MIKE OLDFIELD - DARK ISLAND

DARK ISLAND

MIKE OLDFIELD

SONGWRITER: MICHAEL GORDON OLDFIELD

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: VOYAGER

LABEL: WEA

GENRE: CELTIC

YEAR: 1996

Voyager is the 17th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1996 by Warner. It is a Celtic-themed album with new compositions intertwined with traditional pieces.

The music on this album is the most overtly Celtic music Mike Oldfield has produced. The album had originally been recorded acoustically using only hand-played instruments. Apparently the daughter of an executive of Warner Music expressed her feelings that the album may have been a little boring; thus Oldfield added Synthesizers and more instruments to the album.

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English musician and composer. His work blends progressive rock with world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient, and new-age music. His biggest commercial success is the 1973 album Tubular Bells – which launched Virgin Records and became a hit in America after its opening was used as the theme for the film The Exorcist. He recorded the 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow and a rendition of the Christmas piece "In Dulci Jubilo".

Oldfield has released more than 20 albums with the most recent being a sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn titled Return to Ommadawn. It was released on 20 January 2017.

Away to the westward

I'm longing to be,

Where the beauties of heaven

Unfold by the sea;

Where the sweet purple heather blooms

Fragrant and free

On a hilltop high above

The Dark Island

So gentle the sea breeze,

That ripples the bay,

Where the stream joins the ocean,

And young children play;

On the strand of pure silver,

I'll welcome each day,

And I'll roam for every more,

The Dark Island

True gem of the Herbrides,

Bathed in the light,

Of the mid-summer dawning,

That follows the night;

How I yearn for the cries,

Of the seagulls in flight,

As they circle above

The Dark Island.