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Artist.....: Mike Oldfield
Album......: Voyager
Type.......: Album
Genre......: New Age
Style......: New Age
Label......: Warner Mucis UK LTD
CatalogNr..: MO-310896-V
Url........: http://www.wmg.com
Rel.date...: 14.12.2006
Str.date...: 26.08.1996
Source.....: CDDA
Grabber....: EAC 0.95 beta 4
Encoder....: Lame 3.90.3 --APS
Quality....: VBRkbps / 44,1kHz / Joint-Stereo
Tracks.....: 10
Size.......: 84,62 MB
Length.....: 58:27
______________________________________________________________________________
Tracklist
01. Bieito Romero - The Song Of The Sun 04:33
02. Mike Oldfield - Celtic Rain 04:41
03. Traditional - The Hero 05:04
04. Traditional - Women Of Ireland 06:29
05. Mike Oldfield - The Voyager 04:26
06. Traditional - She Moves Through The Fair 04:06
07. Traditional - Dark Island 05:43
08. Mike Oldfield - Wild Goose Flaps Its Wings 05:04
09. Traditional - Flowers Of The Forest 06:04
10. Mike Oldfield - Mont St Michel 12:17
Total Time: 58:27
______________________________________________________________________________
Release Notes
Musicians :
Maire Breatnach - Fiddle
London Voices - Choir
Noel Eccles - Percussion
Liam O' Flynn - Uillean pipes
Highland Pipers
Sean Keane - Fiddle
London Symphony Orchestra
Matt Molloy - Flutes, Tin Whistles
John Myers - Tin Whistle/Fiddle
Davy Spillane - Uillean Pipes/Low whistle
Pat Walsh
Produced and Engineered by Mike Oldfield
Recorded at Roughwood Studios, Orchestra recorded at Air Lyndhurst.
Notes on the instruments...
Electric guitars - Mike continued to use his PRS Custom and red Fender
Stratocaster as his main electric guitars. Somewhere between the time of him
recording this album and Tubular Bells 3, Mike acquired a PRS Custom 24, into
which he had installed a Roland GK2A pickup system (got all the numbers
here...). Mike uses this pickup to connect the guitar to a Roland VG8 virtual
guitar modeling processor. This is similar in idea to a guitar synthesiser,
although technically it isn't synthesising as it uses the waveform produced
by the guitar strings/pickup as its starting point (just so you know...). The
unit is capable of recreating the sounds of all manner of guitars, amplifiers
and effects units via digital modeling, although a feature used by Mike a
fair amount is its ability to create the sounds of other instruments. Several
tracks on Voyager use the unit to create the sounds of whistles and bagpipes.
Mandolin - Used a lot on 'Dark Island'. By the time of this album, Mike was
using a mandolin built by Scottish instrument builder Mike Vanden.
In 1992, after leaving Virgin, Mike signed a three album contract with Warner
records. Voyager, as the last of the three, was recorded to finish this
contract off. The suggestion of doing a Celtic album came from the record
company, who no doubt had in mind the popularity of acts such as 'Riverdance'
at the time. Mike liked the idea, feeling that Celtic music was 'easy' for
him, as his natural way of playing music is rooted in celtic playing styles.
What emerged was a very calm, relaxed album, with this feel influenced by
Mike's then recent discoveries of meditations and Tai Chi.
'The Song of the Sun' was written by Bieito Romero, piper of Galician group
'Luar na Lubre'. Mike first met the group in 1992 and has since had a good
relationship with them. The tune of 'O Son do Ar' (the track's Galician
name), stuck in Mike's head, making it seem an obvious choice for him to
cover for the album. Take a look at the group's website for more information
on them.
Handel's sarabande from his Suite no 4 for harpsichord in D minor is
incorporated into 'Women of Ireland' (the tune is played on a guitar synth
sound between 2:30 and 3:00). The piece, arranged for orchestra, was used as
the theme music to Stanley Kubrick's film 'Barry Lyndon' which also featured
music by The Chieftains, who provided the tune 'Women of Ireland', amongst
others. Like with 'Dark Island', although 'Women of Ireland' is credited in
Voyager's sleeve notes as being traditional, it seems that it was actually
written by Sean O Riada, leader of 'Ceoltoiri Cualann', a group which
featured several musicians who branched off to form 'The Chieftains'. 'Women
of Ireland' first featured on Ceoltoiri Cualann's 1964 album 'O Riada Sa
Gaiety', under its Irish name of 'Mna na h Eireann'. The Chieftains later
played it on their fourth album (the imaginatively titled ' The Chieftains
4') in 1973. Mike Oldfield, being a fan of Stanley Kubrick's films, almost
certainly heard the two pieces of music on the 'Barry London' soundtrack.
Though 'Dark Island' is listed in the sleeve notes as being a traditional
tune, it seems that it was written in 1958 by Iain McLachlan, under the title
'Dr. Mackay's Farewell to Creagorry', a lament for a doctor on the island of
Benbecula where McLachlan lived. Words were then added by David Silver for
when the tune was used as the theme music to the 1963 BBC TV Thriller 'The
Dark Island'.
____________________________________________________ Psychedelic Cyber Zone __
est. 2001