synthesiser keyboard. Later given to a school for the disabled in exchange for a Farfisa Professional for Tubular Bells II. |
[?] Seems to feature quite heavily in The Wind Chimes. |
| Samplers |
| Fairlight CMI Series III |
A further improvement of the CMI system, incorporating 16 bit sampling.
|
Also used in Earth Moving, Heaven's Open
|
| Loudspeakers |
| Tannoy SRM10B |
10" Super Red Monitors. Used as nearfield monitors, as part of Mike's Islands-era video setup. Also used in Mike's Los Angeles studio while recording Tubular Bells II. |
Also used in Tubular Bells II
|
| Westlake HR-1 |
Studio monitor speaker. |
Also used in Five Miles Out, Crises
|
| Studio effects and outboard |
| Dolby SR Noise Reduction units |
Dolby SR was Dolby's most advanced form of tape noise reduction. SR stands for Spectral Recording, a reference to the way that the system can act independently on different parts of the frequency spectrum. |
Also used in Earth Moving
|
| Tape recorders |
| Studer A-800 |
2" 24 track multitrack tape recorder.
 |
Also used in Discovery, Earth Moving
|
| Mixing desks |
| Harrison Series X |
The world's first fully automated mixing desk. Where desks like Mike's Neve 8108 often had little more than automation/recall of channel levels and mutes, the Harrison was able to automate other parameters like panning and aux sends, making it far easier to recall a mix. It was released in 1985, and Mike claimed that his was the first in England.
 |
Mike told H & SR Magazine that this was the first Harrison in England, and that he and Simon Phillips used to play dice while waiting for the automation data to merge on its slow computer. Simon recalled in a 2016 interview for audio equipment company Elysia that the game they played was Kniffle (aka Yahtzee).
Also used in Earth Moving, Amarok, Heaven's Open, Tubular Bells II
|
|
|
|
 Forum
|
